For founders · Role design and search
Founding Engineer
Hire a Founding Engineer for the product you still need to discover.
Start with the problem the person must take from an incomplete idea to working software. Define the decisions they can make, the support they will have and the evidence you need before making an offer.
Book a 20-minute founders callA free 20-minute introductory call. No commitment.
Define the problem
What needs to work before the team can grow?
Name the product milestone and the uncertainty around it. Then distinguish the work a new engineer can own from the decisions a founder still needs to make. A clear brief gives candidates a real view of the code, users and constraints they would inherit.
What to assess
The evidence this search should produce.
For each example, separate what the person demonstrated, what they described and what still needs to be tested.
Software they brought into use
A specific product or feature, their personal contribution and what happened after release. Examine the code and decisions they can share, including how they handled a production problem.
Product decisions under uncertainty
How they narrowed an unclear request, learned from a user and chose what to build first. Look for a reason behind the scope and evidence that informed the next decision.
An engineering foundation others can use
How they made the work understandable, testable and maintainable for the next person. Explore what they documented, simplified or deliberately left for later.
Questions to start with
Make the interview specific to your company.
Use your actual product, team and constraints. Follow the answer into the decisions the person made and the work they would do themselves.
-
Walk us through something you shipped while the product requirements were still changing. What did you decide yourself?
Establish the contribution you can attribute to the candidate and how they stayed close to the product problem.
-
Here is our next product milestone. What would you need to learn before choosing the first piece to build?
Test whether the candidate can turn your uncertainty into a useful next action.
-
Which part of a system you built became difficult to change, and what would you do differently now?
Understand whether they can explain consequences, recognize limits and adjust their approach.
Where the brief can go wrong
Resolve these before asking candidates to commit.
Responsibility without decision rights
Agree which decisions the engineer can make and where founder input is required. The title alone does not give someone authority.
An undefined product mandate
Specify how much customer discovery and product judgment the role carries. Make the founder’s remaining responsibility visible.
Unclear expectations after the next hire
Describe how the role may develop when more engineers join. Avoid implying a future leadership title that has not been agreed.
Bring the context
What to share for an initial search read.
- What the product does today and the next milestone it needs to reach
- The existing code, technical support and people the engineer will work with
- Decisions the person can make, plus location and working requirements
- What has been difficult about the search so far
What must your Founding Engineer make possible?
Bring the role and the product problem. We will help examine the scope, the market questions and the evidence the search needs.
Book a 20-minute founders call See how we calibrate a search Selected searches