Founding Software Engineer II

Zigtale•Lancaster, PA

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

ZigTale is hiring its first full-time engineer to build and maintain its TypeScript and React web app. The role is mostly remote, with in-person meetings in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, at least once a week. The engineer will own work end to end, from planning and implementation through review, testing, and release to staging and production. The role involves working with AI models and coding agents, testing on real phones and tablets, protecting children's data, and responding to feedback from beta families. The engineer will be ZigTale's only full-time software engineer and will report to a part-time advisor who built the current platform. The advisor will manage the engineer, set priorities and quality expectations, and review work; the engineer will decide how to implement agreed work. The company is in beta, with selected families using its web app on phones. Candidates must live in or near Lancaster, including the York, Harrisburg, or Reading areas, by their first day, attend weekly in-person meetings, and be authorized to work in the United States without visa sponsorship. ZigTale does not offer relocation assistance.

Requirements

At least two years of professional software engineering experience building software people rely on as an employee, contractor, or freelancer.
Experience shipping features from initial design through release and fixing issues after they break in production.
Regular use of frontier AI models and coding agents, with work demonstrating what the candidate has built using them.
Solid engineering and DevOps fundamentals, including TypeScript, React, SQL databases, APIs, and production debugging; candidates strongest in another language should be able to demonstrate learning a new one.
Hands-on use of at least one image, video, or voice generative model in a project.
Ability to scope and plan a feature, identify risks, and seek review at appropriate points without step-by-step direction.
Ability to critically assess AI output, inspect code diffs, write tests, and identify incorrect model output.
Strong attention to detail and follow-through on product quality.
Clear written communication explaining changes, rationale, and remaining risks.
Full-time availability; ZigTale must be the candidate's only full-time job.
Must live in or near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, including the York, Harrisburg, or Reading areas, by the first day, and be able to attend in-person meetings in Lancaster at least weekly.
Authorization to work in the United States without visa sponsorship.

Nice To Haves

Experience as the first or only engineer on a product.
Experience building or researching products for children, families, or education, including user research with children and parents.
Working knowledge of children's privacy, including COPPA, and privacy-by-design.
Experience shipping a progressive web app or mobile app and addressing iOS Safari issues.
Experience building evaluations to compare AI models on quality, speed, and cost.
Experience with cloud hosting, Postgres, and CI pipelines.
A feel for illustration, animation, voice, or storytelling.

Responsibilities

Plan, build, get reviewed, and ship features and fixes for the TypeScript and React web app as tested releases to staging and production.
Own the quality of AI features, including prompts, model selection, speed, cost, and handling provider failures.
Test the app on real iPhones, iPads, and Android devices, and preserve screenshot evidence before considering work complete.
Protect children's data through privacy-first design, parental consent, content moderation, and COPPA-minded practices.
Run multiple AI coding agents, critically review their output, and keep tests and release checks passing.
Manage the AI tools and models budget thoughtfully and communicate when tools no longer justify their cost.
Review feedback from beta families, identify friction, and address it quickly.
Document findings and decisions in runbooks and incident notes.
Own features and fixes end to end, including scoping, planning, risk identification, implementation, testing, and release.