Is being a founding engineer worth it?

Founding engineers take a financial risk when they join a startup as they could earn a lot more working in a big tech firm. But, in the long run, it could be a greater benefit given that they receive substantial equity in the company .

What to look for in a founding engineer?

A fantastic founding engineer is someone with 5-10 years of hands-on experience as a software engineer . They have the ability to take ownership of projects, work autonomously, and thrive in a fast-paced, ambiguous environment. They can wear multiple hats and balance various responsibilities with ease.

How much does a founding engineer make at YC?

Below are a few of the most recent YC startups (Winter '22 batch) hiring for founding engineers, with compensation in the $160-180K range and equity around 1.5-2.0%. To keep up with the newest YC startups hiring on the platform, create a profile on YC's job board and find yours.

What counts as a founding engineer?

A founding engineer is one of the first few hires (or software engineers) that join a startup . It depends on the company and founders, but usually founding engineers write fullstack code and talk to users/customers often.

What I wish I knew before becoming an engineer?

You will need more social skills than imagined . What has surprised a lot of engineers is how people-oriented the career actually is. Engineers spend a lot of time closely working with each other, so making sure your social and communication skills are on top of their game quickly becomes a priority.

What are the three qualities to be a successful engineer?

Innovativeness, coherent thinking, leadership skills, and troubleshooting are a section of the top attributes that can make you an effective professional across divisions.

What level is a founding engineer?

A founding engineer is one of the first few hires (or software engineers) that join a startup . It depends on the company and founders, but usually founding engineers write fullstack code and talk to users/customers often. What makes them truly unique is really what they have to deal with.

What percent equity do founding engineers get?

First, let's start with the basics. From a basic benchmarking perspective, the range of possibilities likely lies between ~0.50% and 1.75% .

What does it take to be a founding engineer?

It's necessary to think beyond writing code, building features, and solving user needs . A founding engineer's aim is to build out a company-wide system which enables the business to find its PMF. Remember, you're a founding employee. Success means achieving PMF for the company, and then taking it to the next level.

What is the most profitable engineer?

The highest-paid engineers are computer hardware engineers, petroleum engineers, and aerospace engineers .

Founding Solutions Engineer at Medplum

Medplum

API first electronic health record (EHR) that is open source

$150K - $190K

Location

San Francisco, CA, US

Job Type

Full-time

Experience

3+ years

Connect directly with founders of the best YC-fundedstartups.

Apply to role ›

Rahul Agarwal

Founder

About the role

About Medplum

Medplum is redefining healthcare with our open source, API-first electronic health record (EHR) platform, trusted by leading digital and life sciences companies. Our mission is to catalyze change in the healthcare industry by improving the access, privacy, and utility of health data. At Medplum, we have a unique opportunity to impact the lives of patients, speed medical research, and contribute to the open source ecosystem.

About the Role

The mission of a Medplum Solutions Engineer is to do whatever it takes to help Medplum's customers get the most value out of the Medplum platform, as quickly as possible. As a founding member of the Solutions Engineering team, you will set the tone for the team and develop its culture and processes.

What You Will Do

📈 Reduce Time to Value for Medplum Implementations: Conduct enterprise workshops and trainings, troubleshoot customer implementations, provide technical guidance and create documentation to help customers unlock value for their patients and providers faster. Your efforts will be the catalyst for our customers' success and Medplum's revenue growth.
🧠 Serve as a Strategic Thought Partner: Build relationships with customer executives and become a trusted thought partner for the C-Suite to help them plan their EHR strategy, operations, and execution. You'll be the guiding light for our customers, empowering them to emerge as industry leaders.
🌱 Grow Existing Customer Value: Gather intel, secure executive buy-in, and manage new implementation work streams to identify and implement new use cases at existing customers by educating them on the “art of the possible.” Your ability to uncover new opportunities and expand our footprint within existing accounts will be a significant driver of Medplum's long-term success.
🔌 Develop Enterprise Features and Integrations: Write code for core healthcare workflows, such as e-prescribe, labs, health networks, billing, benefits check, etc. By unlocking the full potential of the healthcare ecosystem, you'll unlock new capabilities for our customers and enhance Medplum’s value proposition to the market.
🎯 Provide Feedback to Product and Engineering: As a team member with the most direct customer contact, you’ll be the voice of our customers and integral for identifying new features and use cases for the platform. An important part of the Solutions Engineering role is to capture these customer issues and prioritize them to shape the product and engineering roadmap.
🎙️ Set the Tone for the Solutions Engineering Team: As the founding member of the Solutions Engineering team, you'll be starting a world-class team that serves as a critical driver of Medplum's revenue growth and market expansion. You’ll help develop tools and benchmarks for how the team measures success, and constantly be seeking ways to optimize how we serve customers.

About You

You have excellent communication skills (written & verbal) and can clearly and effectively communicate across various channels.
You have full stack TypeScript experience and can write Medplum Bots, data migrations, and third-party integrations.
You are self-managed. You will have a lot of autonomy in how you work with customers, and you’ll need to follow up promptly, effectively manage your time, and sweat the details.
You are a relationship builder who can identify technical and business leaders at each customer and become a trusted partner to their organization.
You have a "win at all costs" mentality and are focused on making sure Medplum is successful at any given deployment.
You have 3+ years of experience in a customer-facing technical sales, customer success, or technical consulting role.
You're based in the SF Bay Area, ready for twice-weekly in-person collaboration.
Bonus: Experience deploying developer products, and/or health tech industry experience.

Join us in our mission to revolutionize healthcare. If you're excited about building community, creating impactful content, and driving developer success, we'd love to hear from you!

About Medplum

Medplum is an open source API-first electronic health record (EHR). Some of the largest digital health companies, life sciences companies and more use us to build sophisticated medical applications. Our mission is to increase access to and utility of medical data. That means you have a unique opportunity to impact the lives of patients, speed medical research and contribute to open source all day.