Founding Engineer

Vote is building the infrastructure for measuring early attention on the internet. Every major platform today measures what already happened — views, engagement, price, momentum. But the most valuable signals form before those metrics exist. Vote captures that early conviction and turns it into structured data. We are building a new primitive: a network where human judgment becomes signal, reputation compounds over time, and early attention becomes measurable infrastructure. We are looking for a Founding Engineer to help build this from the ground up. This is not a maintenance role. This is a build-the-company role. ⸻ What you’ll work on You will help architect and build the core systems behind Vote: • Real-time voting and signal aggregation systems • Reputation and scoring infrastructure • AI-assisted signal classification and ranking • High-performance consumer product experiences • Creator and market intelligence data pipelines • Early-stage growth experimentation infrastructure You will work directly with the founder and shape both the product and technical direction. You will ship fast, own systems end-to-end, and help define how this company gets built. ⸻ What we’re looking for We care less about credentials and more about builders. Ideal candidates tend to be: • Strong full-stack engineers who like product ownership • Interested in AI, data systems, or marketplaces • Comfortable working without heavy structure • Curious about consumer products and network effects • Builders who like early stage chaos more than big company process Technical strengths we value: • Typescript / Node / modern frontend frameworks • Experience with scalable backend systems • Familiarity with AI tooling or LLM integration • Database design and data modeling intuition • Performance-focused product engineering Bonus but not required: • Startup experience • Creator economy / crypto / marketplace exposure • Growth or product intuition • Interest in signal systems or reputation systems ⸻ What makes this role different This is not a feature factory role. You will: • Help define the architecture • Make product decisions • Work directly with users • Ship features quickly • Influence hiring • Help shape the engineering culture You will be treated like a founder because you are building the foundation. ⸻ What we value culturally We look for engineers who: • Care about what they build • Move fast without ego • Think from first principles • Take ownership instead of waiting for instructions • Want to build something meaningful, not just ship tickets We optimize for builders, not resume checklists. ⸻ Compensation • Market-level salary • Founder-level equity • Direct impact on company direction • Early technical leadership trajectory We believe early engineers should share in the upside they help create. ⸻ Location Toronto San Francisco Remote (North America preferred) We work async-first but value overlap with North American time zones. ⸻ Who thrives here People who usually succeed here are the kind of engineers who: • Wanted to start something themselves • Care about product as much as code • Like working close to the problem • Want meaningful equity upside • Want to build something from zero If you want a clearly defined role, this probably isn’t it. If you want to help build something from first principles, you will likely enjoy this.