Lead Software Engineer

Founding Engineer Manchester (Hybrid) AI Product / Mobile / SaaS The Opportunity Were working with an early-stage, mission-led software business looking to hire a Founding Engineer to play a key role in the next evolution of their product. The business already has a live platform and strong market relevance the next phase is about rebuilding and improving the product for the AI era , with a particular focus on user experience, intelligent workflows, and mobile-first product thinking .

This is a rare opportunity to join at a genuinely influential stage, working directly with the founders to help shape what gets built, how it gets built, and where the product goes next . If youre the kind of engineer who enjoys owning product problems , building in ambiguity, and turning ideas into shipped features, this is a very interesting role.

What Youll Be Doing Taking a hands-on role in the evolution of the core product and mobile experience Building and shipping features using modern AI tooling , including LLMs, prompt engineering, and agent-based workflows Improving and shaping the user experience through better product thinking, architecture, and delivery Working closely with the founders to turn product ideas into scalable, high-quality software Identifying where AI can genuinely improve customer outcomes not just where it looks good on a roadmap Making practical decisions around architecture, integrations, tooling, and technical direction Helping establish the foundations for the future engineering roadmap and team

What Were Looking For Strong hands-on software engineering background Experience building and shipping real product in startup, scale-up, or high-ownership environments Experience working on customer-facing applications , ideally with some exposure to mobile / app-led products Practical experience using AI in production, including areas like: LLMs prompt engineering AI-assisted workflows agent-based functionality Comfortable working across product, engineering, and technical problem-solving A strong builder mindset someone who enjoys getting things live, improving products, and solving meaningful user problems Comfortable in a fast-moving, founder-led environment Nice to Have

Experience with consumer products , engagement-led products, or behaviour-driven applications Exposure to open banking , fintech, or data-led products Experience working as an early technical hire or in a Founding Engineer / first product engineer type role Interest in helping shape technical direction as the business grows Why Join Founding-level opportunity with genuine ownership Direct access to founders and product direction Opportunity to help shape an AI-native product in a meaningful way High-impact role where you can influence both what gets built and how it gets built Hybrid working in Manchester Equity opportunity as part of the package