Founding Engineer (Fullstack JS)

🏢 Company overview

Unimatch Lab is an AI-driven venture studio based in Silicon Valley.

We build our own AI technology stack and a portfolio of AI-driven assets: consumer AI products, smart devices, local LLM clusters, and foundational layers (memory layer, RAM/VRAM optimization, orchestration, AI software for infrastructure and compute).

This includes R&D on local, distributed, and orbital data centers and distributed computing.

Our goal is to reach a combined asset valuation of $10B+ by 2032 and rank among the world's top 50 AI companies.

We are an OKR-driven company: measurable outcomes, speed, transparency, and ownership.

We hire A-players: autonomous, fast, strong execution, high accountability.

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🎯 Position summary

The Founding Engineer leads a studio project from fixed scope to a production-ready release. Backend is the primary zone: models and APIs, authorization, migrations, background jobs, build pipeline, CI/CD, staging, and production with rollback. Frontend, mobile, integrations, and MVP-level observability are in scope when the task requires them.

You align with the founder or Vibe Product Manager on scope, definition of done, and priorities. You run demos, capture meeting outcomes, and keep acceptance agreements current. Typical cadence is short cycles of about two weeks for a standard MVP scope.

Routine work goes to automation through vibe-coding and agents: draft tests, documentation, release scripts. You control output quality. Most time goes to architecture, code, and predictable delivery.

✅ Key responsibilities

Scope and delivery planning

• Agree scope, definition of done, release date, and production-ready criteria with the founder or product lead before the sprint starts
• Run demos during the cycle; final handoff includes repository, build, run instructions, and a list of known limitations

Build and release

• Design and implement backend: models, APIs, authorization, migrations, background jobs; frontend or mobile when required; integrations; MVP-level observability
• Complete build, CI/CD, staging checks, and production release; on failure, roll back to the last stable version; maintain a minimal runbook and README

Automation

• Use vibe-coding (Cursor and similar tools) and agents for routine work: draft tests, docs, and scripts where speed does not reduce quality

💪 Required qualifications

• 10+ years as a full-stack engineer with a backend focus: strong JavaScript production experience is required - you design and implement the server side independently and ship complete applications end to end
• 3+ years of technical leadership: architectural ownership, engineering standards, review culture, participation in technical interviews
• Vibe-coding as a regular working mode: you routinely ship features to UI, API, and deployment with AI-assisted tools
• Product judgment: you narrow scope, choose MVP cuts, explain trade-offs to stakeholders, and agree on an acceptable minimum within the timeline
• Confirmed production experience in web or mobile: releases, incident review, post-release fixes
• Demonstrated speed with measurable outcomes: cases where you delivered an agreed release to production or release-ready state within 1-2 weeks
• Portfolio and code are required: repository links, demos, sample PRs, screen recordings, or similar artifacts
• English B2 (working level): code, documentation, calls

⭐ Preferred qualifications

• Experience in startups, a venture studio, or a multi-product environment
• LLM tools: LangChain, LangGraph, Mastra, CrewAI, Autogen, Hugging Face, OpenAI, Claude, Mistral
• LLM infrastructure: RAG, embeddings, vector databases; agent evaluation (reliability, safety)
• React Native, Expo, Next.js, GraphQL - aligned with the studio portfolio

🛠️ Technology stack

• Core: Node.js, React, Next.js, React Native, Expo, GraphQL, REST, WebSockets, OAuth2, JWT
• AI and orchestration: LangChain, LangGraph, Mastra, CrewAI, Autogen, MCP, function calling, structured outputs
• Observability: OpenTelemetry, Langfuse, Prometheus, Datadog or equivalents
• Practices: Git, CI/CD, Jira, ADR, SRS

📊 Success metrics

• Time-to-production-ready from kickoff to release on agreed scope: target <= 14 calendar days for a typical MVP increment; larger scope requires renegotiated timeline and budget before start
• On-scope delivery: 100% of agreed definition of done closed by release date, or a documented fix plan with deadlines
• Post-release quality: no critical defects in the first 7 days, or an agreed hotfix SLA
• Share of routine work through agents and vibe-coding (tests, docs, release scripts) as a maturity indicator for your delivery setup
• Project economics: payment per SoW after signed release of the agreed outcome; amount and release criteria fixed before work starts

👥 Team structure

Solid line: Head of People, Culture and Operations - OKRs, performance review, processes, career, organizational blockers.

Dotted line: CEO and Head of Infra and Automation - technical arbitration in disputes, exception cases, not a regular format.

Within agreed project scope, engineering decisions are autonomous. With the founder or product lead you fix scope, definition of done, and release criteria before the cycle; you then own the technical roadmap and prioritization inside scope boundaries: backend, APIs and data, integrations, CI/CD and delivery, runbook and demo format per cycle. Scope changes that affect budget or contract sync with Head of Business; UI alignment with Vibe Product Manager when needed.

💼 Employment terms

Format Full-time, remote; sync windows by agreement (CET and other zones as needed)

Location Europe: European Union, Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, United Kingdom, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, San Marino, Serbia, Switzerland, Georgia, Armenia, Turkey. LATAM: Mexico, Panama, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela.

Compensation Up to $10,000 total (base fix + shipment bonuses)

Option or equity in products you create and lead