Founding / Lead Developer - Early stage AI workflow startup

Early stage AI workflow startup Based in Finland, Sweden or Estonia. Our client is building an AI workflow tool for professional services. The industry is still largely untapped, full of painful manual work, messy processes and expensive inefficiencies. In other words: a good place to build something useful. We are early. Very early. The product is evolving, pilot customers are starting, priorities will change and some weeks will feel like controlled chaos. The positive version: there is a lot of room to shape the product, technology and company from the beginning. Our team includes industry veterans, product builders and business people with a proven track record. We are starting with selected niche verticals, proving value there first, and then expanding more horizontally once we have traction. What we are looking for We are looking for a Lead Developer who can build, ship and think clearly in an early stage environment. Someone who sees AI as a tool for faster iteration, better testing and smarter development, not as a threat or a gimmick. We are not “vibe coding” our way into production, but we are open to using fast prototypes, AI assisted coding and experiments to validate ideas before building properly. You should be comfortable with uncertainty. Nothing is fully set in stone yet, including parts of the tech stack. That means you will have real influence over architecture, tooling and technical direction. What you will do You will help build and develop a commercial AI workflow product that real clients will use. This includes: Designing and developing backend heavy web services Making technology and architecture decisions Working with authentication, databases, APIs and integrations Building interfaces with Claude and other LLM services Improving, replacing or extending the current codebase Turning pilot customer feedback into product improvements Helping us move from “this works” to “this is stable enough to scale” Current stack includes JavaScript, some Python, Fly.io, Vercel, Redis and MongoDB, but none of this is sacred. You are probably a good fit if You have built and shipped web services, tools, apps or platforms that real customers have used. You understand backend development, architecture, APIs, authentication, database migrations and production reliability. You also care about the end user, not just the code. You are self driven, opinionated in a constructive way and able to operate without perfect instructions. You take ownership of your work and can communicate clearly in English. Finnish is a plus, but not required. Experience with LLMs, Claude, OpenAI and/or AI workflow tools is a strong plus. Willingness to learn fast is required. What we offer A chance to join very early and shape the technical foundation of a product with real customer demand. You will get freedom in tools, technologies and ways of working. You will work close to founders and customers, see the impact of your work quickly, and help build stability in a constantly unstable environment. The role can be remote within Finland, Sweden or Estonia. We are based in Helsinki, Finland and most of the team works remotely. We are open to both employee and contractor models. Compensation can include salary and potential equity options. Apply To This Job