🚀 Founding Engineer / Technical Co-Founder (AI + Music Startup)

Location: Remote

Compensation: Equity

Hours/week: Flexible

Visa-sponsorship: none

To apply send resume and optional cover letter to talent@cntndr.io

About CNTNDR

CNTNDR (pronounced Contender) is building the next generation of music community and talent discovery. Think TikTok meets e-sports in a gamified, AI-powered arena where producers and fans battle with beats, vote in real-time, and rise through merit, not hype.

We’ve already:

• Launched our closed beta with ~150 engaged early producers.
• Seen organic traction without paid marketing: avg. 10–12 minutes session time, hundreds of community-judged battles, and repeat power users.
• Built a small but world-class founding team: 3x founder and award-winning music producer, ex-Amazon GM, veteran AAA game designer, ex-Unity exec - all passionate music creators and technologists obsessed with democratizing music creation and discovery.

We’re now looking for a Founding Engineer / Technical Co-Founder to level up our tech stack, lean into AI integrations, and shape the core experience alongside us.

The Opportunity

This is not a job, it’s ownership. You’ll be building the foundation of a company designed for global scale, in one of the most universal cultural categories: music.

• AI is reshaping music creation. CNTNDR is making it competitive, social, and addictive.
• The music + gaming + AI intersection is wide open and we’re already building the cultural flywheel that attracts fans, creators, and eventually labels and sponsors.
• As a founding engineer, your fingerprints will be on everything: core architecture, creator tools, AI-driven matchmaking, video battles, community features, and monetization.

If you’ve ever wanted to:

• Ship a product where users become creators, and creators become stars.
• Experiment with cutting-edge AI APIs and open-source models (feedback, remixing, coaching, talent ranking).
• Work directly with a small team of doers who’ve shipped and scaled products before.
• Earn founding equity in a company built to scale like TikTok, YouTube, or Spotify … Then this is your shot.

What We’re Looking For

• Full-stack or backend engineering chops (Node, Firebase, React/Next.js, AWS).
• Fluency with AI APIs or open-source tools (audio analysis, LLMs, recommendation systems, generative models).
• Startup scrappiness: comfortable moving fast, hacking MVPs, iterating live.
• Love for music, gaming, or creator culture is a huge plus.

Why Join Now

CNTNDR is at the perfect moment: early traction, proven concept, hungry team, and room for a technical founder to step in and own the build. We’re equity-only today, but raising pre-seed now and your role would evolve into an engineering leadership role as we scale.

Qualifications

• Proficiency in backend development, system architecture, and algorithm design
• Experience with AI and machine learning, particularly in audio and music applications
• Skills in cloud services, database management, and DevOps
• Strong problem-solving abilities and a collaborative mindset
• Experience in leading technical teams and mentoring other engineers
• Excellent communication and project management skills
• Experience in the music industry is a plus
• Bachelor's or Master’s degree in Computer Science or a related field

To apply send resume and optional cover letter to talent@cntndr.io