🚀 Founding Engineer — AI Matching Agent (WhatsApp-first)

We’re building something simple, but non-obvious:

👉 Can people actually connect and move toward sharing a stay — what we call “SplitStaying” — around events?

SplitStay adds a social layer to travel, starting with events.

Link to our Pitch Deck:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1FTsHBfOq5j-f1qnjWUYUA9BfQ1i5ovWi4j4-xLCCalo/edit usp=sharing

🧠 The Idea

Today:

• People attend events alone
• Accommodation is expensive and fragmented
• Coordination between strangers doesn’t exist

We’re building a WhatsApp-first matching system that turns:

👉 interest → connection → coordination

We are already Meta Business verified and ready to deploy WhatsApp at scale, now we need to build the intelligence layer on top.

⚡ The Angle

Think:

👉 Boardy.ai for shared stays around events

Not another app.

Not another marketplace UI.

But a conversation-driven coordination layer that:

• nudges the right people at the right time
• reduces friction between strangers
• actually gets people to act

🧩 What you’ll own

You’ll design and build the core matching engine behind SplitStay:

• WhatsApp-based onboarding and conversation flows
• Matching logic (who should connect with whom — and when)
• AI-assisted coordination (LLMs for intent, nudging, timing)
• User progression systems (interest → connection → real-world action)
• Lightweight automation (not overbuilt, but high-leverage)

👉 This is not a typical backend role

👉 This is building a behavior engine

⚙️ What we’re looking for

Core

• Experience with WhatsApp Business API / Twilio / messaging systems
• Strong backend skills (Node.js or Python)
• Experience with LLMs / AI integrations
• Fast builder — you ship, test, iterate quickly

Bonus

Built or worked on:

• AI agents
• marketplaces
• dating / social products
• chat-based systems
• growth or automation tools

🧬 Mindset

• You think in systems, not features
• You care about user behavior, not just code
• You’re comfortable with ambiguity and early-stage chaos
• You like building things that interact with real people
• You want to own something from zero

🧪 Current stage

We already have:

• Community leads onboarding users
• Real demand around events
• Early matches happening manually

Now we need to turn this into a:

👉 repeatable, scalable system

⚡ Structure

• Start with a 30-day sprint
• High ownership from day one
• Potential to evolve into a founding engineering role (core team)

💡 Important

This is not a typical job.

We’re looking for someone who:

👉 wants to build something from the ground up

👉 is excited by messy real-world problems

👉 sees the opportunity in creating a new behavioral layer

📩 If this resonates

Send a connection request to the founder: Ruben Vanhees | LinkedIn

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