The Founding Engineer will develop full-stack applications, shape product direction, and work in ambiguous environments from concept to validation.
About the Role
What You’ll Do
How You’ll Operate
You Should Have
What Sets You Apart
This Role Is Not For You If
At Vantora (formerly UP.Labs), we partner with leading organizations to build entirely new software businesses from the ground up. This is not a traditional engineering role - you won’t be joining a single product or inheriting a defined roadmap. You’ll work across multiple ventures partnering with one of the world's leading industrial manufacturing companies, helping turn early concepts into real, working products that can stand on their own.
As a Staff Engineer (Founding Team), you’ll operate in high-ambiguity environments where both the problem and solution are evolving. You’ll be responsible for taking ideas from initial concept through to working product and real-world validation. Owning decisions across the stack along the way.
This is a hands-on role with meaningful ownership. Your work will directly shape product direction, technical foundations, and whether a venture gains traction.
- Take concepts from zero to a working product and real-world validation
- Own full-stack development: frontend, backend, APIs, and data layers
- Shape product direction alongside venture leads and PMs, not just execute against specs
- Design and build rapid validation loops to test assumptions and de-risk ideas early
- Architect and implement core systems, models, and integrations from scratch
- Use AI as a force multiplier across development and product capabilities
- Make deliberate tradeoffs between speed and durability based on venture stage
- Operate effectively with incomplete, evolving, or imperfect inputs to get to working solutions quickly
- Work directly with stakeholders to validate workflows and refine solutions
- Identify and mitigate technical and product risks early
- Contribute across multiple ventures, applying patterns and learnings to accelerate future builds
- Maintain a high bar for technical quality while moving with urgency
- You move fluidly across the stack and don’t rely on narrowly defined ownership boundaries
- You turn unclear ideas into concrete implementations without waiting for full direction
- You know when to prioritize speed and when to invest in structure
- You bias toward action – building, testing, and iterating to create clarity
- You’re comfortable abandoning approaches that don’t show signal and redirecting quickly
- You think in terms of outcomes and user impact, not just technical output
- You can context switch across multiple problems without losing momentum
- 6+ years of software engineering experience, including time in early-stage 0→1 environments
- Proven ability to build and ship full-stack applications end-to-end
- Strong judgment around speed vs scalability tradeoffs in early-stage systems
- Demonstrated use of AI to accelerate development or product capabilities
- Comfort operating in ambiguous environments where both the problem and solution are evolving
- Ability to work with incomplete or messy inputs to arrive at practical solutions
- Strong communication skills and the ability to influence decisions
- You’ve operated in environments where there was no clear playbook
- You’re comfortable owning entire systems rather than components
- You identify leverage – reusable patterns, shortcuts, and ways to move faster across efforts
- You focus on building things that work in real-world conditions, not just ideal ones
- You take responsibility for outcomes, not just implementation
- You prefer strictly defined ownership (frontend-only, backend-only, etc.)
- You need well-defined requirements and stable roadmaps
- You want to focus on maintaining and scaling existing systems
- You rely on structured environments to do your best work
Location: Flex on remote, with occasional travel to LA. Preference for candidates local to our HQ in Santa Monica
Similar Jobs
Edtech • Information Technology • Software
Leads Revenue Operations strategy, Salesforce systems, processes, data quality, and roadmap prioritization across direct, partner, and digital go-to-market teams. Manages and coaches RevOps analysts and administrators, oversees workflow documentation, supports CRM and CPQ implementations, and partners cross-functionally on trade-offs and scalable process improvements. The role requires extensive Salesforce and Revenue Operations experience, global organization support, and monthly travel for internal or team events.
Top Skills:
ConfluenceCpqDun & BradstreetGainsightGongJIRALucidchartExcelSalesforceTableauZoominfo
Healthtech • Pet
Own product strategy, roadmaps, and end-to-end delivery for veterinary software platforms. Lead cross-functional initiatives, synthesize customer feedback and data, define KPIs, manage product requirements and QA, improve adoption and retention, and drive launches. Partner with engineering, design, data, onboarding, support, veterinary clinics, and pet parents while mentoring junior product managers and influencing stakeholders without direct authority.
Top Skills:
APIsData Analytics ToolsIntegrationsQuality AssuranceSaaSSystem Design
Artificial Intelligence • eCommerce • Fintech • Payments • Retail • Software • Analytics
Sell Scotch’s POS and operating system, including hardware, software, payments, and e-commerce, to liquor store owners. Manage inbound and outbound prospecting, conduct frequent calls, explain technology value to small-business buyers, meet sales targets, and collaborate with onboarding and support teams to ensure successful merchant transitions. The role requires strong SMB technology or beverage alcohol sales experience and residence in Connecticut or Rhode Island.
Top Skills:
E-CommerceInventory ManagementPayment ProcessingPosSales Enablement Tools
What you need to know about the Chicago Tech Scene
With vibrant neighborhoods, great food and more affordable housing than either coast, Chicago might be the most liveable major tech hub. It is the birthplace of modern commodities and futures trading, a national hub for logistics and commerce, and home to the American Medical Association and the American Bar Association. This diverse blend of industry influences has helped Chicago emerge as a major player in verticals like fintech, biotechnology, legal tech, e-commerce and logistics technology. It’s also a major hiring center for tech companies on both coasts.
Key Facts About Chicago Tech
- Number of Tech Workers: 245,800; 5.2% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
- Major Tech Employers: McDonald’s, John Deere, Boeing, Morningstar
- Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, biotechnology, fintech, software, logistics technology
- Funding Landscape: $2.5 billion in venture capital funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
- Notable Investors: Pritzker Group Venture Capital, Arch Venture Partners, MATH Venture Partners, Jump Capital, Hyde Park Venture Partners
- Research Centers and Universities: Northwestern University, University of Chicago, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Illinois Institute of Technology, Argonne National Laboratory, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
