Y Combinator

Product Engineer, Internal Tools

Y Combinator$250K — $500K *
Enterprise Technology
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 5-7 years of software development experience in a full-stack capacity, particularly with web applications.
  • Strong proficiency in front-end technologies, especially React.
  • Experience building productivity tools or internal software for teams.
  • Ability to analyze and improve software engagement metrics.
  • Experience in prioritizing and scoping a product roadmap effectively.

Responsibilities

  • Design and implement new features for internal productivity tools.
  • Collaborate with YC Partners to create software that enhances founder engagement.
  • Scope the product roadmap, making trade-offs between effort and impact.
  • Analyze user engagement data to identify areas for improvement.
  • Adapt to the evolving needs of the organization as team structures and projects change.

Benefits

  • Comprehensive medical, vision, and dental insurance.
  • Support for infertility treatments.
  • Short-term and long-term disability insurance.
  • Life insurance coverage.
  • 401(k) plan with 4% matching contributions.
  • Flexible paid time off policy and generous parental leave.
  • Commuter benefits and flexible spending accounts.
Full Job Description
About the role

To manage our operations at scale, we write lots of software for YC itself. One aspect of this is building internal tools to help run YC itself more efficiently. For this team, our users are YC employees - Group Partners who need productivity tools to engage 1000s of companies, finance teams that need to process investment documents at scale, and a legal team that supports every kind of startup legal issue imaginable.

In this role, you will:
  • Design and build out new features in entirety. Our particular team focuses on helping founders after the batch, including event software and engagement tools to help YC keep in touch with companies well after they go through the YC program.
  • Work alongside YC Partners to build productivity software. We've built Gmail plugins and company dashboards for partners to quickly engage founders who email/ Slack them regularly.
  • Scope and prioritize the roadmap. We make trade-offs of effort and impact every day, and engineers help us decide what's most urgent and important to build next.
  • Analyze usage and engagement. We want to understand what's working/not working, and we focus on how continuous improvement over long periods of time can have huge outcomes over months or years.


About the team

Our whole software team is only 15 full-stack product engineers, and we enjoy working in a small team with high impact and knowing each other by name. We have a broad range of experiences from bigger companies like Meta and Google, and many of us have started startups ourselves. True to YC advice, our product engineers talk to our customers regularly and ship fast. We also define our own roadmap and often design our own products when needed.

Our stack is pretty straightforward (Rails, React, Postgres), and the last three engineers have learned it on the job. That said, we've found that enjoying front-end software development is key to being successful here, so it's almost a requirement for the role. Our needs as an organization require a large degree of flexibility, and people change teams quite often.

Lastly: If you're interested in starting your own startup one day, eight former engineers on our team have gone on to start YC-funded startups. If you want to start your own startup someday but aren't ready to do it now, working at YC could be an excellent way to get there.

Location: This is an in-person role at YC's campus in Dogpatch, San Francisco. This is where our users (founders, partners, and employees) are five days a week, so it's optimal for you to be here with them. You must live in the SF Bay Area or be willing to relocate. We offer generous relocation support for those who want to move to SF to work here.

Compensation: $250K to $500K base salary, depending on experience. YC has a profit-sharing program, which is comparable to equity in an early-stage startup or carry in a VC fund.

Benefits: Our full benefits package includes medical, vision, and dental plans, infertility benefit, STD/LTD, life insurance, commuter benefits, flexible spending account, health savings account, 401(k) + 4% matching, generous parental leave, paid holidays, and flexible paid time off policy.

Work Authorization: Y Combinator is willing to sponsor certain employment visas in accordance with company policy.

About Y Combinator

Y Combinator is a venture capital firm that provides seed funding, mentorship, and resources to early-stage startups. The company was founded in 2005 by Paul Graham, Jessica Livingston, Trevor Blackwell, and Robert Morris, and has since funded over 2,000 startups, including Airbnb, Dropbox, and Stripe. Y Combinator's mission is to help startups succeed by providing them with the tools and resources they need to grow and scale their businesses.
Learn more about Y Combinator
Size
200 employees
Industry

Similar Jobs

More Jobs at Y Combinator

More Enterprise Technology Jobs

Find similar Product Engineer, Internal Tools jobs: