MeritFirst
Software Engineer
See how this job matches your profile
Sign in for an AI-powered fit score, breakdown, and a tailored resume.
Job Description
MeritFirst is building the infrastructure to make objective, efficient ways for people to demonstrate critical thinking, problem-solving, adaptability, and execution the default, helping companies hire based on demonstrated ability rather than pedigree alone. The role of a Software Engineer is to help build this system from first principles, working directly with the founder, product team, candidates, and employers to shape and build the MeritFirst platform. This involves creating candidate and employer experiences, developing a flexible assessment platform, owning problems end-to-end, turning human workflows into software, building trustworthy evaluation systems, closing the learning loop, using AI where it earns its place, making trust a technical requirement, strengthening the technical foundation, and setting the engineering standard. The company emphasizes building a system that is understood, explainable, testable, and trustworthy, using modern tools to multiply judgment, not replace it. The hiring process is designed to surface demonstrated ability rather than reward pedigree or interview polish.
Qualifications
Required Qualifications
- Built and operated meaningful production software, not only prototypes or narrowly bounded features.
- Exceptional technical foundations and can reason from first principles when existing abstractions stop helping.
- Can move fluidly between shaping the product, designing the system, writing the code, reading unfamiliar code, and understanding what happens in production.
- Depth in at least one part of the stack and enough range to follow important problems wherever they lead.
- Excellent debugger: when something behaves unexpectedly, form hypotheses, follow evidence, and keep going until you understand why.
- Combine speed with judgment: know when to build the simplest thing that works, when to invest in a foundation, and how to avoid both perfectionism and careless debt.
- Strong product instincts and care deeply about the person on the other side of the screen.
- Built production software both with and without AI assistance, understanding where these tools create extraordinary leverage and where they can conceal shallow reasoning, brittle code, or false confidence.
- Treat AI-generated code like code written by someone you have never worked with: inspect it, test it, and take full responsibility for it.
- Communicate clearly, disagree directly, and make technical tradeoffs legible to non-engineers.
- Want your work to matter in the real world and care deeply about our mission.
Preferred Qualifications
- Early engineer, technical founder, or senior individual contributor.
- Built an ambitious product at a startup, owned a critical system at scale, made meaningful open-source contributions, or developed exceptional ability outside a conventional path.
About the Company
MeritFirst
View company profile →
Interested in this role?
Sign in or create a free account to see how this job matches your skills, apply with one click, and let our AI tailor your resume.
Sign in to applyJob Details
Employment Type
Full Time
Experience Level
Senior
Location
Austin, TX
Posted
2 days ago
Country
US