Founding Product Engineer

Founding Product Engineer (Full-Stack) Hybrid Remote (U.S. Los Angeles preferred) About Knowlej Knowlej is building the engagement infrastructure for K–12 education. We connect student actions like attendance, learning, and participation to real-world rewards, financial pathways, and future opportunity. Our platform powers schools, districts, and partners to drive engagement at scale while giving students access to incentives, experiences, and long-term economic mobility. We are moving from early traction to a scalable national platform. About the Role We’re hiring our first Founding Product Engineer to build the core of the platform. You will work directly with the founder to define, build, and scale the product from this stage forward. This is a high-ownership role with real influence over architecture, product direction, and speed of execution. You are not joining a team. You are helping build the team. What You’ll Do Build and ship full-stack product features end-to-end Own technical architecture, stack decisions, and system design Lead integrations across APIs, SSO, and partner platforms Improve performance, scalability, and data infrastructure Translate product vision into fast, iterative releases Help establish engineering standards and future hiring direction Who You Are 4–8+ years of full-stack experience Strong with modern frameworks (React, Node, or similar) Product-minded with strong intuition for user experience Comfortable operating with ownership, ambiguity, and speed Able to take ideas from 0 to shipped without heavy structure Bonus Experience at an early-stage or high-growth startup Experience building platforms, marketplaces, or API-driven systems Interest in education, financial access, or mission-driven products Compensation $150,000 – $170,000 base salary Meaningful equity (1% – 2.5%, depending on experience and scope) What Success Looks Like You take ownership of the product quickly You ship consistently and raise the velocity of the company You help build a scalable technical foundation for growth You become a core leader in the company’s next phase