Founding Engineer | Confidential B2C Healthtech Startup in San Francisco

Job Description

Job Description

My client is a seed-stage health-tech startup in San Francisco that has raised $5M+ and is building the first health system for over 100 million Americans living with chronic conditions that modern medicine has no answers for. You would be the first engineering hire, working directly with a proven founder who has previously built and sold multiple companies. This is a rare chance to lay every technical foundation from day one.

• Debating and deciding on the product roadmap, architecture, and technical foundations that every future engineer will inherit
• Building and shipping the initial product, turning manual processes and prototypes into a scalable platform for patients
• Hiring, leading, and mentoring the future engineering team, establishing the technical culture from the ground up
• Serving as a true thought partner to the founder, challenging assumptions and shaping the product vision together
• Making critical tradeoffs between speed of execution and long-term scalability to get the product into patients' hands quickly
• Translating real user insights and community-driven data into product decisions that improve patient outcomes

• 5+ years of full-stack or backend-leaning engineering experience, with comfort across the entire stack
• Experience building and shipping consumer-facing products where user experience directly drives retention
• Track record of hiring engineers and involvement in building out an engineering team
• Proficiency with modern frameworks (Python, JavaScript, or equivalent), with a preference for backend and architecture
• Deeply AI-native mindset, using tools like Cursor or Copilot daily as part of your workflow, not as an afterthought
• Pre-Series B startup experience where you operated with scarce information, shifting priorities, and high ownership

• Personal connection to health, chronic illness, biohacking, or longevity, whether through your own journey or someone close to you
• Former founding experience, whether you started a company, joined as a first engineer, or built something from zero to one
• Experience at a high-growth consumer or health-tech company (e.g., Spotify, Reddit, Whoop, Oura, Spring Health, or similar)
• Familiarity with healthcare data, community platforms, or recommendation systems

• First hire, massive impact. You are shaping the technical foundation for a company serving a patient population with no existing solutions. For the right person, significant equity and co-founder-level ownership is on the table.
• Proven founder, strong backing. The founder has built and sold companies before and raised $5M+ from top-tier investors in under two weeks. Years of runway, no desperation.
• A product people are asking for. There is already a waitlist of thousands of patients. You are not building into a void; you are building for people who genuinely need this to exist.
• Compensation: $180K–$275K base + significant equity, scaled based on experience and cash/equity preference.

• Location: San Francisco, CA
• In-Office: 5 days per week. The team often works partially on Sundays during this early stage.
• Reports to: Founder/CEO (direct partnership)