Founding Engineer

Founding Engineer — Legal Tech (Enterprise SaaS)

Location: London (4–5 days per week on site)

Compensation: £90-100K + substantial equity (depending on salary)

Reports to: CEO

Stage: Pre-seed | Early enterprise rollout

Company Overview

About Navys

Navys is a venture backed legal technology company building enterprise workflow software for private capital markets.

The platform replaces manual, email driven legal processes with a structured system that enables funds lawyers, GPs and LPs to execute complex transactions more efficiently. Navys is focused on real legal workflows, not generic AI tools or document summarisation, and is designed to support production grade, enterprise use cases.

Navys is building core infrastructure for how funds legal work is done, with a strong emphasis on execution, clarity and real-world impact.

Traction and Growth Trajectory

The company has signed its first clients and is in advanced discussions on additional pilot programmes. Early commercial traction includes strong engagement from AmLaw100 firms and leading private equity funds, reflecting clear market demand and validation from top-tier industry participants. The focus now is scaling delivery and execution rather than searching for product market fit.

Role Summary

Navys is seeking a Founding Engineer who will take ownership of day-to-day engineering execution and play a pivotal role in building the engineering function from its earliest foundations.

This role is intended to be a core member of the founding team. As the most senior technical hire, the Founding Engineer will operate as both a hands-on technical leader and a strategic partner to the CEO, contributing to company direction, technical credibility and external engagement when required.

This is not just a delivery role, it is a hands-on technical leadership position responsible for shaping architecture, defining engineering processes and providing technical direction while the company is at a formative stage. The individual will also be expected to represent the technical vision in conversations with clients, partners and investors when appropriate.

The ideal candidate is an experienced engineer who can operate close to the technology while also driving technical decision-making, implementing scalable processes and ensuring accountability as the team grows.

Technology Environment

The platform is built on a modern full-stack architecture optimised for workflow orchestration and rapid iteration. The Founding Engineer will own development strategy and execution and lead the architectural evolution as scale increases.

Current Stack

• Frontend: Next.js, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS
• Backend & APIs: Python (Quart/Flask/Django)
• Infrastructure: PostgreSQL, Docker containerisation, Azure
• Delivery Operations: CI/CD automation, Git-based workflow, Agile execution

Responsibilities

Build and Lead the Engineering Function

• Establish engineering processes, standards and ways of working suitable for an early-stage organisation
• Create a culture of accountability, ownership and high performance
• Recruit, develop and mentor engineering talent as the team expands
• Act as a founding technical leader helping shape company direction alongside the CEO and leadership team

Technical Leadership & Architectural Ownership

• Drive architectural decisions and define the technical direction of the platform
• Provide hands-on guidance, reviewing code and shaping solution design
• Ensure the system remains scalable, secure and maintainable as it evolves

Delivery Management & Operational Excellence

• Own sprint planning, prioritisation and release cadence
• Ensure predictable, high-quality delivery of product features
• Identify and remove blockers quickly, maintaining delivery velocity
• Improve and optimise development workflows, CI/CD practices and QA processes

Cross-Functional Collaboration & Product Alignment

• Translate product requirements into technical plans and release scopes
• Partner closely with product, design and commercial teams to ensure alignment on priorities
• Support early customer deployments and communicate risks, trade-offs and progress clearly to stakeholders
• Act as a technical representative in selected client, partner or investor conversations, helping build trust in the platform’s architecture and long-term vision

Candidate Profile

Essential Requirements

• At least 3 years’ experience managing software engineering teams
• Strong understanding of software engineering management processes in a SaaS environment
• Firsthand experience in modern full-stack web development
• Has successfully delivered production grade enterprise software using a SaaS model
• Solid understanding of software architecture, with the ability to assess options and explain trade-offs to senior stakeholders
• Strong personal network of technologists and engineering talent
• Highly organised and able to prioritise effectively and deliver at pace
• Strong communication skills across technical and non-technical teams
• Comfortable working on-site in London (4–5 days per week)

Desirable Requirements

• Exposure to legal tech or fintech
• Experience with workflow or transaction-heavy systems
• Understanding of security, compliance and resilience in software systems
• Experience joining an early-stage team

What Navys Offers

• Competitive salary and meaningful equity participation at early-stage entry point
• Founding team role with significant influence over company direction and technical strategy
• Ownership of engineering processes, architecture and technical direction
• Potential for expanded leadership responsibilities as the organisation scales