Remote | 35+ hrs/week | Flexible Compensation (pre-seed startup)

About our client:

Cooks Atlas is on a mission to make home cooking more fun and navigable.

The team is building a community-powered culinary platform that works like a good kitchen: focused, personalized to users’ tastes, and always evolving—without the clutter of legacy recipe sites.

The pilot experience launches this summer with in-person activations in Austin, TX. It will support farmer’s market-goers in discovering what they can cook with local produce—and light a spark that they hope will grow into a movement in kitchens everywhere.

They believe preparing meals at home is more than a life skill—it’s a source of joy, creativity, and connection. Cooks Atlas is designed to empower everyday cooks and creators to connect, celebrate diverse food cultures, and engage more deeply in home cooking.

About the role:

As the first non-founder engineer, this individual will be an essential player in shaping and executing upon Cooks Atlas’ strategy, creating intuitive and valuable experiences that support users.

You’ll collaborate with the co-founders which includes a developer, a food creator, and a product manager to:

• Discover & Explore: The team firmly believes that great ideas come from everywhere. Your input on the Product & Business strategy will be valued.
• Design & Develop: With a stack of innovative ideas to explore and develop, and as a green-field project, most decisions are still to be made. The engineer’s input will be crucial for the success of the shared goals.
• Educate & Mentor: All team members are expected to grow their skills and knowledge base. This is a collaborative effort, and team members with different skills and seniority will have a path to learn and contribute.

What You Will Bring:

• Entrepreneurial Spirit: You’re proactive, solutions-oriented, and excited to tackle complex challenges.
• Empathy & Solution-focus: The ability to empathize and develop solutions for various use cases, user types, and mental models.
• Integrity & Advocacy: All team members need to be advocates for the user. We will make our decisions with integrity, and make sure our services support the user’s needs.
• An interest in ethical & safe use of AI and other tools is a must. Privacy & Security are non-optional requirements when building a sustainable business.
• Communication & Teamwork: Strong communication skills and a collaborative approach.
• Experience providing and receiving constructive feedback and mentorship across pull-requests and other channels.
• Experience: 5+ years in backend or full-stack development.

Developer Skills:

• Must have: Advanced Rust and DevOps experience.
• High value: AWS, Terraform/CDKTF, Docker, Postgres, WASM, CRDTs, AI/Machine Learning, GraphQL, Service-Oriented Design
• Additional Positives: Interest and experience with Typescript, React, React Native, React-Native-Web, NextJS, Internationalization / Localization, ActivityPub/Fediverse, Desktop/Mobile native software

What You’ll Love About Cooks Atlas:

• Mission-Driven Impact: Have a positive impact on how people connect with their food, and community. Flip the script on recipe & food sites.
• Social Good: Design meaningful products that genuinely improve lives.
• The Team: Work with a small, fun, and high-impact team that values your ideas and creativity.
• Growth & Recognition: We are pre-seed, your contributions will have critical impact on the success story of this company!
• Next-gen Tech: Rust Backend, Rust-WASM embeddable components, CRDT-based Documents, AI Experiences (LLMs & Traditional)

What They Offer:

• Flexible compensation package to be discussed
• Equity based on commitment. Seeking 35 hours+
• W9 contractor position