Emerge Career

Emerge Career

Founding Product Engineer

New York, USA

Sponsorship not specified$80k-$200kDetected 348 days ago
TypeScriptReactCommunicationMentoring

About the role

  • We call this a Founding Engineer role-even three years in and with multiple contracts under our belt-for two reasons.
  • First, you'll be our very first engineer, joining our co-founder, who's built the entire platform solo to date.
  • Second, our growth is now outpacing our systems, and we can't keep up on maintenance alone.

Responsibilities

  • we can either hire someone to simply care for what exists, or we can bring on a talent who believes that, with the right blend of technology and hands-on practice, we can unify the workforce-development system and deliver second chances at true scale.
  • You'll do high-impact technical work, but just as often you'll be on the phone with a student, writing documentation, debugging support issues, or figuring out how to turn a one-off solution into a repeatable system.
  • You'll build things that matter, not just things that are asked for.
  • This role blends engineering, product, support, and program operations.
  • Get to know you Design & Coding Interview (90 min).
  • 45 minutes for system design and 45 minutes for pair programming.
  • You believe that with the right builder mindset, one coach can support hundreds of individuals-but you also understand that in a program like ours, many moments require a human touch.
  • We're not just building software; we're creating pathways to real second chances.
  • Because of this experience both Zo and Gabe understood what it took to create change from within the system.
  • All of us believe that, with the right mix of technology and hands-on practice, we can redefine workforce development and deliver true second chances at scale.

Requirements

  • You are tech-forward, but not tech-first.
  • You look for ways to automate and scale, but you know not everything should be automated.
  • You know when to hand it to a system, and when to pick up the phone.
  • You are entrepreneurial.
  • You know process matters-but at this stage, speed and iteration matter more.

Skills

  • recidivism, fueled by post-incarceration unemployment and poverty, and labor shortages in key industries.
  • Over 60% of formerly incarcerated people remain unemployed a year after incarceration, seeking work but not finding it.
  • A more in-depth discussion about your background, experiences, and goals.
  • Reference checks.
  • All travel expenses will be covered.

Compensation

  • $80k-$200k

Benefits

  • our vision has attracted support from Alexis Ohanian (776), Michael Seibel, Y Combinator, the Opportunity Fund, and public figures like Diana Taurasi, Deandre Ayton, and Marshawn Lynch.

Company info

  • Emerge Career's mission is to break the cycle of poverty and incarceration.
  • Through an all-in-one platform deeply embedded within the criminal justice system, we recruit, train, and place justice-impacted individuals into life-changing careers.
  • Our vision is to become the country's unified workforce development system, replacing disconnected brick-and-mortar job centers with one integrated, tech-powered solution that meets low-income individuals exactly where they are.
  • Today, the federal government spends billions annually on education and training programs, yet only about 70% of participants graduate, just 38.6% secure training-related employment, and average first-year earnings hover around $34,708.
  • By contrast, our seven-person team has already outperformed the job centers in two entire states (Vermont and South Dakota) in just the past year.
  • With an 89% graduation rate and 92% of graduates securing training-related employment, our alumni aren't just getting jobs-they're launching new lives with average first-year earnings of $77,352.
  • The results speak for themselves, and we're just getting started.
  • Before Emerge, our founders Zo and Gabe co-founded Ameelio, an award-winning tech nonprofit that is dismantling the prison communication duopoly.
  • Backed by tech luminaries like Reid Hoffman, Vinod Khosla, and Jack Dorsey, and by major criminal-justice philanthropies such as Arnold Ventures and the Mellon Foundation, Ameelio became a recognized leader in the space.
  • After serving over 1M people impacted by incarceration, they witnessed firsthand the gap in second-chance opportunities and the chronic unemployment plaguing those impacted by the justice system.
  • Emerge Career is committed to solving this issue.
  • Our students are at the heart of our work.
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This listing is sourced directly from Emerge Career's careers page and normalized into a canonical job model.