Founding Engineer

We are seeking a talented Software Engineer to join a fast-growing, venture-backed fintech startup building the infrastructure for automotive leasing and financing. The company’s platform connects automotive dealers and financial institutions, simplifying how lease and financing programs are launched, distributed, and originated across new and used vehicles.

This is a hands-on engineering opportunity for someone who thrives in an early-stage environment and enjoys building scalable, high-impact technology. Working directly with the founders, the ideal candidate will take ownership of core platform capabilities, from financial pricing engines and third-party integrations to AI-powered workflows and data modeling.

Key Responsibilities

  • Design, build, and optimize a core quoting and pricing engine supporting lease and financing decisions across multiple lenders, vehicle types, and states, ensuring speed, accuracy, and auditability.

  • Develop tools and intelligence capabilities that help partners identify opportunities and make informed decisions throughout the financing lifecycle.

  • Build and maintain scalable integrations with automotive dealer systems, lenders, and third-party data providers.

  • Develop quantitative models for asset insights, risk pricing, forecasting, and other data-driven financial applications.

  • Implement AI-powered workflows using large language models (LLMs) and agents to automate manual processes and improve operational efficiency.

  • Build secure infrastructure and tools that enable AI systems to interact safely with internal applications and data.

  • Design and maintain scalable, multi-tenant infrastructure, including security, monitoring, and reliable data management.

  • Own engineering projects end to end, from database architecture and API development through user interfaces, deployment, and production performance.

  • Collaborate directly with founders and business stakeholders to translate complex financial requirements into reliable, user-focused technology.

Qualifications

  • 3+ years of professional software engineering experience building, deploying, and maintaining production applications.

  • Strong proficiency in Python, TypeScript, and React, with experience developing full-stack applications.

  • Advanced SQL and relational database skills, including schema design, production migrations, and rollback planning.

  • Experience integrating external APIs and data feeds, including navigating inconsistent documentation, rate limits, and complex data structures.

  • Strong attention to numerical accuracy, with experience testing financial calculations, edge cases, rounding, and data integrity.

  • Demonstrated ability to independently own projects across databases, APIs, frontend development, deployment, and production support.

  • Excellent communication, problem-solving, and organizational skills, with an ownership mentality and the ability to thrive in a fast-paced startup environment.

Preferred Experience: Background in automotive finance, leasing, or dealer systems; quantitative pricing or risk modeling; Azure infrastructure, including Container Apps and PostgreSQL Flexible Server; production LLM applications, AI agents, or Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers; and early-stage startup environments.

Compensation & Schedule

  • Employment Type: Full-time

  • Location: New York, New York

  • Base Salary: $140,000–$160,000 annually.

  • Additional Compensation: Meaningful equity participation.

  • Benefits: Healthcare coverage and gym benefit.

Apply to this Job










    How It Works

    Connect.

    Meet your dedicated recruiter in person to explore your experience and goals + identify opportunities that fit your skillset and expectations.

    Intro call

    Be prepared to discuss your background, career goals and expectations. If you’re a fit for our open roles, we’ll schedule an in-person meeting.

    Meet & match

    Meet your dedicated recruiter in person to explore your experience and goals + identify opportunities that fit your skillset and expectations.

    Interview & place

    Your Recruiter will work closely with you to submit your resume to open roles and work to secure interviews at top companies.

    What our clients are saying about us

    Anonymous
    Client in Fashion Industry
    “All of our hires through Clarity have been wonderful. It’s the only recruiting team I work with.”
    Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
    Larry Mahl
    Our account manager is fantastic! She does a great job recruiting for our organization and helping us find outstanding candidates who do great work and add to our culture.
    Healthcare Startup
    Anonymous Client
    We have consistently received excellent service and candidates every time we ask. It has been the best experience I have ever had with an agency.
    The LGB&T Community Center
    Ryan McCallister
    Great support and values alignment with Clarity and our organization.
    Simons Foundation
    Anna Beekman
    They are great at what they do! Experts in the field and I trust them.They respond quickly to my emails and send over great candidates. I can always count on them!
    NS1
    Rebecca James
    Great candidate sourcing, timely responses and making sure that we were satisfied with our chosen candidate. It was a really easy recruitment experience.
    DonorsChoose
    Scarlett Huang
    Working with Clarity has been a really great experience. They really looked for jobs that suit my interest and they’ve been really helpful in the process.
    Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
    Lucy Gram
    Clarity has been wonderful! They are responsive, positive, and treat job seekers like people rather than skillsets.
    Bain & Co.
    Lucile Clay
    I am always giving Clarity Recruiting contact information out to people. This recruiting company changed my life and I am so happy to be where I am now. I couldn’t have done it without you all!
    Communications Agency
    Client
    "Working with Clarity is just easy...they just get it. It's also a two-way relationship. They work to help us find great candidates, and we help them by giving them feedback. Plus, it's fun to work with them!"
    Rover
    Kathleen Riley
    Clarity provided a great pool of vetted candidates and a super helpful and responsive team!
    Metropolitan Public Strategies
    Jason Heard
    We chose Clarity because they're a local, women owned firm with an excellent reputation!
    Brit + Co.
    Ashton Kamphuis
    Clarity is always extremely easy to get in contact with even with last minute requests.
    AKQA
    Robyn B.
    Clarity has not only placed me in my current role, they have helped me place other candidates in roles across AKQA as our recruitment partner. Occasionally we need last minute temporary placements for our Reception desk, and Matt always brings in the best candidates.
    SYPartners
    Tom Martin
    Always have had great experiences, met strong candidates, and have built wonderful partnerships with the Clarity Team!
    Rover
    Christine Cook
    Clarity is awesome! Definitely the best staffing agency I've ever worked with. Highest quality candidates and best communication.
    Landor
    Leonie Derrie
    Every candidate that Clarity sends to Landor has been first-rate!

    Find your

    Next Step

    Not sure what you’re looking for? We can still help!
    Submit your resume and we’ll reach out if we have a great match.