Founding GTM Engineer
Automate your job search with Sonara.
Submit 10x as many applications with less effort than one manual application.1
Reclaim your time by letting our AI handle the grunt work of job searching.
We continuously scan millions of openings to find your top matches.

Overview
Job Description
Founding GTM Engineer (Series A Fintech / EdTech)
Location: San Francisco, CA or Phoenix, AZ (In-Person, Full Time) | Seniority: Founding / Senior IC | Equity: Meaningful Founding Stake
The Mission: Architecting the Financial Rails for the $900B School Choice Movement.
We are an exclusively retained partner for a high-growth startup building the infrastructure for Education Savings Accounts (ESAs). Currently, the $900B US public education budget is being unlocked, giving parents direct control of ~$7,500 per child, per year.
This company is building the specialized charge card, reimbursement engine, and vendor marketplace that makes this autonomy possible. With $16M raised from top-tier VCs and a team that has already rejected acquisition offers, this is a "life's work" commitment for a founding operator.
The Team: High-Density Talent & Intensity
You will join a full-time in-person culture in San Francisco or Phoenix. You will work alongside:
- Founders: A former Goldman Sachs Quant and an engineer who built global-scale computer vision systems at age 19.
- Engineering & Risk: Former leads and AI researchers from Stripe, Mercury, SpaceX (Ad Astra), Microsoft, and Circle.
- Policy & Community: The former Deputy Director of a gold-standard state ESA department and leading national school choice advocates.
The Role: GTM as an Engineering Discipline
This is not a traditional sales or marketing role. We are looking for a Founding GTM Engineer to build a community-led growth engine from hundreds of families to tens of thousands.
- Engineer Acquisition Loops: Move beyond paid acquisition to build compounding, community-led flywheels through homeschool co-ops, education pods, and micro-influencers.
- Live in the Parent Psyche: You will spend real time in the field with families to understand what drives trust and triggers adoption - converting those insights into concrete GTM decisions, not decks.
- Data Rigor: You will instrument funnels, set up tight feedback loops, and analyze cohort/retention curves with the precision of a software engineer.
- Own Onboarding Conversion: You will be the primary owner of the onboarding funnel, driving toward a critical 500-account target and beyond
Requirements
Ideal Candidate Profile
We are looking for a rare combination of top-tier pedigree and scrappy, high-output execution.
- Pedigree Signal: Academic background from a premier institution (Stanford, Harvard, Wharton, MIT Sloan, or equivalent).
- Experience: 3–6 years in consumer growth or GTM ops at a high-growth company (e.g., Duolingo, Chime, ClassDojo, or equivalent).
- Quantitative Depth: Expert in funnel analysis and cohort modelling who "lives in the data".
- Field Orientation: You "get on the plane" - you value in-person interactions and are willing to do the ground-level work at events and home visits that move metrics.
- Mission Alignment: A genuine respect for family autonomy in education and an understanding of the high-stakes trust dynamics involved in education spending
Benefits
Commitment, Compensation & Benefits
This will be a big commitment, and we're aiming high. It needs to be something you are energised about taking on, or this isn't the team for you.
- Competitive Salary: $120,000 – $170,000 per year, commensurate with experience.
- Generous Founding Equity: We compensate you well with equity.
- Top-Tier Backing: We've raised $16M from top-tier VCs and angels.
- Relocation Support: You are willing to relocate to San Francisco, CA, or Phoenix, AZ, and travel to visit customers. We're an in-person company and are in the office together.
- Comprehensive Visa Sponsorship: If you do not have a visa, we can support you.
- Unmatched Impact: The rare opportunity to directly shape how the $900B US Public Education budget is being opened up for parents to take control of their portion (avg. $7.5k/kid/year).
INDEQL
Automate your job search with Sonara.
Submit 10x as many applications with less effort than one manual application.
