Founding Software Engineer

Founding Software Engineer

Before you apply, read this. Seriously.  This is an early-stage startup . That's not a figure of speech: it means there are no established processes, priorities shift week to week, you'll work on problems with no ready-made solution, and your scope will be broad and constantly evolving. It also means everything you build reaches clients within days, you work shoulder to shoulder with the founders, and you get a rare opportunity, to shape a product and a company from the foundations up.We're looking for someone working as an independent contractor (Partita IVA ) willing to commit 80% of their time  to the project during the first 6 months . Not a consultant passing through: a future founding member who wants to build with us.If that trade-off, fewer certainties today, far more weight and far more ownership tomorrow — excites you, keep reading. If it's not for you, that's perfectly fine.
Stock options are the heart of this offer

Let's be clear from the start: in this role, the most important thing is not the salary, it's the stock options.

You're joining at founding stage, and the terms reflect that. You'll receive a generous stock options package, sized to your experience and granted at the company's current valuation, so the value you create turns directly into value you own. Not token grants: real ownership in what we're building together. The salary keeps you comfortable today; the stock options are what can change your life if we get this right.

The contractor fee will be competitive for an early-stage startup , calibrated to your experience and seniority, enough to do your best work with focus. But the asymmetry is all on the equity, and that's where we want you looking.

What happens after the first 6 months

The 80% freelance arrangement is the mutual get-to-know-each-other phase . After the first 3-6 months, if the fit works on both sides, two paths open up, and you'll get to choose the one that suits you best:

• Employment in Dubai, digital-nomad style and tax-free.  A Dubai-based contract with a favorable tax regime, requiring a commitment of at least 60 days a year in Dubai  and spending less than 6 months in any single country  (to maintain the status). Maximum geographic freedom coherently with the team, zero taxation, and your center of gravity on one of our hubs.
• Permanent contract in Italy.  A contract consistent with a growing early-stage startup, aligned with the company's stage and funding, with terms that grow alongside us.

In both cases: the stock options package remains the central element of the offer.

Verea

Most sales intelligence tools fail for the same reason: they ask people to change how they work. Verea doesn't.

We're building the invisible OS of field sales — a system that captures everything a salesperson already does (voice notes, photos, chat messages, quick updates) and structures it automatically into the backend systems that run the business. No new app to learn. No dashboard to log into. Just WhatsApp, the way they've always used it.

The technical core is a universal parsing engine that maps any unstructured input to any data schema. That means Verea adapts to the client's CRM — not the other way around. The result is the first complete, real-time picture of commercial reality that most companies have never had.

We're past the idea stage. We have paying clients in active pilots, a fundraising round in progress, and a founding team that moves fast. The vision is larger than field sales: we're building the conversational data layer that enterprise AI will run on. But we're starting where the problem is most acute and the pain is most real.

You'd be joining at the moment of highest leverage — when the work you do this week reaches clients next week.

What You'll Own

• Enterprise integrations  — Design and build connectors for CRM/ERP systems (Dynamics 365, Salesforce, Google Workspace, Notion) using Nango or custom solutions.
• Auth & data flows  — Manage complex authentication (OAuth2, OpenID Connect, JWT), webhooks, sync strategies, rate limiting, and retry logic.
• Async architecture  — Build event-driven systems with workers, queues, and background jobs for reliable, scalable data pipelines.
• Observability  — Implement structured logging, metrics, and tracing across all integrations using Grafana LGTM, Prometheus, and eBPF where relevant.
• API lifecycle  — Versioning, documentation, security best practices, privacy-by-design. You own it end-to-end.
• Test environments  — Create sandboxes, map data models, validate flows. Nothing ships without your sign-off.

What We're Looking For

• Experience  — 4+ years of backend/integrations engineering, with strong Python skills (TypeScript is a meaningful plus).
• API expertise  — REST/GraphQL, authentication patterns, webhook handling, multi-tenant architecture.
• Track record  — You've built, debugged, and shipped connectors to third-party systems end-to-end. Not just the happy path.
• Systems thinking  — Solid understanding of async and event-driven patterns; distributed system reliability under real load.
• Infrastructure mindset  — You set up sandboxes, automate deployments, keep things observable without over-engineering.
• Startup mindset  — Comfortable with ambiguity, able to define your own priorities, and don't need to wait to be unblocked.

Tech Stack

Python · Agno v2 · TypeScript · React · PostgreSQL · DuckDB · Cloudflare · Azure · GitHub Actions · Prometheus · Grafana · eBPF · WhatsApp Cloud API · Nango

What We Offer

Equity — the real upside.  A generous stock options package, sized to your experience and granted at the company's current valuation. This is where the real reward lives. Details shared during the first call.

Compensation.  Competitive for an early-stage startup, calibrated to experience and seniority. The salary keeps you comfortable today; the equity is what makes the difference over the long run.

Path.  80% freelance (P.IVA) for the first 6 months, then a choice between Dubai (digital nomad, tax-free) or a permanent contract in Italy, consistent with the startup's growth and funding.

Flexibility.  Hybrid work in the EU timezone, with periodic meetups across our hubs.

Ownership.  No bureaucracy. You work directly with the founding team. Your calls are the calls that ship.

Impact.  Small team, immediate impact. What you build this week reaches paying clients next week.

The Team You're Joining

• CEO  — Former Chief Innovation Officer and Head of AI at a global consulting firm. Founder with a first exit behind him. Forbes 30 Under 30.
• CTO  — Previous CEO/CTO at a fast-scaling tech company, with a track record of shipping at speed.
• AI & ML Engineer  — Deep systems expertise, specialized in LLM orchestration and infrastructure.
• Software Engineer  — Full-stack background with hands-on experience shipping product in fast-moving startup environments.
• Head of Product  — Multinational background in strategy and product innovation across enterprise clients.
• You  — The engineer we haven't met yet.