Firefly — Full-Stack Software Engineer

Recruiter / team-shared version

Type: Full-time | On-site | NYC (Flatiron) Compensation (candidate): $180K – $230K + 0.1–0.5% equity Hiring count: 1–2 (intake transcript cited 2–3 — treat 1–2 as primary) Visa sponsorship: Yes — available on a case-by-case basis Reports to: Alex Penn, Co-Founder & CTO

About Firefly

Firefly is a hardware-enabled SaaS company building modern workplace safety infrastructure, combining real-time location, AI-native software, and rugged IoT hardware to detect issues and deliver help exactly when and where it's needed. Founded in 2024 by a team out of Verkada, Apple, Latch, and MIT, it already protects schools, universities, and frontline workplaces nationwide, with 10+ live paying customer sites. Backed by top VCs and closing its Series A.

Founded: 2024 | Team size: 15 (11 engineers) | Total funding: Series A closing (amount undisclosed) Industry: Security, Hardware, AI, B2B Website: firefly.co Office: NYC (Flatiron)

Why Candidates Should Join

• Mission-driven: Protecting 110M American workers — teachers, nurses, hotel staff, retail workers — across schools, hospitals, hotels, and workplaces.
• Real traction: Hardware off real manufacturing lines with 10+ live paying customer sites nationwide.
• Strong pedigree: Team from Apple, Verkada, and Latch, with engineers from MIT, CMU, Georgia Tech, UPenn, and Princeton.
• De-risked early stage: Closing Series A — meaningful equity upside at an early but de-risked stage.
• High ownership: Small, flat team with direct influence on architecture, product direction, and technical decisions, and direct access to the co-founder/CTO.
• In-person culture: In-person Flatiron office with in-office meals, in a $30B market growing ~20% annually.

Intake Call Summary

• Hardware-enabled SaaS focused on unified workplace safety; founded 2024, team of 15 with 11 engineers, close to closing Series A.
• Hiring 2–3 engineers off this search: one junior, one senior, and potentially one with strong front-end depth. React and TypeScript are essential.
• Full-stack capability and early-stage startup experience are crucial. Targeting candidates with a strong design focus.
• Flat org reporting directly to the CTO. Values scrappiness, drive, and comfort with ambiguity.
• Comp: confirmed at $180K–$230K + 0.1–0.5% equity (intake call cited $130K–$200K; $180K–$230K is the confirmed figure).
• Interview flow: CTO screen technical interview with an engineer onsite. Mix of technical and non-technical assessment plus pair programming.
• Pain points: hardening platform robustness and scalability as it grows; maintaining high uptime given safety-critical systems.
• Ideal profile: strong inner drive, fast learner, prior startup experience, passion for product and design, customer-focused.
• Primary stack: React, TypeScript, AWS.
• Timeline: hiring ASAP, with flexibility around candidate availability.

The Role

Work directly with the founders and early engineers to evolve Firefly's core platform, ship new features, and scale a system already protecting thousands of people. You'll make foundational decisions on architecture, tech stack, and product direction alongside the founding designer as the company expands into new verticals.

What You'll Be Doing

• Building and shipping new features that make the platform more intuitive, reliable, and scalable
• Improving core infrastructure to keep the system live and performant
• Integrating new customers onto the platform
• Interfacing with customers as needed to understand their needs and translate them into product solutions

Tech stack: React, TypeScript, AWS

Qualifications

Seniority

• 4–7 years of experience as a full-stack software engineer, with at least 1 year in a startup/scale-up [Required]

Work Experience

• Experience building a product from zero to one, either solo or with significant individual ownership on a team [Must have]
• Experience at a high-growth, early-stage startup (Seed – Series D) [Required]
• IoT experience / building software for hardware-connected products (e.g., Whoop, Samsara) [Strongly preferred]

Education

• Degree in Computer Science or a related field [Required]

Hard Skills

• Proficiency with React, TypeScript, AWS [Must have]
• Strong product and design instincts, ideally with a portfolio/examples [Required]

Miscellaneous

• At least one clear signal of excellence (e.g., top school, well-known companies) [Required]

Traits to Avoid

• Candidates who have only worked at large tech companies
• Job hopping (i.e., multiple short stints <1 year)

Role Details

Salary$180K – $230KEquity0.1 – 0.5%On-site policy5 days in-office, Flatiron, NYCVisa sponsorshipAvailable on a case-by-case basisEmployment typeFull-timeLocationNYC (Flatiron)

Screening Questions

1. What are you most excited about in your work right now, and where do you want to take your career long term?
2. This role requires building products from the ground up in a fast-paced environment. Can you describe a time you've built something from zero to one?
3. What are you passionate about outside of work, either currently or previously?
4. Tell me about a roadblock you've hit either at work or in your personal life. How did you approach it and what did you learn?
5. What draws you to the prospect of joining a fully onsite (5 days/week in-person) team in NYC?
6. Can the candidate be on-site? If not, is the candidate willing to relocate?
7. What is their salary expectation?
8. How actively are they recruiting?

Interview Process

Stage 1 — Submit candidate After submission, you'll be notified if the hiring manager wants to proceed.

Stage 2 — Founder Screen (30–40 mins) Conversational interview with Alex (co-founder, CTO) covering background, what drives the candidate, and a walkthrough of past technical work.

Stage 3 — Coding Interview (45 mins) Live coding interview with one of their engineers to assess how the candidate thinks through problems on the spot.

Stage 4 — On-site (3–4 hours) A mix of behavioral and technical sessions. The candidate meets members across the software, hardware, firmware, and go-to-market teams, with additional programming and whiteboard questions.

Stage 5 — Offer extended

Stage 6 — Candidate hired

Ideal Companies & Backgrounds

Updated Mar 16, 2026

Safety / Public Safety Adjacent Axon, Carbyne, Omnilert, Genetec, Outtake, Peregrine

Physical Security / IoT / Hardware-Enabled Samsara, Brilliant, DOOR, Perception Psychology

NY-Based Strong Engineering Culture Roche, Oscar Health, Navan, Squarespace, Peloton Interactive, Compass

Non-ideal — Do not poach Verkada

Ideal Candidate Profiles

For reference only — do not source these specific profiles.

Dhruv Karve — [LinkedIn] Software Engineer | Jersey City, United States

• First software hire at Joulea — textbook zero-to-one; built the entire full-stack platform
• React, TypeScript, and AWS experience
• Currently at an early-stage AI startup, showing continued appetite for a fast-paced environment

Hersh Patel — [LinkedIn] Senior Software Engineer | ex-AWS IoT | New York, United States

• Currently at Peregrine
• AWS IoT experience on two separate projects
• NYC based

Rejected Candidate Feedback

• Target candidates with a solid history in high-growth startup environments and sustained tenures (18+ months); avoid profiles dominated by big tech or frequent job hops.
• Prioritize those with proven zero-to-one product ownership — evidence of taking products from concept to launch, ideally with some exposure to IoT/hardware-connected systems.
• Select candidates who have thrived in talent-dense, collaborative environments and are comfortable with the 5-day onsite NYC pace.
• Ensure screening captures clear signals on technical ownership and product/design instincts to filter out candidates who only have consulting or operational roles.
• Recent HM rejection tags on submitted candidates: "Miscellaneous" (×3), "Skills mismatch", "Not enough experience" — all at HM review stage.