Founding Engineer

RippleMatch is your AI-powered job matchmaker. Our platform brings opportunities directly to you by matching you with top employers and jobs you are qualified for. Tell us about your strengths and goals – we’ll get you interviews! Leading employers leverage RippleMatch to build high-performing teams and Gen Z job seekers across the country trust RippleMatch to launch and grow their careers.

One of RippleMatch’s partners is looking for a mission-driven Founding Engineer based in San Francisco.

The Role

As a founding engineer, you’ll work side-by-side with the founders to radically improve how military teams prepare for urgent, global missions. You’ll own the full product lifecycle—from discovery and architecture to launch and iteration—and you’ll help shape company culture, engineering practices, and product strategy. If the idea of building with users on base and shipping software that directly impacts operational missions excites you, this role is a great fit.

What You’ll Do

• Own major product areas end-to-end: clarify user needs, define scope, design systems, implement, test, and ship.
• Build AI-enabled, collaboration-first features that streamline readiness tracking and unit workflows.
• Partner directly with service members (on-site ~1x/month) to translate real-world constraints into product improvements.
• Establish and champion engineering best practices (testing, observability, security, DevOps) for a high-velocity team.
• Contribute to key company decisions across product, process, and culture.

What You Bring

• Typescript expertise and full-stack experience with modern web frameworks (React, Next, Express).
• Proficiency with PostgreSQL (or other SQL databases) and AWS (or another major cloud).
• Track record of shipping production-quality code frequently.
• Low ego, high ownership, strong attention to detail, and a bias for learning and impact.
• U.S. citizenship (required).
• Willingness to work in-person in downtown San Francisco and travel to military bases ~1x/month.

Bonus Points

• Experience with Kubernetes.
• Comfort with open-source infra in secure deployments (e.g., Grafana, Loki, Keycloak).
• Familiarity with DoD security/compliance frameworks.
• Hands-on experience integrating LLMs into production workflows.
• Background in military operations or veteran experience.
• Active U.S. security clearance.

Compensation & Benefits

• $140k–$190k salary + 0.5%–1.5% equity (founding-team level).
• Competitive health benefits.
• Free dinners.
• High-trust, high-impact environment with direct user access and clear ownership.