Founding Engineer
At a glance
Mid-level Software Engineering role at Pear VC. Palo Alto · full-time · $140,000–$200,000 base.
techroles summary, based on the employer's posting.
What you'll do
- Build employee guidance and manager dashboard features, then ship them to pilot customers
- Turn customer and pilot-call feedback into product updates quickly, and help close deals through focused builds
- Develop production LLM features and set up the telemetry and evaluation systems behind the product’s insights
- Own product areas from early prototype through release, improving reliability and quality for enterprise buyers
- Work across the application stack and help shape engineering practices as the team grows
What you bring
- You have shipped full-stack software into production in fast-moving settings
- You build with TypeScript, React, Next.js, backend APIs and Postgres
- You have delivered LLM-powered features in production, beyond prototypes
- You can work across web and desktop, using Electron, Tauri or a comparable option
- You use CI/CD, testing, observability and practical system design in production work
Who this fits
This suits a hands-on founding engineer who wants to work directly with customers and influence product direction. The role is in person around San Francisco, with the listed location in Palo Alto. You’ll take on individual engineering work while helping shape the team and its practices.
From the employer
The Opportunity
Companies have spent billions on AI tools and tokens. Almost none of them can prove it’s working. 95% of organizations report zero measurable return from their AI investments. Not because the tools are bad, but because nobody redesigned the workflows, coached the teams, or measured what actually changed.
Modo is the AI success layer for the enterprise. We sit inside the flow of work, capture how teams actually use AI, guide them in the moment, and give leaders the ROI analytics to understand which AI tools and workflows are actually creating value.
Today, Modo helps companies drive AI adoption and prove ROI inside real workflows. As we capture more workflow context, Modo becomes the layer understanding how work actually gets done across teams, tools, and AI, which allows companies to build proprietary custom agents grounded in their own workflows.
We are a Seed stage startup, raised from One Way Ventures, Pear VC, Peterson Ventures, JFF Ventures, and a strong group of institutional investors and strategic operators. Now we need to build fast enough to match customer demand.
The Role
This is not a typical engineering role. You’ll be our founding engineer, with an outsized role in how the product, company, and engineering culture evolve.
You’ll write code, but you’ll also:
Talk to customers and join pilot calls
Turn feedback into product changes the same week
Influence the roadmap directly
Help close deals by building what matters fast
Own features end-to-end, from prototype to production
In your first 90 days, you’ll:
Ship production code to real pilot customers in your first weeks
Build the core product surfaces: employee-facing guidance UX and manager dashboard
Work across the stack (TypeScript, React, Next.js, Postgres, Electron/Tauri)
Wire up LLM features that actually work in production, not just in a demo
Set up the telemetry and eval systems that make our insights credible
In 6 months, you’ll:
Own large product surface areas end-to-end
Help convert pilots into paying contracts with your product work
Drive the reliability and quality bar that enterprise buyers expect
Start shaping engineering culture and hiring as we grow the team
In 12 months, you’ll:
Architect key parts of the system
Be known by name to our biggest customers
Opportunity to lead engineering as we scale past our seed round
Competitive salary, meaningful early equity, and the chance to grow into an engineering leadership role as we scale.
Who We Want
Shipping full-stack production-ready products in fast-moving environments
Strong with TypeScript, React, Next.js, backend APIs, and Postgres
Comfortable building across web and desktop (Electron, Tauri, or similar)
Has built LLM-powered features in production, not just prototyped with them
Production habits: CI/CD, testing, observability, pragmatic system design
Native with AI coding agents (Claude Code/Codex)
Obsessive about customer needs, not just abstract “users”
Comfortable debugging, writing tests, talking to customers, and jumping on a pilot call
Bonus: Experience with building browser-based automation tools or developer/enterprise tools.
The Team
You’ll join Johnny Chang (Stanford top AI agent research, taught most Stanford AI flagship courses with professors like Andrew Ng) and Angelina You (Meta data science, Stanford MS Eng, product growth at CircleCI) as the founding engineer. Product, engineering, and customer work all run through the same room.
We’re backed by One Way Ventures, Pear VC, Peterson Ventures, JFF Ventures, and many more institutional funds and strategic angels.
Why Modo
Founding team member. Shape culture, product, and technology from the ground up.
Real ownership. Your code ships to enterprise customers from week one.
Leadership trajectory. Designed to grow into a leading engineering role.
In-person around SF. We believe great teams build faster together.
Competitive pay + early equity. Rewarded for the outsized impact you’ll have.
How to Apply
Email johnny@joinmodo.com with:
Your GitHub
Your Resume
2 to 3 links to things you’ve shipped (projects, products, demos, write-ups)
A short note on the most impressive thing you’ve built
Software Engineering work from LinkedIn, X, Reddit and Upwork, in one list.
Each morning you get everything that fits, strongest first.
Software Engineering$140k+
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