Founding Principal Engineer

Barker Staffing Solutions LLC; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Barker Staffing Solutions LLC is assisting a client in finding a Founding Principal Engineer to work closely with the CEO in NYC and set the technical foundation for a pediatric mental health platform.

The role blends product mindset with hands-on engineering, focusing on architecture across telehealth, EHR, and AI-enabled features, in a regulated healthcare environment. Expect offshore-to-onshore transitions and rapid team-building.

Qualifications

• 6–15 years of experience in full-stack engineering.
• Recent early-stage startup experience as senior or founding engineer is required.
• Staff/Principal-level IC owning systems end-to-end.
• Led or directed offshore/distributed engineering teams.
• Production full-stack TypeScript (Node + React + AWS).
• Built software in regulated environments (fintech, healthcare, HIPAA).
• Hands-on AI/LLM implementation in production systems.
• Product-minded: makes UX/feature decisions without detailed PRDs.

Responsibilities

• Write production code on foundational problems across telehealth, EHR, patient dashboard, and AI adoption.
• Translate clinical, growth, and operations needs into technical plans; make independent product decisions without detailed PRDs.
• Lead and transition offshore engineering, establish engineering standards, code review, and quality practices.
• Drive AI adoption to accelerate the product roadmap.
• Lay groundwork for a small onshore engineering team over 6–12 months.
• Collaborate with CEO to set technical foundation for a pediatric mental health platform.

Skills

Full-stack engineering

Startup experience

Principal-level IC

Distributed teams

TypeScript

Node.js

React

AWS

AI/LLM in prod

Healthcare/regulatory

Product mindset

Tools

TypeScript

Node.js

React

AWS

Job description

My client is seekinga Founding Principal Engineer with Healthcare experience, who will be working directly alongside the CEO to set the technical foundation for a pediatric mental health platform that's rebuilding care from the ground up. You'll be a product-minded, hands-on builder who thrives in early-stage environments and takes ownership of complex consumer products in a regulated space. We just raised our Series B and are replacing our offshore team with a small, exceptional in-house engineering org, and you'll be the one to define how it's built.

This position is Hybrid/3 Days in NYC Office

What will you be doing?

• Writing production code on the hardest problems while owning architecture across telehealth, EHR, patient dashboard, and AI adoption
• Working directly with the CEO to translate clinical, growth, and operations needs into technical plans: making independent product decisions without detailed PRDs
• Leading and transitioning the offshore engineering team while establishing engineering standards, code review, and quality practices
• Driving AI adoption across the organization to accelerate the product roadmap
• Laying the groundwork for a small, high-caliber onshore engineering team over the next 6–12 months

Requirements

• 6 - 15 years of experience in full-stack engineering
• Recent early-stage/startup experience as senior or founding engineer (Bigtech background is ok as long as supplemented with recent startup experience)
• Staff/Principal-level IC owning systems end-to-end
• Led or directed offshore/distributed engineering teams
• Production full-stack TypeScript (Node + React + AWS)
• Built software in regulated environments (fintech, healthcare, HIPAA)
• Hands-on AI/LLM implementation in production systems
• Product-minded: makes UX/feature decisions without detailed PRDs