Hire Founding Engineers for Your Startup

Hire founding engineers who ship like your first 5 hires. Senior full-stack builders with startup DNA, outcome ownership, and no agency overhead.

What You Get

  • Senior engineers with startup experience
  • Full-stack capability (frontend, backend, infra)
  • Ownership mentality—not ticket takers
  • Direct Slack access, no account managers
  • Ship production code in first week

Ideal For

  • Early-stage startups building v1
  • Teams scaling from 1 to 10 engineers
  • Companies needing senior capacity fast
  • Founders who want engineers, not contractors

What Makes a Founding Engineer Different?

Founding engineers aren't just senior developers—they're builders who think like founders. They take ownership of product outcomes, not just code quality. They make decisions under uncertainty and ship fast without sacrificing quality.

Founding Engineer vs Senior Developer

  • Ownership: Founding engineers own features end-to-end, from design to deployment
  • Velocity: They optimize for shipping, not perfect abstractions
  • Ambiguity: They thrive without detailed specs or Jira tickets
  • Business Sense: They understand how engineering decisions impact revenue
  • Breadth: Full-stack capability across frontend, backend, and infrastructure

Why Startups Need Founding Engineers

In the early days, you need engineers who can wear many hats, move fast, and make good decisions without constant oversight. Our founding engineers have built products at companies like Rupa Health, OddsJam, and Dromo. They understand startup dynamics because they've lived them.

Fast, Seamless Onboarding

From first call to first commit in under a week.

Day 1

Discovery Call

Understand your product, stack, and what success looks like

Day 2-3

Team Match

Match the right engineer(s) based on your needs

Day 4-5

Onboarding

Slack access, repo access, codebase walkthrough

Week 1

First Ship

First PR merged, hitting the ground running

Aravind is in the top 1% of engineers I've hired. He supported us from $100K to $5M ARR, keeping us shipping through crazy growth and investor scrutiny.
Tara Viswanathan
Co-founder & CEO, Rupa Health (Acquired by Fullscript)

Hire a Founding Engineer FAQs

What is the process to hire a founding engineer?

Start with a 30-minute discovery call where we understand your needs, tech stack, and goals. We then match you with the right engineer(s) from our team. Onboarding typically takes 2-3 days, and most engineers ship their first PR within the first week.

How much does it cost to hire a founding engineer?

Our engagements are structured as monthly retainers based on the scope and seniority needed. We're transparent about pricing—book a call to discuss your specific needs and get a custom quote. There are no hidden fees or account manager overhead.

Can I hire a founding engineer for just a few months?

Yes, we offer flexible month-to-month engagements. While most clients work with us for 6-12+ months, there's no long-term lock-in. We believe in earning your continued partnership through results, not contracts.

What makes your a founding engineer different?

Our engineers have shipped products at venture-backed startups and understand the unique pressures of early-stage companies. They take ownership of outcomes, not just tasks. You get direct Slack access—no project managers or account executives in between.

Do you work with my tech stack?

Our team is full-stack and adaptable. We have deep experience with React/Next.js, Node.js, Python, TypeScript, AWS, GCP, and modern AI/LLM frameworks. We can also ramp up quickly on new technologies if needed.

Aravind Srinivas
Founder, HyperNest Labs

Former engineering leader who helped scale Rupa Health from $100K to $5M ARR. Passionate about helping startups build great engineering teams.

LinkedIn →

Ready to hire a founding engineer?

Book a 30-minute call to discuss your needs and find the right fit.