Founding Engineer

Basics

• Up to £100k + generous, early-hire equity.
• Impactful mission: your work will directly improve the lives of vulnerable children.
• Ownership and responsibility: lead engineering and shape the product from the ground up.
• Work closely with the founder and leadership on a daily basis.
• Based in London, 2-3 days a week in-office.

What are we building, and why?

• Social care is a £96bn sector, completely broken by administrative burden and outdated processes. This system is under severe pressure and it’s failing the vulnerable people that need it most, leaving them in unstable and unsafe situations. We can help fix it.
• We’re starting where the need is most urgent: children’s care . Today, fragmented tools and manual processes slow decision-making and increase the risk of unsuitable placements. The consequences are severe: children living in illegal or temporary placements, being moved repeatedly, and not finding the stability they need. At the same time, care workers are overwhelmed by admin and unable to focus on what matters most: the people they support.
• Elyndra exists to remove this friction . We build software that automates unnecessary labour and accelerates decision-making - without taking control away from professionals - so the system can operate at the pace children need.

Who are we?

• We’re currently a small, talent-dense team (including Y-Combinator exited founders), looking for our next superstar.
• Our founder, Marcus, brings deep sector expertise through direct family experience in care settings and has seen firsthand how better technology can reduce pressure on teams and materially improve outcomes for children.
• We’re backed by leading VCs and angels and work with a strategic PE partner that owns over 160 care homes - giving us both the mandate and a clear route to scale impact across the sector.

The role

As Founding Engineer, you’ll lead the technical development of our AI-first product, ensuring we build something our customers love.

What does the role involve?

• Own product development, architecture and technical roadmap. Make key decisions that influence the business.
• Decide how we build things - balancing speed of iteration with long-term stability.
• Understand our users in-depth. Proactively think about their needs and turn them into outstanding products.
• Design intuitive UIs that care workers can use with confidence - visualizing complex insights in a way that is clear to non-technical users.

What does the ideal hire look like?

• You’re a product-first engineer. You care about building something that provides value to users, not just elegant code.
• You’re full stack: as you’ll be building end-to-end, you need to be comfortable working across both backend and frontend.
• You have experience integrating LLM services into applications, and ensuring high-quality, reliable outcomes.
• You can move from fast, scrappy prototyping to scalable, architectural work. You understand when to apply which.
• You have experience building secure cloud-based applications.
• You have experience implementing security best practices for handling sensitive data. Ideally, you can demonstrate having implemented GDPR and security compliance in technical systems.
• You’ve worked at early-stage startups before, or you are a tinkerer that has built products on the side for years.

Bonus points if you have experience in social care or healthcare.

Our current tech stack is: Python, React, PostgreSQL, GitHub, Docker. This isn’t dogmatic - you’ll have the autonomy to evolve the stack where it makes sense.

You’ll be a great fit if:

• You thrive with true autonomy, ownership and responsibility. You’re a high-agency problem solver that understands problems fast.
• You want to shape a business from the ground up.
• You’re excited by the opportunity to have a real impact on a large but underserved sector.
• You’re a team player - you communicate clearly and make the people around you better. You’re able to explain technical concepts to non-technical people.

The role isn’t for you if:

• You need tightly defined daily tasks, require very clear lanes and don’t enjoy working in a fast-paced environment with loosely defined requirements.
• You are not comfortable with change.
• You don’t know how to be scrappy.

Perks and benefits:

• Career opportunity - a competitive salary and meaningful equity in a high-growth start-up, with the chance to lead and shape the future of a category-defining product.
• Talent - we’re a small, high-caliber team that cares deeply about the mission.
• Impact - build advanced tech that has a real impact on vulnerable people.
• Valued on outcome, not hours - we work hybrid and with flexible hours. We focus on working in the ways that enable us to deliver our best.
• Holidays - 25 days plus bank holidays. Use up to 5 flexible bank holidays on days that are most meaningful to you.
• Professional development - budget for tools, courses, conferences and more. Your growth is our growth.
• Pension scheme - 3% employer contribution + 5% employee contributions.

Elyndra is an equal opportunity employer - In line with the Equality Act 2010, should you require any reasonable adjustments to the application process, please let us know via the form and we will get back to you to discuss your requirements as necessary.

All applicants must have the right to work in the UK and will be required to pass an Enhanced DBS check due to access to vulnerable persons’ data.