Technical Co-Founder / Founding Engineer

You won’t be starting from scratch. The core platform has already been built and is being tested, but there is plenty to maintain, improve, rethink and expand. We want someone who can understand what we have, make technical decisions and take ownership of building what comes next. Our immediate priorities are improving the existing product and user experience, strengthening the platform as usage grows, and developing the two sides of Ask Yaya further: evolving our business tools towards a complete booking and CRM solution, and building the traveller experience into a richer, more personalised discovery and knowledge platform.

But this is deliberately broader than a technical role. You’ll be joining as our third founder and working closely with us on product, strategy, growth, fundraising and the everyday decisions involved in building an early-stage company.

Responsibilities include:

• Taking ownership of the existing codebase and technical architecture
• Building from our MVP into the full Ask Yaya product, refining what works, rethinking what needs to change and developing what comes next
• Leading development across front-end and back-end and building the foundations to support more users, businesses and markets
• Shaping the product and technical roadmap alongside the founding team
• Developing our business tools towards a complete booking and CRM solution, while building a richer, more personalised discovery experience for users
• Thinking beyond the technology and contributing to decisions around users, growth, commercial model, new markets, fundraising and the wider strategy of the business
• Turning feedback and market insight into product and business decisions

This is a technical role, but it is first and foremost a founding role. We want someone who wants to help build the business, not just the product.

What you'll be joining

• A genuine equity-bearing co-founder position, with meaningful ownership in Ask Yaya and what we build together.
• The opportunity to join at an important stage with a working MVP and clear direction, but early enough to help co-shape what the product becomes.
• Ownership of the technical direction, with the freedom to challenge what exists, make key decisions and build the technology required for Ask Yaya to scale.
• A real seat at the table beyond technology; contributing to product, growth, commercial strategy, new markets and fundraising alongside the founding team.
• The intention to transition into a full-time position with the founding team, committed to making that transition as soon as the business allows.
• Close, hands-on collaboration with the founding team in London, building, problem-solving and making decisions together day-to-day.
• The opportunity to eventually build and lead Ask Yaya’s technical and product team as the company grows.

Before we fundraise

Ask Yaya is currently pre-funding, so this is an equity-only founding role at this stage. We’re actively preparing to raise external investment, with the plan to move the founding team into salaried roles following a successful raise. We know that joining an early-stage company is a big decision, and we don’t expect the right person to hand in their notice tomorrow. We’re very open to discussing a realistic transition period that works for both sides.

What we’re looking for is someone who is excited by the opportunity to eventually make that leap. We’d love our Technical Co-Founder to become meaningfully involved from the start and transition into Ask Yaya full-time as soon as realistically possible — ideally before funding — so that the next chapter is something we build together.

One of the founders, Eleni, is already building Ask Yaya full-time, and we’re looking for someone who wants to join her in London, work closely together day-to-day and bring the same energy and ambition to seeing how far we can take it.

You might be our person if:

• You are based in London
• You’re a strong full-stack engineer, comfortable owning both front-end and back-end development
• You have startup or early-stage experience and understand what building with limited resources looks like
• You’ve built and shipped real products and are comfortable taking technical ownership rather than waiting for a perfect brief
• You have a commercial mindset and naturally think about users, growth, business models and markets alongside technology
• You enjoy working closely with other people and want the energy of building together
• You’re excited by the idea of helping take an early product into new markets and eventually building technology used by businesses and users around the world
• You’re at a point where taking some risk, gaining meaningful ownership and building something from the beginning sounds more exciting than taking another conventional engineering role.

Above all, you want to be a founder, and you're ready for everything that comes with that.

Apply!

If you’ve built things before and have been thinking that your next move might be to build something of your own, we’d love to meet you.