Why This Role Stands Out
As a Founding GTM Engineer at EQL Tech, you'll architect critical financial infrastructure for a rapidly expanding market, offering a significant founding stake and the chance to build a community-driven growth engine. This role is ideal for a resourceful and innovative mid-senior engineer eager to shape go-to-market strategies from the ground up within a high-impact fintech/edtech startup. Embrace this unique opportunity to make a substantial contribution and grow alongside a team of accomplished professionals.
Quick Overview
Job Description
Founding GTM Engineer (Series A Fintech / EdTech)
Location: San Francisco, CA or Phoenix, AZ (In-Person, Full Time) | Seniority: Founding / Senior IC | Equity: Meaningful Founding Stake
The Mission: Architecting the Financial Rails for the $900B School Choice Movement.
We are an exclusively retained partner for a high-growth startup building the infrastructure for Education Savings Accounts (ESAs). Currently, the $900B US public education budget is being unlocked, giving parents direct control of ~$7,500 per child, per year.
This company is building the specialized charge card, reimbursement engine, and vendor marketplace that makes this autonomy possible. With $16M raised from top-tier VCs and a team that has already rejected acquisition offers, this is a "life's work" commitment for a founding operator.
The Team: High-Density Talent & Intensity
You will join a full-time in-person culture in San Francisco or Phoenix. You will work alongside:
- Founders: A former Goldman Sachs Quant and an engineer who built global-scale computer vision systems at age 19.
- Engineering & Risk: Former leads and AI researchers from Stripe, Mercury, SpaceX (Ad Astra), Microsoft, and Circle.
- Policy & Community: The former Deputy Director of a gold-standard state ESA department and leading national school choice advocates.
The Role: GTM as an Engineering Discipline
This is not a traditional sales or marketing role. We are looking for a Founding GTM Engineer to build a community-led growth engine from hundreds of families to tens of thousands.
- Engineer Acquisition Loops: Move beyond paid acquisition to build compounding, community-led flywheels through homeschool co-ops, education pods, and micro-influencers.
- Live in the Parent Psyche: You will spend real time in the field with families to understand what drives trust and triggers adoption - converting those insights into concrete GTM decisions, not decks.
- Data Rigor: You will instrument funnels, set up tight feedback loops, and analyze cohort/retention curves with the precision of a software engineer.
- Own Onboarding Conversion: You will be the primary owner of the onboarding funnel, driving toward a critical 500-account target and beyond
Ideal Candidate Profile
We are looking for a rare combination of top-tier pedigree and scrappy, high-output execution.
- Pedigree Signal: Academic background from a premier institution (Stanford, Harvard, Wharton, MIT Sloan, or equivalent).
- Experience: 3–6 years in consumer growth or GTM ops at a high-growth company (e.g., Duolingo, Chime, ClassDojo, or equivalent).
- Quantitative Depth: Expert in funnel analysis and cohort modelling who "lives in the data".
- Field Orientation: You "get on the plane" - you value in-person interactions and are willing to do the ground-level work at events and home visits that move metrics.
- Mission Alignment: A genuine respect for family autonomy in education and an understanding of the high-stakes trust dynamics involved in education spending
Commitment, Compensation & Benefits
This will be a big commitment, and we're aiming high. It needs to be something you are energised about taking on, or this isn't the team for you.
- Competitive Salary: $120,000 – $170,000 per year, commensurate with experience.
- Generous Founding Equity: We compensate you well with equity.
- Top-Tier Backing: We've raised $16M from top-tier VCs and angels.
- Relocation Support: You are willing to relocate to San Francisco, CA, or Phoenix, AZ, and travel to visit customers. We're an in-person company and are in the office together.
- Comprehensive Visa Sponsorship: If you do not have a visa, we can support you.
- Unmatched Impact: The rare opportunity to directly shape how the $900B US Public Education budget is being opened up for parents to take control of their portion (avg. $7.5k/kid/year).
INDEQL
Similar jobs
- CF
Senior Software Engineer, Data Engineering
NewChime Financial, Inc
San Francisco🇺🇸$164k/yr12 hours agoSQLAWSETL+4Technology - AX
100524 - Senior Software Engineer II
NewAxon
Washington🇺🇸$148.5k - $237.6k/yr10 hours agoSQLScalaAWS+13Technology - SN
STAFF SOFTWARE ENGINEER, Frontier Security Team
NewSnowflake
US-CA-Menlo Park🇺🇸13 hours agoRustSQLSnowflake+6Technology - SA
Senior Product Engineer
NewSauna.ai
San Francisco🇺🇸5 hours agoFigmaLinearSketch+8 - AI
Senior Software Engineer, Air & Missile Defense
NewAnduril Industries
Broomfield🇺🇸10 hours agoLinearAgileCompliance+9Technology - AI
Senior Scientific Software Engineer
NewAnduril Industries
Broomfield🇺🇸10 hours agoLinearAgileCompliance+9Technology