Founding Lead Engineer
Defence Tech Startup | London (Hybrid) | Up to £200k Base + Significant Equity
We’re working with an exceptional defence technology startup founded by early engineers from Palantir Technologies, now assembling a world-class engineering organisation from the ground up.
They’re looking for a Founding Lead Engineer to play a critical role in shaping both the technical direction and engineering culture of the company from an early stage.
This is not a maintenance role inside a large organisation. You’ll be building core systems, influencing architecture from day one, and helping create the engineering function alongside some of the strongest technical operators in Europe.
The company is solving complex real-world problems across distributed systems, networking, and software/hardware integration within high-stakes environments.
The Role
You’ll work directly with the founding team to:
* Architect and build mission-critical systems from first principles
* Own major technical decisions across backend and infrastructure
* Help scale engineering standards, processes, and team capability
* Lead technically while remaining deeply hands-on
* Mentor engineers and help shape hiring as the team grows
* Build highly reliable event-driven and distributed systems
* Operate across software, networking, infrastructure, and hardware-adjacent environments
Tech Stack
The company primarily uses Rust internally, but they are intentionally open-minded on language background.
They’re interested in exceptional engineers from environments using:
* TypeScript
* Java
* C++
* Go / Golang
* Python
They care far more about engineering depth, systems thinking, and technical ownership than specific language experience.
What They’re Looking For
* Exceptional software engineering ability
* Experience building scalable distributed systems
* Strong understanding of event-driven architecture
* Exposure to networking, infrastructure, or low-level systems
* Previous experience leading projects or technical teams
* Founder mentality with a bias toward ownership and execution
* Comfortable operating in ambiguity and building from scratch
People management experience is beneficial but not essential — this is primarily a technical leadership role.
Why This Opportunity Stands Out
* Founding-level influence over product, architecture, and culture
* Work alongside an elite engineering team from top-tier startups and research environments
* Highly ambitious technical roadmap with real-world impact
* Significant ownership and autonomy
* Compensation up to £200k base + meaningful founding equity
Location
London-based, hybrid working, with a strong preference for engineers who enjoy being in-office collaborating closely with the team.
If you’re interested in building category-defining technology with an exceptional founding team, I’d be happy to share more.