Software Engineer, AI Engineer, Backend Developer

ping! is building the new age of relationship intelligence for professional networking. We make NFC smart rings that replace business cards and an AI-powered app that helps you actually maintain your network, not just collect contacts.

The problem we're solving: 75% of professional connections die within a week. People meet, swap info, and then nothing happens. No follow-up. No relationship. Just another name in a contacts app you'll never open.

ping! fixes this. Our rings let you exchange contact info with a tap. Our app imports your entire social graph:
Linked In, email, calendar, phone - identifies your most important 150 relationships (based on Dunbar's Number research), and uses AI to keep those relationships alive with timely nudges, context-aware outreach suggestions, and warm intro pathfinding.

We've shipped 100+ rings. We're piloting events and raising our pre-seed this spring.

This is early. The team is small. The opportunity is massive.

We're looking for a Software Engineer to join as an early team member and own core parts of our product. This isn't a role where you'll pick tickets off a backlog, you'll be building features from zero, making architecture decisions, and shipping code that users interact with the same week you write it.

Day-to-day, you'll be working across the full stack: building out our React Native iOS app, extending our Supabase backend (Postgres + Edge Functions), integrating with our Neo4j graph database for relationship mapping and warm intro pathfinding, and wiring up AI (GPT-4o) for contextual outreach and relationship intelligence.

You'll work directly with the founders. You'll have real input on product direction. And you'll see your work in the hands of users immediately.

This role is ideal for someone who wants to be an early engineer at a company with real traction, not just an idea, and who thrives when given ownership rather than instructions.

• Building and shipping features across our React Native mobile app
• Designing and extending our Supabase backend — database schema, edge functions, auth flows
• Working with Neo4j to power our relationship graph, Dunbar layer assignments, and intro pathfinding
• Integrating AI for relationship health scoring, outreach drafting, and trigger event summarization
• Collaborating on our 3D orbital network visualizer (already live ay)
• Iterating fast based on real user feedback — we ship weekly, not quarterly

• 2+ years of experience building and shipping software (startup or high-growth environment preferred)
• Strong experience with React Native or similar mobile frameworks
• Comfortable with backend work. Postgres, serverless functions, API design
• Familiarity with graph databases (Neo4j or similar) is a plus
• Experience integrating AI/LLM APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.) is a plus
• You take ownership, you don't wait for specs you ask for them, & you figure it out
• You communicate clearly, especially async (we're a small remote-friendly team)
• You move fast and aren't afraid to ship imperfect code and iterate

• Experience with NFC, BLE, or hardware integrations
• Background in CRM, networking tools, or relationship management products
• You've worked at a company pre-Series A
• You're in Boston or can overlap with US Eastern hours

This is a project-based contract role with a stipend paid upon completion of defined milestones. Equity is available for the right person who wants to stay on and grow with the company.

• We're a pre-seed startup. We can't compete with Big Tech salaries. But if you want ownership, speed, and the chance to build something real from the ground floor, this is it.