Founding Engineer @ nuala – The AI-powered workplace benefit helping women progress

The opportunity

Companies measure their gender pay gap and their female retention. Most are still struggling to fix the conditions causing them — workplace culture, career progression, AI capability – which is why retention is at an all-time low.

AI is raising the bar for what it takes to progress. Women's share of core European tech roles just fell again, from 22% to 19% (McKinsey, 2026). Without equal access to AI skills and opportunity, the gaps get wider, not smaller.

nuala is the new AI-powered workplace benefit helping women progress, giving them the tools to understand their gap data and advance their careers.

AI is raising the bar for what it takes to progress. Without equal access to AI skills and opportunity, the gaps get wider, not smaller.

We turn employee experience feedback into anonymised insights that HR can take action on - improving culture, comms, and retention.

nuala provides a continuous intelligent feedback loop, built by women for women – and is currently missing from the HR tech stack.

When women feel supported and are offered a path to progression, they stay.

nuala offers companies a chance to start taking steps in the right direction.

Why this is a category of one

Compliance and pay-transparency vendors have zero brand permission with women. All-in-one HRIS platforms face the same trust issue from the employees they survey. Learning and growth tools are owned by her, but don't touch compliance. nuala is the only platform built for women, by women, that solves both sides at once, in one connected system.

Traction so far

Pre-seed, actively testing the product with real users. SEIS Advance Assurance secured for a £250K pre-seed round at a £1.5M valuation. Shortlisted for "Best Use of AI to Support Women in Tech" by the Women in Tech Employer Awards 2026 — before we've even launched.

The ask

I'm looking for a Founding Engineer to build this from the ground up. A real partner, not just an employee. You'd own:

• Engineering across the stack
• The MVP build, end to end
• Responsible AI design at the core of the product

You would shape product direction and support the pre-seed raise alongside me.

Why now, and why me

I've spent 25+ years in copywriting and content strategy, latterly in fintech and HR tech — exactly the world nuala sells into. I've already made a strong start on the building the brand, the positioning, and a bit of a name in the Women in Tech and AI-for-good space. What I don't have yet is a CTO to build it with.

Who I'm looking for

10+ years in technical roles, ideally with early-stage startup experience. Someone who wants genuine ownership of a mission, not a brief.

The stake

A genuine stake — vesting agreed together.