Founding Software Engineer - Forward Deployed

Overstand Labs (YC W25) is building the on-demand data team for modern companies — pulling together everything a business knows so it can answer questions, validate ideas, and automate actions confidently.

We do this by working directly with customers. We embed with teams, understand their operations, and turn messy internal data into AI-powered workflows that solve real, business-critical problems.

We're looking for a Founding Engineer to work directly with customers, and build the product. If you thrive at the intersection of technical depth and customer impact, we'd like to invite you to Apply Now.

What You'll Do

• Be deeply customer-facing: work directly with customers to understand how their business actually runs and translate unclear problems into concrete technical solutions.
• Build production-grade systems across AI pipelines, backend services, data infrastructure, and product surfaces.
• Work end-to-end using PySpark, Python (FastAPI), and TypeScript (Next.js) — from data foundations and APIs to user-facing product experiences.
• Operate with high autonomy in a fast-moving environment, while staying closely aligned with the founders.
• As an early hire, help shape engineering standards, culture, and the technical direction of the company.

You're likely a great fit if you:

• Have experience in a high-ownership engineering environment
• Enjoy ambiguous problem spaces and end-to-end ownership
• Care about shipping quickly and building systems that hold up in production

Step 1 – Founder Call (Fit & Ownership)
A conversation with the founders to understand your motivations, sense of ownership, and how you approach ambiguous, high-impact problems. We’ll also share more context on Overstand’s mission, culture, and expectations.

Step 2 – AI-Based Technical Deep Dive
An asynchronous technical evaluation focused on real-world problem solving. This isn’t trivia—it’s designed to assess how you reason about systems, data, and AI-driven workflows.

Step 3 – Practical Working Session
A live, collaborative working session where we tackle a realistic problem together. This simulates how we actually work day-to-day and gives both sides a clear sense of fit.