Software Engineer (100%) - Zurich / Hybrid

Job description

About Us Holoai Ltd. is an AI startup founded in 2024, building with Joaia at the frontier of travel and discovery. We give tourism destinations across Europe the tools to unlock their local knowledge and turn it into agentic AI guides that reason, remember, and adapt. Destinations build and own their guides themselves. Travelers get something that didn't exist before. Imagine a guide that knows every hidden bar in Zurich's alternative scene, a Roman merchant who brings the ancient origins of Chur to life, or a carnival insider who walks you through Basel's Fasnacht tradition with the depth of someone who has lived it for decades. Each guide has its own personality, its own knowledge domain, its own way of telling a story. They can be fictional characters, digital twins of historical figures, local experts, or thematic specialists. The possibilities are just beginning to open up. We work with destinations like Zurich Tourism, Basel Tourism, Lucerne Tourism, Graubünden Ferien, and more are joining every month. We are a small, focused team on a mission to make the world's local knowledge accessible to every traveler, so that anyone, anywhere, can discover a place with the depth and curiosity it deserves. If that mission excites you, come build it with us. Tasks The Role We are looking for a Full Stack Software Engineer to support the development and continued improvement of the Joaia product experience, with a focus on our React Native mobile application and our React web application. Our app is live with real travelers and now needs refinement - smoother flows, stronger performance, and a mobile experience that makes AI local guides feel intuitive and alive. Alongside it, our web app Guide Studio lets business customers create and analyze local guides and is ready for the next stage of development. You will work closely with Roger, our CTO & co-founder, as well as Product and AI Engineering. Your focus will be on the implementation of all layers of the products: building user-facing features and the backend, connecting AI systems, improving architecture, and helping us ship faster without losing quality. This is a role for someone who enjoys building real products, not only writing isolated code. You should care about the user experience, understand technical trade-offs, and be comfortable working in a small team where priorities can change quickly and ownership matters. We are not looking for a pure researcher or someone who only wants to work on backend infrastructure. We are looking for a hands-on product engineer with strong React / React Native experience, solid full-stack understanding, and curiosity for AI-powered products. What You’ll Do Build and improve the Joaia mobile app with React Native and TypeScript Further development of the Guide Studio web application using React and TypeScript Turn product and design ideas into polished, reliable mobile experiences for iOS and Android Work on mobile-specific challenges such as performance, animations, offline behavior, push notifications, geolocation, and app stability Improve the quality, structure, and maintainability of the applications as the product grows Collaborate closely with Product, Design and AI Engineering to ship features quickly and thoughtfully Use AI tools as part of your development workflow to build faster. Debug, test, release, and monitor app features in a real production environment Bring product thinking into engineering decisions and help shape how travelers experience Joaia Requirements What We’re Looking For You have an advanced degree in computer science (ETH/UNI/FH). You have at least 3 years of experience in professional mobile app development with React Native Solid TypeScript skills and a good understanding of modern frontend architecture with React Experience with MongoDB is a big plus Knowledge of Microsoft Azure and Temporal is a plus, but not required Strong logical and analytical thinking - you can structure complex problems clearly and make sound trade-offs Ability to build clean, maintainable, and well-structured code in a growing product. Good sense for UX details, mobile interaction patterns, and what makes an app feel fast, simple, and reliable Pragmatic engineering mindset: you can balance speed, quality, and complexity without overengineering Comfortable taking ownership in a small team, asking the right questions, and moving things forward independently Experience using AI tools in your own software development workflow Curiosity for travel, discovery, maps, local knowledge, or location-based mobile experiences Benefits What We Offer Real ownership and direct impact on the product from day one Equity / stock options - you're building this alongside us, not just working in it A small, honest team where decisions get made fast and your voice matters Hybrid work setup based in Zurich Work at the frontier of AI, travel, local knowledge, and mobile user experience A live product, real customers, and a lot still to discover How to Apply Send us a short message and tell us why you fit. Attach your CV and optional a link to relevant work. We take hiring seriously. Our process includes structured evaluation with real tasks, because this role requires demonstrated judgment, not just a strong interview.