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Y Combinator

Y Combinator

Job listing

San Francisco, United States$250K–$500K + Profit-sharing

Product Engineer at world-leading startup accelerator

Join an elite 18-person engineering team building the operational backbone for the world’s most influential startup accelerator. This isn’t your typical engineering role—there are no PMs or designers, giving you total ownership of the products that power the admissions and growth of companies like Stripe and OpenAI. With a compensation package reaching $500K plus profit-sharing, you'll build AI-native systems, automate high-stakes workflows, and work alongside the partners who have launched a $600B+ portfolio. If you are a former founder or product-minded engineer who loves shipping end-to-end, this is the most high-leverage seat in the startup ecosystem.

Overview

Role overview

You will build the operational backbone for the world’s most influential startup accelerator. From the admissions pipeline to Demo Day events, you will turn high-stakes complexity into clean, full-stack software. Working without PMs or designers, you’ll own the entire product experience while deploying AI-powered tools and integrations that scale global innovation.

Company

Y Combinator

Y Combinator

Finance

World-leading startup accelerator that has launched 5,000+ companies worth over $600B

Responsibilities

What you will do

  • Architect and ship full-stack applications for the admissions pipeline, processing thousands of applications and automating complex interview workflows.
  • Develop AI-enabled internal tools, including semantic search across massive datasets and LLM-driven email classification to eliminate manual operational bottlenecks.
  • Build the technical infrastructure for global events like Demo Day, integrating Slack, Google Calendar, and complex data pipelines into seamless user experiences.

Candidate profile

Who this is a fit for

  • Proven experience shipping complete full-stack web applications, ideally with a stack like Ruby on Rails, React, and Postgres.
  • AI-native builder who has integrated LLMs or agent-based systems into production products and uses AI-enabled tools to accelerate their own development.
  • Low-ego, high-judgment engineer with a background as a former founder or early-stage startup employee who thrives in ambiguous, fast-moving environments.

What makes it remarkable

Why this role is remarkable

  • Absolute product ownership: As one of only 18 engineers, you work without PMs or designers, owning everything from initial problem discovery to UI design and final deployment.
  • Unrivaled market position: You are building the mission-critical software used by the next generation of industry-defining companies like Stripe, Airbnb, and OpenAI.
  • Top-tier compensation: Earn a base salary between $250K–$500K plus profit-sharing designed to be comparable to venture carry or high-growth startup equity.

Jack & Jill

How Jack & Jill work together

Jack
I get to know what you’re great at, then find roles you’d never find yourself.
Jill
I recruit from Jack’s network and make the intro when I spot a great match.

Meet Jack

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Jack gets to know what you're great at and what you want next, then searches 14 million jobs daily and introduces you directly to hiring managers.

How does this work?

Jack's an AI agent for job searching and career coaching. He works for you.

Jill is the AI recruiter working for the company. She recruits from Jack's network.

If it's a match and the company wants to meet you, they'll make the intro. In the meantime, if you'd like, Jack will send you excellent alternatives.

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