{"id":2001323,"url":"https://alion.io/job/vantora-staff-engineer-founding-team","title":"Staff Engineer (Founding Team)","company":{"id":3862745,"name":"Vantora","domain":"vantora.us","url":"https://alion.io/company/vantora-2","size_band":"501-1000","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Gem","truth_index":{"grade":"A","score":88,"open_postings":15,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.467,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":null,"computed_at":"2026-10-17T05:46:00Z"}},"role":"Industrial Engineering","role_family":"Industrial Engineering","seniority":"staff","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"remote","remote_scope":"stated_countries","remote_scope_basis":"posting_text","remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":[],"countries":[],"hiring_countries":["US"],"hiring_countries_total":1,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":107000,"max_usd":217000,"period":"year","method":"role_seniority_country_remote_cell","sample_n":83},"experience_years_min":6,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-04-24T22:54:16Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-09-25","last_verified_at":"2026-10-18T09:01:28Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":176,"trust":{"level":"stale","repost_count":0,"flags":["stale"],"days_open":176},"description":"About the Role\nAt Vantora (formerly UP.Labs), we partner with leading organizations to build entirely new software businesses from the ground up. This is not a traditional engineering role - you won’t be joining a single product or inheriting a defined roadmap. You’ll work across multiple ventures partnering with one of the world's leading industrial manufacturing companies, helping turn early concepts into real, working products that can stand on their own.\nAs a Staff Engineer (Founding Team), you’ll operate in high-ambiguity environments where both the problem and solution are evolving. You’ll be responsible for taking ideas from initial concept through to working product and real-world validation. Owning decisions across the stack along the way.\nThis is a hands-on role with meaningful ownership. Your work will directly shape product direction, technical foundations, and whether a venture gains traction.\nWhat You’ll Do\nTake concepts from zero to a working product and real-world validation\nOwn full-stack development: frontend, backend, APIs, and data layers\nShape product direction alongside venture leads and PMs, not just execute against specs\nDesign and build rapid validation loops to test assumptions and de-risk ideas early\nArchitect and implement core systems, models, and integrations from scratch\nUse AI as a force multiplier across development and product capabilities\nMake deliberate tradeoffs between speed and durability based on venture stage\nOperate effectively with incomplete, evolving, or imperfect inputs to get to working solutions quickly\nWork directly with stakeholders to validate workflows and refine solutions\nIdentify and mitigate technical and product risks early\nContribute across multiple ventures, applying patterns and learnings to accelerate future builds\nMaintain a high bar for technical quality while moving with urgency\nHow You’ll Operate\nYou move fluidly across the stack and don’t rely on narrowly defined ownership boundaries\nYou turn unclear ideas into concrete implementations without waiting for full direction\nYou know when to prioritize speed and when to invest in structure\nYou bias toward action - building, testing, and iterating to create clarity\nYou’re comfortable abandoning approaches that don’t show signal and redirecting quickly\nYou think in terms of outcomes and user impact, not just technical output\nYou can context switch across multiple problems without losing momentum\nYou Should Have\n6+ years of software engineering experience, including time in early-stage 0→1 environments\nProven ability to build and ship full-stack applications end-to-end\nStrong judgment around speed vs scalability tradeoffs in early-stage systems\nDemonstrated use of AI to accelerate development or product capabilities\nComfort operating in ambiguous environments where both the problem and solution are evolving\nAbility to work with incomplete or messy inputs to arrive at practical solutions\nStrong communication skills and the ability to influence decisions\nWhat Sets You Apart\nYou’ve operated in environments where there was no clear playbook\nYou’re comfortable owning entire systems rather than components\nYou identify leverage - reusable patterns, shortcuts, and ways to move faster across efforts\nYou focus on building things that work in real-world conditions, not just ideal ones\nYou take responsibility for outcomes, not just implementation\nThis Role Is Not For You If\nYou prefer strictly defined ownership (frontend-only, backend-only, etc.)\nYou need well-defined requirements and stable roadmaps\nYou want to focus on maintaining and scaling existing systems\nYou rely on structured environments to do your best work\nLocation: Flex on remote, with occasional travel to LA. 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