Founding Engineering - Top London Software House

We are looking for an exceptional engineer to join an early-stage technology company as a founding member of the engineering team. This is a rare opportunity for someone who wants genuine technical ownership, working directly with the founding team to build a category-defining product from the ground up.

We are not looking for someone who simply writes code. We are looking for a world-class problem solver who can move quickly, think deeply, make high-quality technical decisions and build systems that can scale.

As a Founding Engineer, you will have responsibility across the entire technical stack - from architecture and infrastructure through to product development and optimisation. You will operate with a high degree of autonomy, solving difficult engineering problems and establishing the foundations of the company's technology.

This role is best suited to an exceptional individual with outstanding technical ability, intellectual curiosity and a track record of building challenging systems.

• Architect and build core technology from first principles.
• Own critical engineering decisions across infrastructure, backend systems and product development.
• Design scalable, reliable and high-performance software systems.
• Solve complex technical challenges with speed and precision.
• Build prototypes, test ideas and rapidly iterate towards production solutions.
• Establish engineering standards, tooling and development practices.
• Optimise systems for performance, reliability and scalability.
• Work directly with founders to shape product strategy and technical direction.
• Take ownership of projects from initial concept through to deployment.

• Exceptional academic background from a leading UK university.
• Degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, Engineering or another highly technical discipline.
• Outstanding programming ability in languages such as Python, C++, Rust, Go or Java.
• Demonstrated ability to build complex technical projects independently.
• Strong understanding of algorithms, data structures, systems design and software architecture.
• High intellectual curiosity and ability to learn unfamiliar technologies quickly.
• Comfortable operating with uncertainty and taking full ownership.
• Driven by solving difficult problems rather than following established processes.

• First-class degree or equivalent academic achievement.
• Competitive programming, mathematical competitions or research experience.
• Open-source contributions or technically ambitious personal projects.
• Experience building products, platforms or infrastructure from scratch.
• Experience at high-performing technology companies, research labs or engineering teams.

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