---
title: 'Founding Engineer at People Culture Talent'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/founding-engineer-people-culture-talent-san-francisco-1wjk0jw364gj'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-15'
---

# Founding Engineer at People Culture Talent

- **Company:** People Culture Talent
- **Location:** San Francisco, CA
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-09-08
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-15
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/people-culture-talent/7c4ca701-6d92-4517-afb3-418a1b0875ca

## Job description

PCT partners with early-stage, venture-backed companies looking for exceptional engineers to join at the earliest stages of their growth. We're always interested in connecting with Founding Engineers who are excited to build from the ground up, shape technical direction, and have an outsized impact on a company's product and trajectory. Founding Engineer opportunities can vary significantly by company, but typically involve joining a small technical team where you'll work closely with founders and have meaningful ownership over both the product and engineering organization.

## What You Might Work On

- Build and launch core products and features from zero to one.
- Make foundational architecture and technology decisions that will influence how the company scales.
- Work across the stack based on the needs of the product and business.
- Partner directly with founders, customers, and other early team members to translate ideas into working products.
- Establish engineering practices, systems, and standards as the team grows.
- Help identify, evaluate, and solve ambiguous technical and product challenges.
- Contribute to hiring and building the future engineering organization.

## What We're Looking For

While requirements vary across our client companies, strong candidates often bring:

- Significant software engineering experience and a track record of shipping high-quality products.
- Strong technical judgment and the ability to make pragmatic decisions in fast-moving environments.
- Comfort working with ambiguity and taking ownership without extensive structure.
- A product-oriented mindset and interest in understanding the customer and business behind what you're building.
- The ability and willingness to work across different areas of the technical stack.
- Excitement about early-stage companies and building systems, products, and teams from the ground up.

When you apply, tell us what you're looking for in your next company, the types of products or technical problems you're most excited to work on, and the environments where you do your best work. We'll use that information to identify opportunities across our client portfolio that may be a strong fit.

## About PCT

People Culture Talent helps VCs and venture-backed startups build thriving teams through exceptional Human Capital Management. We create people-first talent strategies for high-growth companies, partnering with organizations from pre-seed to IPO to transform their growth into a masterclass in scaling with purpose.

## About Our Client Companies

PCT partners with exceptional venture-backed companies to build resilient, people-centric, diverse teams. Our clients span industries and stages, from pre-seed startups to companies preparing for IPO, including leading tech organizations like Notion, Lyft, Modern Health, Instacart, Uber, Google, Render, and GitHub. Our clients are building ambitious products, solving complex problems, and looking for exceptional engineers who want to have a meaningful impact. These companies share a commitment to building strong culture, high-performing teams, and innovative people programs. They're growing fast, scaling thoughtfully, and seeking exceptional talent to join their journey.

## About People Culture Talent

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: People Culture Talent (PCT) partners with venture-backed startups to build exceptional teams through embedded talent search, people operations, and culture‑building services.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Bootstrapped)
- **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, USA
- **Founded**: 2018
- **Founders**: Tianna Johnson and Caitlin Cooke

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Human Resources / Talent & People Operations
- **Target customers**: Venture‑backed technology startups at all stages (seed to pre‑IPO), venture capital firms, and high‑growth companies.
- **Mission**: “To build better founders and companies by creating the people, culture, and talent foundations that generational companies are made of.”

## Products & Services
PCT offers a full suite of services organized around three pillars:
- **Talent** – Retained and embedded executive search, recruiting process design, talent strategy, ATS implementation (Ashby partner), candidate experience design, and recruiting metrics.
- **Culture** – Values definition and operationalization, workplace culture development, mission/vision/framework creation, retreat/offsite planning, and employer branding.
- **People** – Organizational design & headcount planning, performance management systems, leveling & career architecture, total rewards, benefits strategy, onboarding/offboarding, payroll & HRIS implementation, manager enablement, and fractional services (marketing, customer support, L&D, Chief of Staff).

## Market Standing
- **Valuation / Market Cap**: Not publicly available (private, no disclosed funding).
- **Key Metric**: 220 total employees (as of early 2025); companies they have scaled average 300% annual growth.
- **Notable Investors / Partners**: Not an investment‑backed firm; clients and partners include Andreessen Horowitz (where co‑founder Caitlin Cooke advised portfolio companies), Ashby (premier implementation partner), Rippling, Lattice, Leapsome, Gem, Juicebox.
- **Growth Signals**: 5 offices globally (San Francisco, plus remote hubs across the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Philippines). Currently hiring engineers (Founding Engineer, Product Engineer, Infrastructure Engineer) indicating a push to build internal platform tools. Have scaled a single client from 10 to 800 team members.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Embedded operating model** – PCT works inside the client’s tools (Slack, ATS, etc.), providing full transparency and real‑time collaboration, unlike traditional agencies.
- **Boutique by design** – The firm intentionally stays small and flat, with senior operators directly managing every engagement. No handoffs to junior consultants.
- **Proven pattern recognition** – Founders have personally scaled engineering and talent teams at Lyft (400→7,000 for IPO), GitHub (through Microsoft acquisition), Notion (20→600, $500M→$10B valuation), and ID.me (100→1,500).
- **Full‑lifecycle offering** – Covers everything from first hire to pre‑IPO people infrastructure, making it a one‑stop partner for founders.

## Strategic Focus
- Deepen the “platform” side of the business by building internal software and systems (ATS implementations, people analytics, automation).
- Expand fractional services across more functions (marketing, customer support, L&D, Chief of Staff).
- Maintain a people‑first, high‑trust culture that mirrors what they advise clients to build.
- Continue serving the venture‑backed ecosystem, from early‑stage founders to later‑stage transformations.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Described as a team of seasoned operators who are “unapologetically embedded” and committed to honest counsel. Values include accountability, collaboration, and continuous learning.
- **Work style**: Hybrid environment with a mix of remote and on‑site work. Offices in San Francisco and remote hubs across multiple countries. Some roles are fully remote, others require in‑office presence (SF).
- **Team**: Small (220 employees) but expanding; direct access to founders and partners. Engineers and non‑engineering roles alike work on high‑impact projects for top VC‑backed startups.
- **Perks**: Not publicly detailed; typical benefits for a Bay Area talent firm likely include competitive compensation, flexibility, and the opportunity to shape the people‑tech ecosystem.

## Sources
1. [People.Culture.Talent. – Homepage](https://www.peopleculturetalent.com/)
2. [Who We Are – People Culture Talent](https://www.peopleculturetalent.com/who-we-are)
3. [What We Do – People Culture Talent](https://www.peopleculturetalent.com/what-we-do)
4. [Built In – People Culture Talent Profile](https://builtin.com/company/people-culture-talent)
5. [People Culture Talent – Careers Page (Ashby)](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/people-culture-talent)

## Other roles at People Culture Talent

- [Founding Business Development Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/founding-business-development-lead-people-culture-talent-san-francisco-b6m3cfse70b9) — San Francisco, CA
- [Founding Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/founding-engineer-people-culture-talent-san-francisco-fx2mzw6yd8b9) — San Francisco, CA
- [Security Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/security-engineer-people-culture-talent-san-francisco-98xn73psp5c3) — San Francisco, CA
- [Forward Depolyed Engineer (FDE)](https://feeny.ai/job/forward-depolyed-engineer-fde-people-culture-talent-san-francisco-62nn65kccn5n) — San Francisco, CA
- [Infrastructure Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/infrastructure-engineer-people-culture-talent-san-francisco-mcd3j4674w66) — San Francisco, CA
- [PCT | Technical Sourcer](https://feeny.ai/job/pct-technical-sourcer-people-culture-talent-united-states-3asakrgq1hpr) — United States
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