Founding Software Engineer - New Product

Job description

**This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Founding Software Engineer - New Product based in Australia.** This is a founding engineering opportunity focused on taking an early real-time 3D product from prototype to a strong technical foundation. You will be the first and initially only engineer, working closely with product leadership and an established engineering team. The product is browser-native and designed to run across a broad range of devices, from school Chromebooks and Android phones to tablets and gaming PCs. You will shape the MVP, evaluate competing technologies, and make foundational architectural decisions. The role combines hands-on software development, rapid experimentation, product thinking, and technical leadership. As the product and team grow, the position can evolve into a broader technical leadership role. ### Accountabilities: As the founding engineer, you will take significant ownership of the product's early technical direction while remaining deeply hands-on. You will move quickly from ideas and prototypes to practical, scalable solutions and help establish an architecture that can support both product growth and an open-source community. - Define the MVP and rapidly prototype different technical approaches. - Evaluate technologies including Three.js, WebGPU, WebGL, PlayCanvas, and comparable web-game technologies. - Assess the existing browser-native prototype and determine which components should be retained, improved, or replaced. - Design the architecture and build the technical foundation for the initial product. - Determine how the browser-native experience should interact with the existing Windows-native product. - Explore technical challenges involving multiplayer, content compatibility, and boundaries between browser and Windows-native experiences. - Establish an architecture suitable for an open-source development community. - Use AI-assisted development extensively to accelerate experimentation, implementation, and iteration. - Provide strong technical and architectural leadership while contributing directly to the codebase. - Collaborate closely with product leadership and the broader engineering organization. - Help shape product decisions by combining technical feasibility, user needs, and long-term scalability. - Establish performance and optimization strategies for a product expected to operate across a wide range of hardware. - Contribute to the evolution of the product and potentially take on broader technical leadership as the team expands. **Requirements:** The ideal candidate combines strong software engineering fundamentals with hands-on game development, real-time 3D expertise, and the ability to operate independently in an ambiguous environment. You should be comfortable making decisions with incomplete information, testing ideas quickly, and taking ownership of both product and technical outcomes. - 5+ years of software engineering experience, or equivalent demonstrated ability. - Strong experience with web-based game development and real-time 3D. - Hands-on experience with technologies such as Three.js, WebGPU, WebGL, PlayCanvas, or comparable frameworks. - Professional Unity or game development experience. - Strong understanding of multiple game-development disciplines, such as gameplay, rendering, networking, tools, engines, or technical art. - Demonstrated ability to rapidly prototype and evaluate competing technologies. - Experience with AI-assisted software development. - Strong product instincts and the ability to think as both a product owner and technical leader. - Excellent architectural judgment and communication skills. - Ability to work independently in a fast-moving, ambiguous startup environment. - Strong performance and optimization instincts across a wide range of hardware and device capabilities. - A hands-on mindset and willingness to move quickly from ideas to working prototypes. - Curiosity and the ability to learn new technologies rapidly. - Experience with game engines or editors, open-source projects, multiplayer systems, content pipelines, or products shipped across desktop and mobile is a plus. - A portfolio of software, games, tools, prototypes, GitHub projects, or other products you have built is highly valued. **Benefits:** - Remote / work from anywhere. - Contractor engagement. - Initial 3-month engagement. - Opportunity to help define a new product from its earliest stages. - Significant ownership over product direction, architecture, and implementation. - Direct collaboration with product leadership and experienced engineering teams. - Opportunity to work with modern browser-based real-time 3D technologies. - Freedom to experiment, prototype, and evaluate new technical approaches. - Opportunity to use AI-assisted development to accelerate engineering work. - Potential to continue with the product beyond the initial engagement. - Opportunity to grow into a larger technical leadership role as the product and team expand. - Exposure to open-source product architecture and community-driven development.