Founding Principal Engineer

Continuum Resource Network · New York City · $200,000–$250,000 (stated in the posting)

We’re helping a venture-backed healthcare technology company find a Founding Principal Engineer to help shape the future of pediatric mental health care. Following a recent Series B funding round, the company is building its in-house engineering team and looking for a hands-on technical leader who can work directly with the CEO, own critical product architecture, and establish the technical foundation for its next stage of growth.

This is a unique opportunity to join a mission-driven organization at a pivotal stage, combining technical ownership, product decision-making, and the opportunity to make a meaningful impact on children's access to mental health care.

About the role

We are seeking a Founding Principal Engineer with 6–15 years of full-stack engineering experience to work directly with the CEO and establish the technical foundation for a pediatric mental health platform that's rebuilding care from the ground up.

This is a high-impact opportunity for a hands-on, product-minded engineer who thrives in early-stage environments, takes ownership of complex consumer products, and makes independent technical and product decisions in a regulated industry.

Following a recent Series B funding round, the company is transitioning from an offshore engineering team to a small, exceptional in-house engineering organization. You'll play a critical role in shaping the platform's architecture, engineering standards, and future team.

Responsibilities

Own technical architecture and implementation: Write production code on the most challenging technical problems while designing and maintaining systems across telehealth, electronic health records (EHR), patient dashboards, and AI-powered capabilities.
Partner directly with the CEO: Translate clinical, growth, and operational needs into technical solutions and make independent product decisions without relying on detailed product requirements documents.
Lead engineering execution: Guide the transition from the offshore engineering team while establishing engineering standards, code review processes, and quality practices.
Drive AI adoption: Identify and implement opportunities to leverage AI to accelerate development and enhance product capabilities.
Build the engineering organization: Help establish a high-caliber in-house engineering team over the next 6–12 months.
Make pragmatic technical decisions: Balance speed, scalability, reliability, security, and maintainability in a fast-moving environment.
Shape the product: Take end-to-end ownership of features and systems, from understanding user needs to deployment and iteration.

Requirements

Required Qualifications

6–15 years of professional full-stack engineering experience.
Recent experience as a founding engineer or one of the first five engineers at a venture-backed startup. Big Tech experience is welcome when combined with early-stage startup experience.
Strong, hands-on experience building and shipping production applications using TypeScript, Node.js, React, and AWS.
Experience operating at the Staff or Principal individual-contributor level, with ownership of systems from architecture through production.
Experience building software in regulated environments, such as healthcare or fintech, with an understanding of security, privacy, and compliance requirements.
Strong product instincts and the ability to make thoughtful UX, feature, and technical decisions without detailed specifications.
Ability to work independently, navigate ambiguity, and deliver high-quality solutions in an early-stage environment.
Genuine interest in improving pediatric mental health care and the ability to articulate why this mission is meaningful to you.
An active GitHub profile or personal project portfolio that demonstrates engineering skills and technical depth.
Ability to work in a hybrid arrangement with three days per week in the company's Union Square, New York City office.

Bonus Qualifications

Experience leading or managing offshore and distributed engineering teams.
Hands-on experience implementing AI or large language model (LLM) capabilities in production systems.
Experience integrating telehealth platforms, electronic health records, patient-facing applications, or other healthcare technology systems.
Familiarity with HIPAA and healthcare data privacy requirements.
Experience establishing engineering processes, coding standards, testing practices, and deployment workflows from the ground up.
Experience scaling engineering teams and transitioning from outsourced development to an in-house organization.
Experience working closely with executive leadership to influence product strategy and technical direction.

Benefits

Competitive Base Salary: $200,000–$250,000 per year.
Equity Opportunity: 0.2%–0.4% equity.
Direct Executive Collaboration: Work closely with the CEO and help shape company-wide technical strategy.
Technical Ownership: Define the architecture, engineering standards, and development practices for a growing technology platform.
Early-Stage Impact: Play a foundational role in building the company's in-house engineering organization.
Mission-Driven Work: Contribute to technology designed to improve access to pediatric mental health care.
AI Innovation: Help drive the practical adoption of AI across product development and engineering.

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