We are looking for a Founding Engineer to join early and help shape the product from the ground up.

This isn’t a role for someone who wants to spend all day writing code. You’ll have a genuine say in product, UX, design and technical direction , working closely with the founders to turn ideas into products that are useful, intuitive and beautifully executed.

What you’ll do

- Build and ship product features from idea through to execution
- Shape product direction, UX and technical decisions
- Work closely with the founders in a fast-moving setting
- Prototype, test and iterate quickly
- Use AI and modern development tools to move faster
- Take ownership rather than waiting for detailed specifications
- Design and build the core product architecture from the ground up
- Ship fast, validate with real usage, and iterate - this is a live business, not a lab
- Build tooling for sourcing, outbound automation, candidate/client data management, and workflow efficiency
- Make pragmatic build-vs-buy calls as a team of one

About you

- Proven experience shipping production software end-to-end, ideally as an early/founding engineer, in a small startup, or building your own products




- Strong engineering fundamentals and a bias toward shipping
- Someone who thinks beyond just the code
- Product-minded with a strong eye for UX and design
- Comfortable with ambiguity and taking ownership
- Excited by startups, building and solving problems
- A “founder mindset” - curious, commercially aware and willing to get stuck in
- If you want to help build the product rather than just build features , this is a chance to get in early and have real influence.

Why Join

- True ownership
- you're not the 50th engineer on someone else's roadmap; you're building the thing

- Direct impact

- every feature you ship changes how the business operates, immediately

- Founder-led, no bureaucracy

- decisions get made fast, and you'll be part of making them

- Ground floor

- early equity/compensation structure reflecting the founding nature of the role (details discussed directly)

Send a note to [email protected] with what you've built before and why this kind of ground-floor build appeals to you. Portfolio, GitHub, or a couple of lines on a project you're proud of goes a long way.

📌 Founding Product Engineer (Sydney)
🏢 Trivela Talent
📍 Sydney