Founding Sr. Software Engineer

Founding Sr. Software Engineer

Location: Chicago, IL

Type: Full Time

Requisition ID: 912171

About Us

HirexHire (pronounced hire by hire) is a Chicago-based recruiting and talent consultancy that integrates with companies short-term to provide long-term talent solutions. We take a seat in our client's everyday operations to understand their people's goals, gaps, and challenges. We then develop and implement the processes and technologies to execute a sustainable and scalable talent plan.

We partner with companies expecting or experiencing high growth who need to hire at scale or fill a critical role rapidly. Our clients are not looking for quick-fix placements but are thoughtfully building a hiring strategy to scale their businesses.

Our Client

Location: Chicago, IL

Industry: Sports / Software

Company Size: >50

What They Do: Our client is a sports media and technology platform focused on helping digital content creators build and engage subscription-based communities. Their platform streamlines communication, payments, and content distribution to create a more reliable and seamless user experience.

The Role

Our client is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to join their Chicago-based engineering team. This is a highly entrepreneurial, early-stage role for a senior IC who wants to operate in a founding engineer capacity, owning product initiatives end-to-end and helping shape both the technical foundation and product direction. You will work closely with founders and GTM leaders to rapidly identify opportunities, build mobile and web features, and deliver high-impact solutions at speed in a fast-moving startup environment.

What You Will Do

• Lead the design, development, and deployment of mobile and web product features across consumer-facing applications.
• Build and maintain scalable React Native mobile applications with a focus on performance and user experience.
• Develop full-stack features and APIs supporting seamless cross-platform functionality.
• Partner directly with founders and cross-functional leaders to define priorities and execute product initiatives.
• Own projects end-to-end from concept through production release in a high-velocity environment.
• Balance speed of execution with long-term scalability and engineering quality.
• Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and architectural guidance across the engineering team.
• Collaborate with product, design, and GTM teams to build intuitive, high-impact user experiences.
• Help define engineering standards, workflows, and best practices in an early-stage environment.

What You Will Need

• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience, ideally in startups or high-growth environments.
• Strong experience building mobile applications using React Native.
• Experience with modern frontend development using TypeScript and frameworks such as Svelte or React.
• Full-stack experience with backend systems such as Python, Django, Go, or similar.
• Proven ability to ship consumer-facing products in fast-paced environments.
• Entrepreneurial mindset with strong ownership and comfort operating in ambiguity.
• Experience collaborating closely with founders or senior leadership preferred.
• Strong technical judgment and ability to make effective tradeoff decisions.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills across technical and non-technical teams.

Location & Compensation

• This is a Hybrid role based in Chicago, IL (Loop) with an expectation of 2-3 days onsite per week.
• Compensation includes a competitive base salary as well as commission/OTE, equity, and a benefits package.