Founding Full-Stack Engineer

Founding Engineer (Full Stack) Edinburgh · Office-based Build the future of engineering software. Nexal is building a next-generation engineering platform for process industries. Engineering teams today work across disconnected drawings, calculations, schedules, specifications, standards and documents, spread across multiple applications. We're replacing that fragmented workflow with a connected platform where engineering information lives in one place and stays synchronised throughout the design process. We're looking for an experienced full-stack engineer to become our first engineering hire and help build an enterprise-grade platform capable of secure, collaborative deployment at scale for some of the world's largest infrastructure organisations. This isn't a feature development role. You'll be helping build the technical foundations of an entirely new engineering platform from the ground up. It's an opportunity to work on genuinely difficult engineering problems that very few software companies get to solve - from collaborative engineering workflows and graph-based data models to enterprise architecture, CAD and BIM integration, intelligent automation and configurable engineering platforms. The Role You'll work closely with the founder to translate product concepts and customer requirements into scalable production software. Product direction is driven through close collaboration with customers, rapid prototyping and continuous iteration. Your role is to design and build the systems that make those ideas secure, scalable and maintainable while contributing your own expertise on architecture, usability and technical implementation. This is a hands-on engineering role. You'll spend your time designing, building and shipping software while helping establish the engineering foundations the company will scale upon. You'll be responsible for Platform architectureFull-stack software developmentBackend architecture and APIsFrontend application developmentEngineering standards and best practicesSecurity and permissions architecturePerformance, scalability and reliabilityTechnical implementation and architectureHelping shape the future engineering team What you'll build You'll work on challenges including: Scaling a collaborative multi-user engineering platformDesigning secure and scalable data modelsBuilding modern frontend and backend systemsDeveloping configurable engineering workflowsCreating robust API architectureIntegrating with CAD, BIM and enterprise engineering softwareBuilding a highly configurable platform that can be tailored to each customer's engineering standards, workflows and delivery processesBuilding our AI-driven standards onboarding engine, enabling customer engineering standards, templates and workflows to be onboarded rapidly across process industriesDesigning enterprise-grade security and permissions for critical infrastructure organisationsImproving platform performance, reliability and maintainabilityHelping lay the foundations for future capabilities including engineering automation, drone surveys, automated 3D workflows and AI-assisted engineering What we're looking for We're looking for builders. People who enjoy taking an idea from a whiteboard discussion to production software, working through ambiguity and solving technical problems that don't already have a defined solution. You'll be comfortable working closely with the founder, translating product concepts into scalable software and helping shape how the platform is built. Early-stage startup experience is strongly preferred. Whether you've been one of the first engineers in a startup or built your own product or company, you'll understand how to operate with autonomy, make pragmatic technical decisions and move quickly with minimal process. You'll likely have: Strong full-stack software engineering experienceExperience building and shipping production softwareStrong software architecture skillsStrong experience with TypeScript, React and Next.jsExperience designing and building APIs and backend servicesExperience working with PostgreSQL or another relational databaseExperience building cloud-native applications on AWS, Azure or GCPExperience designing authentication and authorisation systemsExcellent problem-solving abilityStrong communication skills Nice to have: Experience building workflow platformsExperience integrating with CAD or BIM softwareExperience developing industrial or engineering softwareExperience building graph-based applications or data modelsExperience building collaborative or real-time applications Location This is an office-based role in Edinburgh. During the early stages of the company, we're looking for someone who can work closely with the founder to enable rapid collaboration, technical discussions and product iteration. Once established within the business, there will be flexibility to work from home one to two days per week. Applicants must already have the right to work in the UK and either be based in, or be willing to relocate to, the Edinburgh area. Unfortunately, we are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role. What we offer Up to £80,000 depending on experienceMeaningful equity with significant long-term upsideWorkplace pensionModern city centre Edinburgh officeSignificant influence over the platform's technical architecture, engineering practices and future engineering cultureThe opportunity to build a category-defining engineering platform from the very beginningThe opportunity to grow into technical leadership as the company scales, should that be a path you're interested inFreedom to solve genuinely challenging engineering problems alongside the founder