Full Stack Software Engineer

Who is Recruiting from Scratch: Recruiting from Scratch is a premier talent firm that focuses on placing the best product managers, software, and hardware talent at innovative companies. Our team is 100% remote and we work with teams across the United States to help them hire. Full Stack Software Engineer Location New York City, NY On-site role requiring five days per week in the Bryant Park area of New York City. Compensation $150,000 - $190,000 Base + Competitive Equity Compensation may extend up to approximately $220,000 for exceptional candidates. Visa US Citizens and Green Card holders only. No visa sponsorship or transfers available. Company Stage Early-Stage / High-Growth Education Technology Company Industry Artificial Intelligence, Education Technology, EdTech, B2B SaaS, Data Analytics, Career Guidance, AI Applications, Cybersecurity, Data Privacy About the Company Our client is building a national education research and data platform designed to help students, counselors, and schools make better-informed decisions about education, careers, and college applications. The platform aggregates and analyzes large-scale, de-identified student application and outcomes data to provide insights that can improve how students choose classes, careers, colleges, and educational pathways. The company has experienced rapid growth, expanding from a small dataset of several hundred applications to hundreds of thousands of applications and thousands of participating organizations in a relatively short period of time. The platform is already being used by counselors and educational organizations across the United States and internationally, with significant room to expand across the broader education market. The team is exceptionally small and highly ambitious, with a strong focus on mission, technical excellence, and real-world impact. This is a foundational engineering opportunity where the successful candidate will join as one of the company's earliest developers and work directly alongside the founding engineering team. As a Full Stack Software Engineer, you'll own critical systems end-to-end, build production software used in high-stakes educational decisions, integrate AI into real workflows, and help solve challenging problems involving large-scale data, privacy, cybersecurity, and product development. This is a highly autonomous engineering environment where engineers are expected to define problems, make architectural decisions, ship quickly, and take responsibility for outcomes rather than waiting for detailed specifications. What You'll Do Own core software systems end-to-end from initial design and first commit through production Build and ship full-stack product features used by counselors and educational organizations Develop production applications across frontend, backend, data, and infrastructure layers Ship meaningful product improvements on a weekly basis Work directly with the founding engineering team on high-priority technical initiatives Design and implement scalable application architectures Make architecture decisions balancing development speed, reliability, security, and scalability Integrate LLMs and AI capabilities into real production workflows Build AI-powered features that solve meaningful user and business problems Work with large-scale education and student application datasets Build systems for processing, analyzing, and securely managing complex data Design and maintain data pipelines and data processing workflows Work with de-identified and privacy-sensitive datasets Build systems that protect student privacy and maintain data correctness Contribute to cybersecurity and data privacy initiatives Help build toward SOC 2 compliance and other security requirements Work with authentication, authorization, access controls, and secure data handling Build and maintain backend APIs and services Develop frontend experiences using React and Next.js Build backend services using Node.js and Express Work with databases and data storage systems including MongoDB and AWS S3 Work with cloud infrastructure and deployment systems on AWS and related platforms Build and maintain production applications using Vercel and modern cloud tooling Use AI coding agents such as Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, and similar tools to accelerate development Become highly effective at orchestrating AI coding tools to move from idea to production quickly Work without detailed specifications and define the problem before determining the solution Identify technical patterns and architectural opportunities across the product Improve existing systems while continuing to ship new functionality Debug complex technical and product problems independently Collaborate closely with product and business stakeholders Translate user and business requirements into technical solutions Make independent decisions in ambiguous situations Work directly on high-impact systems where correctness, privacy, and security are critical Contribute to technical strategy and long-term architecture Help establish engineering patterns and practices as the company scales Take ownership of projects rather than waiting for assigned tickets Continuously improve engineering quality, system reliability, and development velocity Help shape the company's product and technical direction as an early engineering hire Take responsibility for delivering software that creates measurable impact for students and counselors Ideal Candidate Background Experience Requirements 0-5 years of software engineering experience Strong software engineering fundamentals Experience building and shipping production software Experience owning complex projects end-to-end preferred Startup or early-stage company experience preferred Experience working in highly autonomous engineering environments Demonstrated ability to take ambiguous problems and turn them into working software Experience building customer-facing applications preferred Experience working across frontend and backend systems Strong track record of learning quickly and taking on increasing responsibility Evidence of exceptional technical ability, ambition, intelligence, or achievement Demonstrated "high slope" career trajectory Experience working independently without extensive specifications Strong ownership mentality and willingness to take responsibility for outcomes Experience building software in fast-moving environments Experience working with complex data or technical systems preferred Experience working with security, privacy, or compliance-sensitive systems preferred Experience at startups, high-growth technology companies, or technically demanding environments preferred Technical Requirements Strong software engineering fundamentals Proficiency with TypeScript Strong experience with React Strong experience with Next.js Experience with Node.js and backend development Experience with Express or similar backend frameworks Strong understanding of APIs and backend services Experience working with AWS Experience with cloud-based application deployment Experience with MongoDB or similar databases Experience with data storage systems such as AWS S3 Strong understanding of application architecture Ability to design and implement production systems independently Strong debugging and technical problem-solving skills Experience integrating third-party APIs and services Experience building data-heavy applications preferred Experience working with large or complex datasets preferred Understanding of cybersecurity and data privacy principles preferred Experience working with de-identification or sensitive data preferred Experience integrating LLMs into production applications preferred Experience building AI-powered features preferred Strong familiarity with AI coding agents Genuine hands-on experience using tools such as Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, or similar Ability to use AI development tools effectively without sacrificing engineering quality Comfortable moving quickly from problem definition to implementation Ability to make technical trade-offs between speed, reliability, security, and scalability Ability to work across frontend, backend, data, and infrastructure layers Comfortable learning unfamiliar technologies quickly Strong understanding of production software development practices Ability to build systems where privacy, correctness, and reliability are critical Education Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or equivalent technical discipline preferred Strong academic background preferred Degree from a strong technical university is a plus Equivalent practical engineering experience accepted Exceptional achievements, competitions, hackathons, entrepreneurial experience, or unusual technical accomplishments are highly valued Soft Skills Extremely high agency and ownership Strong bias toward action Hungry and ambitious Highly intelligent and intellectually curious Fast learner Strong builder mentality Comfortable operating independently Comfortable working without detailed specifications Strong problem-solving ability Strong product intuition Strong technical judgment Comfortable making architecture decisions independently Comfortable working in ambiguous environments Strong sense of urgency Willingness to take responsibility for outcomes Comfortable taking ownership of high-stakes systems Strong communication skills Low-ego and highly collaborative Comfortable receiving and incorporating direct feedback Strong curiosity about technology and AI Passionate about using AI as a development tool Comfortable working with rapidly evolving technologies Strong business and product judgment Able to balance speed with reliability and security Comfortable working on data-intensive problems Comfortable working on privacy-sensitive systems Strong attention to correctness and detail Mission-driven and genuinely excited about improving student outcomes Comfortable working in a very small engineering team Excited about joining an early-stage company and taking on broad responsibility Comfortable working onsite five days per week in New York City Compensation & Benefits Base Salary: $150,000 - $190,000 Compensation may extend to approximately $220,000 for exceptional candidates Competitive equity package Opportunity to join as one of the earliest engineering hires High degree of technical ownership and autonomy Opportunity to work directly with the founding engineering team Opportunity to build systems from 0-to-1 Exposure to large-scale education and student application datasets Opportunity to work on cybersecurity and data privacy Opportunity to build AI-powered production applications Direct impact on student and counselor outcomes Exposure to LLMs and AI coding agents Opportunity to work across the full technology stack Opportunity to help establish engineering standards and architecture Significant career growth potential as the engineering organization scales Five-day in-office environment in New York City Why Join This is an opportunity to join a small, mission-driven technology company using data and AI to fundamentally improve how students make educational and career decisions. As one of the earliest developers, you'll have unusually broad ownership over the company's technology. You'll work directly alongside the founding engineering team, own systems from the first commit through production, and solve problems spanning full-stack engineering, AI, data, cybersecurity, and privacy. You'll work with one of the largest datasets of college applications and educational outcomes while building products that counselors use to make real, high-stakes decisions for students. The engineering environment is designed for people with exceptional ambition and a high growth trajectory. Rather than optimizing for years of experience or traditional credentials, the team values intelligence, hunger, technical ability, unusual achievements, and the ability to take ownership of difficult problems. You'll also have the opportunity to use modern AI coding agents as a core part of your development workflow, allowing you to build and iterate at a pace that would traditionally require a much larger engineering team. If you enjoy building from scratch, working across the entire stack, solving difficult data and security problems, using AI to accelerate engineering, and having meaningful ownership at an early-stage company, this role offers exceptional scope and growth. Recruiting from Scratch