Founding Engineer

Privacy-focused AI Project | Founding Engineer | Remote - Europe (UTC-1 to UTC+3) | Full-time | Base salary + Up to 4% equity We are building a truly private, open-source LLM gateway with outstanding user experience to address privacy problems around using LLMs. When we interact with AI-based services, we face the fundamental tension between utility and privacy. Current solutions to this problem are inadequate, so we are ready to build what we couldn't find. Who are we? A well-funded, bootstrapped venture by the founders of IVPN - a VPN service highly regarded by privacy advocates and analysts, in operation since 2009. We are looking for a Founding Engineer (based in Europe) to architect and build an MVP from the ground up. This is a role for a senior builder with: - At least 8 years of professional experience - Demonstrable history of solo-shipping products - Deep expertise across the stack (e.g., Go/Rust for backend, React/Vue for frontend) - Strong security and infrastructure automation mindset What you can expect: - Founder-funded, sovereign startup = no VCs and external pressure - Small, dedicated, 100% remote team that prefers pragmatism and maximum autonomy. - Complete technical ownership, responsible for building a system designed for high availability and verifiable privacy. - Sole focus on engineering - zero distractions. Founders own strategy, functional requirements, design, communications, legal and all other business related decision and execution. - Strong salary and a significant, foundational equity stake (up to 4%). If you're a self-directed, experienced engineer who wants to build the foundational infrastructure for private, trustworthy AI access, email me at viktor at ivpn.net for a one-page project brief.