Founding Engineer

Clera

$120K — $180K *
Consumer Technology
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 5+ years of experience as a full-stack or backend engineer
  • Prior experience as an early-stage or founding engineer
  • Strong knowledge of software design and system architecture
  • Ability to operate effectively in uncertain environments
  • Excellent communication skills
  • U.S. work eligibility without visa sponsorship

Responsibilities

  • Design and build scalable systems and product features
  • Collaborate with founders to align product vision with coding
  • Make architectural decisions for technical direction
  • Own the full development lifecycle from scoping to deployment
  • Help establish engineering culture and best practices

Benefits

  • Ground-floor opportunity to shape company direction
  • Chance to work closely with leadership and founders
  • Ability to influence foundational architectural decisions
  • Dynamic work environment with opportunities for growth
  • Flexible and collaborative team culture
Full Job Description
About the Role

We are looking for a Founding Engineer to join our early-stage team. This is a ground-floor opportunity to help shape the technical foundation of a growing company, working closely with leadership to build and scale core product infrastructure from the ground up.
What You'll Do
  • Design, build, and maintain scalable systems and product features as an early engineering hire.
  • Collaborate directly with founders and cross-functional stakeholders to translate product vision into reliable, well-crafted code.
  • Make foundational architectural decisions that will influence the technical direction of the company.
  • Take ownership of the full development lifecycle - from scoping and implementation to deployment and iteration.
  • Help establish engineering culture, best practices, and processes as the team grows.
What We're Looking For
  • Proven experience as a full-stack or backend engineer, ideally with early-stage or founding engineer experience.
  • Strong fundamentals across software design, system architecture, and engineering best practices.
  • Comfort operating with ambiguity and a bias toward action in a fast-moving environment.
  • Collaborative mindset with excellent communication skills.
  • Must be legally eligible to work in the United States without visa sponsorship - sponsorship is not available for this role.
Compensation & Benefits

Compensation details are not specified for this role. This will be discussed during the interview process.
Location

This role is based in San Francisco, CA. Additional team presence in Los Angeles, CA and New York City, NY.

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