Y Combinator is run by a small team that is committed to helping founders start the next Airbnb, Stripe, Reddit, or Doordash. We work out of the same campus in San Francisco that we run the batch in. We also operate according to the same principles we teach our startups - so if you've read Paul Graham's essays or watched our videos on YouTube, you can already predict what it would be like to work here.
Working at YC places you in the center of the startup world.
About the role
To manage our operations at scale, we write lots of software for YC itself. One aspect of this is building internal tools to help run YC itself more efficiently. For this team, our users are YC employees – Group Partners who need productivity tools to engage 1000s of companies, finance teams that need to process investment documents at scale, and a legal team that supports every kind of startup legal issue imaginable.
In this role, you will:
Design and build out new features in entirety. Our particular team focuses on helping founders after the batch, including event software and engagement tools to help YC keep in touch with companies well after they go through the YC program.
Work alongside YC Partners to build productivity software. We’ve built Gmail plugins and company dashboards for partners to quickly engage founders who email/ Slack them regularly.
Scope and prioritize the roadmap. We make trade-offs of effort and impact every day, and engineers help us decide what’s most urgent and important to build next.
Analyze usage and engagement. We want to understand what’s working/not working, and we focus on how continuous improvement over long periods of time can have huge outcomes over months or years.
About the team
Our whole software team is only 15 full-stack product engineers, and we enjoy working in a small team with high impact and knowing each other by name. We have a broad range of experiences from bigger companies like Meta and Google, and many of us have started startups ourselves. True to YC advice, our product engineers talk to our customers regularly and ship fast. We also define our own roadmap and often design our own products when needed.
Our stack is pretty straightforward (Rails, React, Postgres), and the last three engineers have learned it on the job. That said, we’ve found that enjoying front-end software development is key to being successful here, so it’s almost a requirement for the role. Our needs as an organization require a large degree of flexibility, and people change teams quite often.
Lastly: If you’re interested in starting your own startup one day, eight former engineers on our team have gone on to start YC-funded startups. If you want to start your own startup someday but aren’t ready to do it now, working at YC could be an excellent way to get there.
Location: This is an in-person role at YC's campus in Dogpatch, San Francisco. This is where our users (founders, partners, and employees) are five days a week, so it’s optimal for you to be here with them. You must live in the SF Bay Area or be willing to relocate. We offer generous relocation support for those who want to move to SF to work here.
Compensation: $250K to $500K base salary, depending on experience. YC has a profit-sharing program, which is comparable to equity in an early-stage startup or carry in a VC fund.
Benefits: Our full benefits package includes medical, vision, and dental plans, infertility benefit, STD/LTD, life insurance, commuter benefits, flexible spending account, health savings account, 401(k) + 4% matching, generous parental leave, paid holidays, and flexible paid time off policy.
Work Authorization: Y Combinator is willing to sponsor certain employment visas in accordance with company policy.
Legal note: Y Combinator considers qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state, and local law, including San Francisco’s Fair Chance Ordinance. Y Combinator is committed to protecting the privacy of the personal information of job applicants and complying with the California Consumer Privacy Act. The privacy policy of Ashby, Inc., the hiring platform used by Y Combinator, governs the collection of such data and can be found here.
","descriptionPlain":"Y Combinator is run by a small team that is committed to helping founders start the next Airbnb, Stripe, Reddit, or Doordash. We work out of the same campus in San Francisco that we run the batch in. We also operate according to the same principles we teach our startups - so if you've read Paul Graham's essays https://paulgraham.com/hwh.html or watched our videos on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1iF1c8w5Lg, you can already predict what it would be like to work here. \n\n\n\nWorking at YC places you in the center of the startup world.\n\n\n\nAbout the role\n\nTo manage our operations at scale, we write lots of software for YC itself. One aspect of this is building internal tools to help run YC itself more efficiently. For this team, our users are YC employees – Group Partners who need productivity tools to engage 1000s of companies, finance teams that need to process investment documents at scale, and a legal team that supports every kind of startup legal issue imaginable. \n\n\n\nIn this role, you will:\n\n - Design and build out new features in entirety. Our particular team focuses on helping founders after the batch, including event software and engagement tools to help YC keep in touch with companies well after they go through the YC program. \n\n - Work alongside YC Partners to build productivity software. We’ve built Gmail plugins and company dashboards for partners to quickly engage founders who email/ Slack them regularly.\n\n - Scope and prioritize the roadmap. We make trade-offs of effort and impact every day, and engineers help us decide what’s most urgent and important to build next. \n\n - Analyze usage and engagement. We want to understand what’s working/not working, and we focus on how continuous improvement over long periods of time can have huge outcomes over months or years. \n\n\n\nAbout the team\n\nOur whole software team is only 15 full-stack product engineers, and we enjoy working in a small team with high impact and knowing each other by name. We have a broad range of experiences from bigger companies like Meta and Google, and many of us have started startups ourselves. True to YC advice, our product engineers talk to our customers regularly and ship fast. We also define our own roadmap and often design our own products when needed. \n\n\n\nOur stack is pretty straightforward (Rails, React, Postgres), and the last three engineers have learned it on the job. That said, we’ve found that enjoying front-end software development is key to being successful here, so it’s almost a requirement for the role. Our needs as an organization require a large degree of flexibility, and people change teams quite often. \n\n\n\nLastly: If you’re interested in starting your own startup one day, eight former engineers on our team have gone on to start YC-funded startups. If you want to start your own startup someday but aren’t ready to do it now, working at YC could be an excellent way to get there. \n\n\n\nLocation: This is an in-person role at YC's campus in Dogpatch, San Francisco. This is where our users (founders, partners, and employees) are five days a week, so it’s optimal for you to be here with them. You must live in the SF Bay Area or be willing to relocate. We offer generous relocation support for those who want to move to SF to work here.\n\n\n\nCompensation: $250K to $500K base salary, depending on experience. YC has a profit-sharing program, which is comparable to equity in an early-stage startup or carry in a VC fund.\n\n\n\nBenefits: Our full benefits package includes medical, vision, and dental plans, infertility benefit, STD/LTD, life insurance, commuter benefits, flexible spending account, health savings account, 401(k) + 4% matching, generous parental leave, paid holidays, and flexible paid time off policy.\n\n\n\nWork Authorization: Y Combinator is willing to sponsor certain employment visas in accordance with company policy.\n\n\n\nLegal note: Y Combinator considers qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state, and local law, including San Francisco’s Fair Chance Ordinance. Y Combinator is committed to protecting the privacy of the personal information of job applicants and complying with the California Consumer Privacy Act. The privacy policy of Ashby, Inc., the hiring platform used by Y Combinator, governs the collection of such data and can be found here https://www.ashbyhq.com/resources/privacy.","compensation":{"compensationTierSummary":null,"scrapeableCompensationSalarySummary":null,"compensationTiers":[],"summaryComponents":[]}},{"id":"00c6950f-341f-4924-a456-ea32c9d5601d","title":"Product Engineer, Bookface","department":"Software","team":"Software","employmentType":"FullTime","location":"San Francisco Bay Area","shouldDisplayCompensationOnJobPostings":false,"secondaryLocations":[],"publishedAt":"2026-01-08T20:11:29.944+00:00","isListed":true,"isRemote":null,"workplaceType":null,"address":{"postalAddress":{"addressRegion":"","addressCountry":"","addressLocality":""}},"jobUrl":"https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/ycombinator/00c6950f-341f-4924-a456-ea32c9d5601d","applyUrl":"https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/ycombinator/00c6950f-341f-4924-a456-ea32c9d5601d/application","descriptionHtml":"Y Combinator is run by a small team that is committed to helping founders start the next Airbnb, Stripe, Reddit, or Doordash. We work out of the same campus in San Francisco that we run the batch in. We also operate according to the same principles we teach our startups - so if you've read Paul Graham's essays or watched our videos on YouTube, you can already predict what it would be like to work here. Working at YC places you in the center of the startup world.
About the role
To manage the YC program at scale, we write lots of software. The Bookface team specifically focuses on building YC’s most critical tools to help founders through the batch – and well afterwards. Some projects we’re working on:
Bookface. Software that helps operate and manage the day-to-day batch, including event programming, office hours, pitch prep, and more. Every company that goes through the batch relies on this software to get the most out of their YC experience.
Forums & Alumni Directory. Helps founders get the best advice and feedback on how to build their startup – from technical advice, customer acquisition, fundraising, and more.
Demo Day investor portal. Matching founders and investors for early seed fundraising, with billions of dollars resulting from the connections we’ve made through our platform.
Launch YC. A public platform for YC founders to get early customers and product feedback from both other YC alumni and the broader public.
About the team
Our whole software team is only 15 full-stack product engineers, and we enjoy working in a small team with high impact and knowing each other by name. We have a broad range of experiences from bigger companies like Meta and Google, and many of us have started startups ourselves. True to YC advice, our product engineers talk to our customers regularly and ship fast. We also define our own roadmap and often design our own products when needed.
Our stack is pretty straightforward (Rails, React, Postgres), and the last three engineers have learned it on the job. That said, we’ve found that enjoying front-end software development is key to being successful here, so it’s almost a requirement for the role. Our needs as an organization require a large degree of flexibility, and people change teams quite often.
Lastly: If you’re interested in starting your own startup one day: eight former engineers on our team have gone on to start YC-funded startups. If you want to start your own startup someday but aren’t ready to do it now, working at YC could be an excellent way to get there.
Location: This is an in-person role at YC's campus in Dogpatch, San Francisco. This is where our users (founders, partners, and employees) are five days a week, so it’s optimal for you to be here with them. You must live in the SF Bay Area or be willing to relocate. We offer generous relocation support for those who want to move to SF to work here.
Compensation: $250K to $500K base salary, depending on experience. YC has a profit-sharing program, which is comparable to equity in an early-stage startup or carry in a VC fund.
Benefits: Our full benefits package includes medical, vision, and dental plans, infertility benefit, STD/LTD, life insurance, commuter benefits, flexible spending account, health savings account, 401(k) + 4% matching, generous parental leave, paid holidays, and flexible paid time off policy.
Work Authorization: Y Combinator is willing to sponsor certain employment visas in accordance with company policy.
Legal note: Y Combinator considers qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state, and local law, including San Francisco’s Fair Chance Ordinance. Y Combinator is committed to protecting the privacy of the personal information of job applicants and complying with the California Consumer Privacy Act. The privacy policy of Ashby, Inc., the hiring platform used by Y Combinator, governs the collection of such data and can be found here.
","descriptionPlain":"Y Combinator is run by a small team that is committed to helping founders start the next Airbnb, Stripe, Reddit, or Doordash. We work out of the same campus in San Francisco that we run the batch in. We also operate according to the same principles we teach our startups - so if you've read Paul Graham's essays https://paulgraham.com/hwh.html or watched our videos on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1iF1c8w5Lg, you can already predict what it would be like to work here. Working at YC places you in the center of the startup world.\n\n\n\nAbout the role\n\nTo manage the YC program at scale, we write lots of software. The Bookface team specifically focuses on building YC’s most critical tools to help founders through the batch – and well afterwards. Some projects we’re working on:\n\n - Bookface. Software that helps operate and manage the day-to-day batch, including event programming, office hours, pitch prep, and more. Every company that goes through the batch relies on this software to get the most out of their YC experience. \n\n - Forums & Alumni Directory. Helps founders get the best advice and feedback on how to build their startup – from technical advice, customer acquisition, fundraising, and more.\n\n - Demo Day investor portal. Matching founders and investors for early seed fundraising, with billions of dollars resulting from the connections we’ve made through our platform. \n\n - Launch YC. A public platform for YC founders to get early customers and product feedback from both other YC alumni and the broader public. \n\n\n\nAbout the team\n\nOur whole software team is only 15 full-stack product engineers, and we enjoy working in a small team with high impact and knowing each other by name. We have a broad range of experiences from bigger companies like Meta and Google, and many of us have started startups ourselves. True to YC advice, our product engineers talk to our customers regularly and ship fast. We also define our own roadmap and often design our own products when needed. \n\n\n\nOur stack is pretty straightforward (Rails, React, Postgres), and the last three engineers have learned it on the job. That said, we’ve found that enjoying front-end software development is key to being successful here, so it’s almost a requirement for the role. Our needs as an organization require a large degree of flexibility, and people change teams quite often. \n\n\n\nLastly: If you’re interested in starting your own startup one day: eight former engineers on our team have gone on to start YC-funded startups. If you want to start your own startup someday but aren’t ready to do it now, working at YC could be an excellent way to get there. \n\n\n\nLocation: This is an in-person role at YC's campus in Dogpatch, San Francisco. This is where our users (founders, partners, and employees) are five days a week, so it’s optimal for you to be here with them. You must live in the SF Bay Area or be willing to relocate. We offer generous relocation support for those who want to move to SF to work here.\n\n\n\nCompensation: $250K to $500K base salary, depending on experience. YC has a profit-sharing program, which is comparable to equity in an early-stage startup or carry in a VC fund.\n\n\n\nBenefits: Our full benefits package includes medical, vision, and dental plans, infertility benefit, STD/LTD, life insurance, commuter benefits, flexible spending account, health savings account, 401(k) + 4% matching, generous parental leave, paid holidays, and flexible paid time off policy.\n\n\n\nWork Authorization: Y Combinator is willing to sponsor certain employment visas in accordance with company policy.\n\n\n\nLegal note: Y Combinator considers qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state, and local law, including San Francisco’s Fair Chance Ordinance. Y Combinator is committed to protecting the privacy of the personal information of job applicants and complying with the California Consumer Privacy Act. The privacy policy of Ashby, Inc., the hiring platform used by Y Combinator, governs the collection of such data and can be found here https://www.ashbyhq.com/resources/privacy.","compensation":{"compensationTierSummary":null,"scrapeableCompensationSalarySummary":null,"compensationTiers":[],"summaryComponents":[]}},{"id":"6dd95d42-8e9b-4e1a-a674-e37e2ddd62fc","title":"Software Product Design Engineer","department":"Software","team":"Software","employmentType":"FullTime","location":"San Francisco Bay Area","shouldDisplayCompensationOnJobPostings":false,"secondaryLocations":[],"publishedAt":"2026-01-08T20:12:34.388+00:00","isListed":true,"isRemote":null,"workplaceType":null,"address":{"postalAddress":{"addressRegion":"","addressCountry":"","addressLocality":""}},"jobUrl":"https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/ycombinator/6dd95d42-8e9b-4e1a-a674-e37e2ddd62fc","applyUrl":"https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/ycombinator/6dd95d42-8e9b-4e1a-a674-e37e2ddd62fc/application","descriptionHtml":"Build polished, thoughtful product experiences at YC
Y Combinator builds the software that runs YC — internal tools used by partners and founders, public products used by the broader startup ecosystem, and AI-powered systems that automate complex workflows. Our team is small, the impact is large, and we ship real product to real users frequently.
We’re looking for a Software Product Design Engineer — someone who lives at the intersection of design and engineering. You’ll design beautiful user experiences, translate high-fidelity mocks into production code, and proactively elevate existing interfaces with thoughtful detail and interactions.
What you’ll do
Design compelling, clear UI/UX and produce high-quality mocks that demonstrate strong product taste.
Turn design mocks (yours or others’) into pixel-perfect, production-ready frontends using modern web tech.
Iterate on existing interfaces by improving layout, interaction quality, motion, and design consistency.
Work closely with engineers, partners, and stakeholders — you’ll own the design and implementation of features end-to-end.
Rapidly prototype and “vibe code” to explore ideas, gather feedback, and iterate quickly.
Contribute to design systems, component libraries, and patterns that raise the bar for frontend quality across YC.
Stay close to users: talk to them, watch how they use the product, and improve the experience based on real signals.
What we’re looking for
Strong UX and visual design skills with proven taste and craftsmanship.
Frontend engineering experience — comfort building real UI in React, TypeScript, and modern CSS.
Ability to move fluidly between design tools (Figma, etc.) and frontend code.
A “get things done” mindset: you ship quickly, iterate based on feedback, and take ownership.
Someone who cares deeply about polish — from typography and spacing to micro-interactions and transitions.
Comfort with ambiguity: you’ll often define your own scope and drive things forward with little direction.
Nice to have
Experience building or maintaining design systems.
Contributions to open source UI libraries or design resources.
Background in internal tools, admin dashboards, or developer-facing products.
Why this role at YC
At YC, engineers own projects end-to-end — from the early sketches and prototypes to deployed code used by partners, investors, and founders. We work on a small, tight-knit team where your decisions matter, and you’ll ship real product quickly, often interacting directly with users. You’ll also be plugged into the heartbeat of the startup ecosystem, surrounded by founders and builders working on the hardest problems.
This is a unique opportunity to combine design taste, frontend craftsmanship, and real product impact in a role with broad autonomy and high visibility.
Location: This is an in-person role at YC's campus in Dogpatch, San Francisco. This is where our users (founders, partners, and employees) are five days a week, so it’s optimal for you to be here with them. You must live in the SF Bay Area or be willing to relocate. We offer generous relocation support for those who want to move to SF to work here.
Compensation: $250K to $500K base salary, depending on experience. YC has a profit-sharing program, which is comparable to equity in an early-stage startup or carry in a VC fund.
Benefits: Our full benefits package includes medical, vision, and dental plans, infertility benefit, STD/LTD, life insurance, commuter benefits, flexible spending account, health savings account, 401(k) + 4% matching, generous parental leave, paid holidays, and flexible paid time off policy.
Work Authorization: Y Combinator is willing to sponsor certain employment visas in accordance with company policy.
Legal note: Y Combinator considers qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state, and local law, including San Francisco’s Fair Chance Ordinance. Y Combinator is committed to protecting the privacy of the personal information of job applicants and complying with the California Consumer Privacy Act. The privacy policy of Ashby, Inc., the hiring platform used by Y Combinator, governs the collection of such data and can be found here.
","descriptionPlain":"Build polished, thoughtful product experiences at YC\n\n\nY Combinator builds the software that runs YC — internal tools used by partners and founders, public products used by the broader startup ecosystem, and AI-powered systems that automate complex workflows. Our team is small, the impact is large, and we ship real product to real users frequently.\n\n\nWe’re looking for a Software Product Design Engineer — someone who lives at the intersection of design and engineering. You’ll design beautiful user experiences, translate high-fidelity mocks into production code, and proactively elevate existing interfaces with thoughtful detail and interactions.\n\n\nWhat you’ll do\n\n\nDesign compelling, clear UI/UX and produce high-quality mocks that demonstrate strong product taste.\n\n - Turn design mocks (yours or others’) into pixel-perfect, production-ready frontends using modern web tech.\n\n - Iterate on existing interfaces by improving layout, interaction quality, motion, and design consistency.\n\n - Work closely with engineers, partners, and stakeholders — you’ll own the design and implementation of features end-to-end.\n\n - Rapidly prototype and “vibe code” to explore ideas, gather feedback, and iterate quickly.\n\n - Contribute to design systems, component libraries, and patterns that raise the bar for frontend quality across YC.\n\n - Stay close to users: talk to them, watch how they use the product, and improve the experience based on real signals.\n\n\nWhat we’re looking for\n\n - Strong UX and visual design skills with proven taste and craftsmanship.\n\n - Frontend engineering experience — comfort building real UI in React, TypeScript, and modern CSS.\n\n - Ability to move fluidly between design tools (Figma, etc.) and frontend code.\n\n - A “get things done” mindset: you ship quickly, iterate based on feedback, and take ownership.\n\n - Someone who cares deeply about polish — from typography and spacing to micro-interactions and transitions.\n\n - Comfort with ambiguity: you’ll often define your own scope and drive things forward with little direction.\n\n\nNice to have\n\n - Experience building or maintaining design systems.\n\n - Contributions to open source UI libraries or design resources.\n\n - Background in internal tools, admin dashboards, or developer-facing products.\n\n\nWhy this role at YC\nAt YC, engineers own projects end-to-end — from the early sketches and prototypes to deployed code used by partners, investors, and founders. We work on a small, tight-knit team where your decisions matter, and you’ll ship real product quickly, often interacting directly with users. You’ll also be plugged into the heartbeat of the startup ecosystem, surrounded by founders and builders working on the hardest problems.\n\n\nThis is a unique opportunity to combine design taste, frontend craftsmanship, and real product impact in a role with broad autonomy and high visibility.\n\n\n\nLocation: This is an in-person role at YC's campus in Dogpatch, San Francisco. This is where our users (founders, partners, and employees) are five days a week, so it’s optimal for you to be here with them. You must live in the SF Bay Area or be willing to relocate. We offer generous relocation support for those who want to move to SF to work here.\n\n\n\nCompensation: $250K to $500K base salary, depending on experience. YC has a profit-sharing program, which is comparable to equity in an early-stage startup or carry in a VC fund.\n\n\n\nBenefits: Our full benefits package includes medical, vision, and dental plans, infertility benefit, STD/LTD, life insurance, commuter benefits, flexible spending account, health savings account, 401(k) + 4% matching, generous parental leave, paid holidays, and flexible paid time off policy.\n\n\n\nWork Authorization: Y Combinator is willing to sponsor certain employment visas in accordance with company policy.\n\n\n\nLegal note: Y Combinator considers qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state, and local law, including San Francisco’s Fair Chance Ordinance. Y Combinator is committed to protecting the privacy of the personal information of job applicants and complying with the California Consumer Privacy Act. The privacy policy of Ashby, Inc., the hiring platform used by Y Combinator, governs the collection of such data and can be found here https://www.ashbyhq.com/resources/privacy.\n\n\n\n\n","compensation":{"compensationTierSummary":null,"scrapeableCompensationSalarySummary":null,"compensationTiers":[],"summaryComponents":[]}},{"id":"d8181870-1652-4436-b7c7-b3b44115fd70","title":"Investment Associate & Product Engineer","department":"Software","team":"Software","employmentType":"FullTime","location":"San Francisco Bay Area","shouldDisplayCompensationOnJobPostings":false,"secondaryLocations":[],"publishedAt":"2026-01-08T20:19:45.247+00:00","isListed":true,"isRemote":null,"workplaceType":null,"address":{"postalAddress":{"addressRegion":"","addressCountry":"","addressLocality":""}},"jobUrl":"https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/ycombinator/d8181870-1652-4436-b7c7-b3b44115fd70","applyUrl":"https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/ycombinator/d8181870-1652-4436-b7c7-b3b44115fd70/application","descriptionHtml":"Y Combinator is looking for a full-stack product engineer who also wants to apply their skills to investing, diligence, and founder support. This role sits at the intersection of engineering, product, and investing. You will spend much of your time writing production code — building internal and founder-facing tools — while also contributing directly to company evaluation and investment decisions.
This is not two jobs stitched together. The core of the role is turning judgment into software: using code to improve how YC evaluates companies, supports founders, and scales its impact after the batch.
What you'll do:
Product & Engineering (core responsibility)
Design, build, and ship full-stack web applications for partners, founders, and investors
Own features end-to-end: scoping, design, implementation, and iteration
Work across frontend, backend, and data layers to improve YC's post-batch and internal platforms (e.g., founder tools, analytics, workflow systems)
Make pragmatic engineering tradeoffs in a fast-moving, high-ownership environment
Investing & Analysis
Evaluate post-batch and growth-stage companies by analyzing business models, markets, teams, and operating metrics
Contribute to diligence efforts, including reviewing decks and data rooms, benchmarking KPIs, and conducting market or customer research
Build and maintain analytical tools, dashboards, or workflows that support investment decisions
Write clear, structured memos and analyses for partners and our Investment Committee
This role is ideal for someone who:
Is a strong full-stack engineer and enjoys owning production software
Likes talking to users and senior stakeholders to decide what to build
Is curious about investing and wants hands-on exposure
Prefers ownership and impact over narrowly scoped tickets
Is energized by ambiguity and comfortable making tradeoffs
Can translate ambiguous questions into concrete products, systems, or analyses
Successful candidates have been:
Former founders or early-stage engineers
Product-minded engineers who've worked closely with business or finance teams
Engineers with prior exposure to investing, finance, or company analysis
What we're looking for:
Required
Experience shipping full-stack web applications
Ability to design systems and reason about tradeoffs independently
Strong analytical thinking; comfort with metrics and financial concepts
Clear written and verbal communication
Excellent judgment, integrity, and ability to work with sensitive information
Not required, but helpful
Experience with Rails, React, Postgres, or similar frameworks and databases
Prior experience in venture capital, growth equity, banking, consulting, or corporate development
Founder or early-stage startup experience
Experience building internal tools, analytics platforms, or workflow software
We care far more about your ability to build and ship real software than about any specific framework. If you've built strong full-stack products before, you can learn our stack.
How we work: YC operates with a small, high-trust team. Roadmaps evolve organically, priorities shift quickly, and people are expected to use good judgment rather than wait for perfect specs. Engineers have real autonomy and work closely with partners and founders to build things that matter.
Location: Based in the San Francisco Bay Area (or willing to relocate)
Compensation: $250K to $500K base salary, depending on experience. YC has a profit-sharing program, which is comparable to equity in an early-stage startup or carry in a VC fund.
Benefits: Our full benefits package includes medical, vision, and dental plans, infertility benefit, STD/LTD, life insurance, commuter benefits, flexible spending account, health savings account, 401(k) + 4% matching, generous parental leave, paid holidays, and flexible paid time off policy.
Important Note: This role is not a fit if you're looking for:
A pure investing or finance role with little hands-on building
A pure engineering role with tightly defined specs and limited product ownership
A highly structured environment with rigid roadmaps
Work Authorization: Y Combinator is willing to sponsor certain employment visas in accordance with company policy.
Legal note: Y Combinator considers qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state, and local law, including San Francisco’s Fair Chance Ordinance. Y Combinator is committed to protecting the privacy of the personal information of job applicants and complying with the California Consumer Privacy Act. The privacy policy of Ashby, Inc., the hiring platform used by Y Combinator, governs the collection of such data and can be found here.
","descriptionPlain":"Y Combinator is looking for a full-stack product engineer who also wants to apply their skills to investing, diligence, and founder support. This role sits at the intersection of engineering, product, and investing. You will spend much of your time writing production code — building internal and founder-facing tools — while also contributing directly to company evaluation and investment decisions.\n\n\n\nThis is not two jobs stitched together. The core of the role is turning judgment into software: using code to improve how YC evaluates companies, supports founders, and scales its impact after the batch.\n\n\n\nWhat you'll do:\n\n - Product & Engineering (core responsibility)\n \n - Design, build, and ship full-stack web applications for partners, founders, and investors\n \n - Own features end-to-end: scoping, design, implementation, and iteration\n \n - Work across frontend, backend, and data layers to improve YC's post-batch and internal platforms (e.g., founder tools, analytics, workflow systems)\n \n - Make pragmatic engineering tradeoffs in a fast-moving, high-ownership environment\n\n - Investing & Analysis\n \n - Evaluate post-batch and growth-stage companies by analyzing business models, markets, teams, and operating metrics\n \n - Contribute to diligence efforts, including reviewing decks and data rooms, benchmarking KPIs, and conducting market or customer research\n \n - Build and maintain analytical tools, dashboards, or workflows that support investment decisions\n \n - Write clear, structured memos and analyses for partners and our Investment Committee\n\n\n\nThis role is ideal for someone who:\n\n - Is a strong full-stack engineer and enjoys owning production software\n\n - Likes talking to users and senior stakeholders to decide what to build\n\n - Is curious about investing and wants hands-on exposure\n\n - Prefers ownership and impact over narrowly scoped tickets\n\n - Is energized by ambiguity and comfortable making tradeoffs\n\n - Can translate ambiguous questions into concrete products, systems, or analyses\n\n\n\nSuccessful candidates have been:\n\n - Former founders or early-stage engineers\n\n - Product-minded engineers who've worked closely with business or finance teams\n\n - Engineers with prior exposure to investing, finance, or company analysis\n\n\n\nWhat we're looking for:\n\n - Required\n \n - Experience shipping full-stack web applications\n \n - Ability to design systems and reason about tradeoffs independently\n \n - Strong analytical thinking; comfort with metrics and financial concepts\n \n - Clear written and verbal communication\n \n - Excellent judgment, integrity, and ability to work with sensitive information\n\n - Not required, but helpful\n \n - Experience with Rails, React, Postgres, or similar frameworks and databases\n \n - Prior experience in venture capital, growth equity, banking, consulting, or corporate development\n \n - Founder or early-stage startup experience\n \n - Experience building internal tools, analytics platforms, or workflow software\n \n - We care far more about your ability to build and ship real software than about any specific framework. If you've built strong full-stack products before, you can learn our stack.\n\n\n\nHow we work: YC operates with a small, high-trust team. Roadmaps evolve organically, priorities shift quickly, and people are expected to use good judgment rather than wait for perfect specs. Engineers have real autonomy and work closely with partners and founders to build things that matter.\n\n\n\nLocation: Based in the San Francisco Bay Area (or willing to relocate)\n\n\n\nCompensation: $250K to $500K base salary, depending on experience. YC has a profit-sharing program, which is comparable to equity in an early-stage startup or carry in a VC fund.\n\n\n\nBenefits: Our full benefits package includes medical, vision, and dental plans, infertility benefit, STD/LTD, life insurance, commuter benefits, flexible spending account, health savings account, 401(k) + 4% matching, generous parental leave, paid holidays, and flexible paid time off policy.\n\n\n\nImportant Note: This role is not a fit if you're looking for:\n\n - A pure investing or finance role with little hands-on building\n\n - A pure engineering role with tightly defined specs and limited product ownership\n\n - A highly structured environment with rigid roadmaps\n\n\n\nWork Authorization: Y Combinator is willing to sponsor certain employment visas in accordance with company policy.\n\n\n\nLegal note: Y Combinator considers qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state, and local law, including San Francisco’s Fair Chance Ordinance. Y Combinator is committed to protecting the privacy of the personal information of job applicants and complying with the California Consumer Privacy Act. The privacy policy of Ashby, Inc., the hiring platform used by Y Combinator, governs the collection of such data and can be found here https://www.ashbyhq.com/resources/privacy.\n\n","compensation":{"compensationTierSummary":null,"scrapeableCompensationSalarySummary":null,"compensationTiers":[],"summaryComponents":[]}},{"id":"b3ca026e-aae8-45dc-a621-df1d7eb1945d","title":"Product Engineer, Applications Operations","department":"Software","team":"Software","employmentType":"FullTime","location":"San Francisco Bay Area","shouldDisplayCompensationOnJobPostings":false,"secondaryLocations":[],"publishedAt":"2026-03-27T19:41:44.172+00:00","isListed":true,"isRemote":null,"workplaceType":null,"address":{"postalAddress":{"addressRegion":"","addressCountry":"","addressLocality":""}},"jobUrl":"https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/ycombinator/b3ca026e-aae8-45dc-a621-df1d7eb1945d","applyUrl":"https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/ycombinator/b3ca026e-aae8-45dc-a621-df1d7eb1945d/application","descriptionHtml":"Y Combinator is hiring a full-stack product engineer to work at the center of how YC operates — from the application pipeline to events and internal tools. This role sits at the intersection of engineering, product, and operations.
You’ll spend most of your time building production software for both internal teams and founders, while also helping design and improve the processes those tools support. At its core, this role is about turning operational complexity into well-designed software.
We don’t have traditional PMs or designers. Engineers own the product experience end-to-end — from understanding the problem to designing the UI to shipping the system. The right person is excited to create their own interfaces, workflows, and user experiences, not just implement someone else’s specs.
Product & Engineering (Core)
Design, build, and ship full-stack applications powering YC’s admissions pipeline, events platform, and internal tools
Develop and extend YC’s events platform (Demo Day, meetups, recruiting events, office hours, investor events), including registration, coordination, and media handling
Integrate with external systems (Google Calendar, Slack, email, data pipelines) to coordinate internal teams, external founders and more
Build deep AI and search systems (semantic search, embeddings, natural language queries) across large datasets
Make pragmatic engineering tradeoffs in a fast-moving environment
Process & Automation
Build systems that automate YC’s admissions workflow (scheduling, notifications, status tracking, email triage, deadlines)
Improve how applications are routed, interviews are coordinated, and information is surfaced to partners
Develop internal tools and copilots using LLMs (email classification, workflow automation, natural language interfaces)
Eliminate manual work so the team can focus on high-leverage decisions
Work directly with partners and ops teams to understand workflows and build better systems
Create dashboards and analytics to track pipeline health and operational metrics
Contribute to process improvements during admissions cycles
This role is ideal if you:
Are a strong full-stack, product-minded engineer who enjoys owning products, not just code
Love using AI in your work -- your dev stack is fully AI-enabled and you've built AI-enabled products or prototypes
Like turning messy, high-stakes workflows into clean, usable systems
Want to make product and UX decisions directly, without waiting on PMs or designers
Are low-ego and comfortable getting along with everyone in our 100-person company
Are comfortable with ambiguity and making tradeoffs
Product-minded engineers who’ve built internal tools or workflow systems end-to-end
Engineers with experience in building full stack applications or workflow software
Former founders or early-stage startup engineers
Engineers who have owned both backend systems and frontend/user experience
Required
Experience shipping full-stack web applications
Strong system design and independent decision-making
Strong product sense and comfort designing user experiences
Ability to work directly with non-technical stakeholders
Clear communication skills
High judgment and integrity
Nice to Have
Experience with Rails, React, Postgres (or similar)
LLMs, prompt engineering, or agent-based systems
Workflow automation or integration-heavy systems
Founder or early-stage experience
We care more about your ability to build and ship complete products than any specific stack.
YC operates with a small, high-trust team. There are no rigid roadmaps or handoffs between product, design, and engineering — engineers are expected to use judgment, talk to users, and build the right thing.
You’ll work closely with partners and founders on high-impact problems and be responsible for the full experience, not just the implementation.
Location: San Francisco Bay Area (or willing to relocate)
Compensation: $250K–$500K base + profit-sharing (comparable to startup equity or VC carry)
Benefits: Medical, dental, vision, 401(k) + 4% match, parental leave, flexible PTO, and more
Y Combinator is willing to sponsor certain employment visas in accordance with company policy.
Legal note: Y Combinator considers qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state, and local law, including San Francisco's
Fair Chance Ordinance. Y Combinator is committed to protecting the privacy of the personal information of job applicants and complying with the California Consumer
Privacy Act. The privacy policy of Ashby, Inc., the hiring platform used by Y Combinator, governs the collection of such data and can be found here.
","descriptionPlain":"Y Combinator is hiring a full-stack product engineer to work at the center of how YC operates — from the application pipeline to events and internal tools. This role sits at the intersection of engineering, product, and operations.\n\nYou’ll spend most of your time building production software for both internal teams and founders, while also helping design and improve the processes those tools support. At its core, this role is about turning operational complexity into well-designed software.\n\nWe don’t have traditional PMs or designers. Engineers own the product experience end-to-end — from understanding the problem to designing the UI to shipping the system. The right person is excited to create their own interfaces, workflows, and user experiences, not just implement someone else’s specs.\n\n\nWHAT YOU’LL DO\n\nProduct & Engineering (Core)\n\n - Design, build, and ship full-stack applications powering YC’s admissions pipeline, events platform, and internal tools\n\n - Develop and extend YC’s events platform (Demo Day, meetups, recruiting events, office hours, investor events), including registration, coordination, and media handling\n\n - Integrate with external systems (Google Calendar, Slack, email, data pipelines) to coordinate internal teams, external founders and more\n\n - Build deep AI and search systems (semantic search, embeddings, natural language queries) across large datasets\n\n - Make pragmatic engineering tradeoffs in a fast-moving environment\n\nProcess & Automation\n\n - Build systems that automate YC’s admissions workflow (scheduling, notifications, status tracking, email triage, deadlines)\n\n - Improve how applications are routed, interviews are coordinated, and information is surfaced to partners\n\n - Develop internal tools and copilots using LLMs (email classification, workflow automation, natural language interfaces)\n\n - Eliminate manual work so the team can focus on high-leverage decisions\n\n\nOPERATIONS & DECISION SUPPORT\n\n - Work directly with partners and ops teams to understand workflows and build better systems\n\n - Create dashboards and analytics to track pipeline health and operational metrics\n\n - Contribute to process improvements during admissions cycles\n\n\nWHO THIS IS FOR\n\nThis role is ideal if you:\n\n - Are a strong full-stack, product-minded engineer who enjoys owning products, not just code\n\n - Love using AI in your work -- your dev stack is fully AI-enabled and you've built AI-enabled products or prototypes\n\n - Like turning messy, high-stakes workflows into clean, usable systems\n\n - Want to make product and UX decisions directly, without waiting on PMs or designers\n\n - Are low-ego and comfortable getting along with everyone in our 100-person company\n\n - Are comfortable with ambiguity and making tradeoffs\n\n\nBACKGROUNDS THAT TEND TO SUCCEED\n\n - Product-minded engineers who’ve built internal tools or workflow systems end-to-end\n\n - Engineers with experience in building full stack applications or workflow software\n\n - Former founders or early-stage startup engineers\n\n - Engineers who have owned both backend systems and frontend/user experience\n\n\nWHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR\n\nRequired\n\n - Experience shipping full-stack web applications\n\n - Strong system design and independent decision-making\n\n - Strong product sense and comfort designing user experiences\n\n - Ability to work directly with non-technical stakeholders\n\n - Clear communication skills\n\n - High judgment and integrity\n\nNice to Have\n\n - Experience with Rails, React, Postgres (or similar)\n\n - LLMs, prompt engineering, or agent-based systems\n\n - Workflow automation or integration-heavy systems\n\n - Founder or early-stage experience\n\nWe care more about your ability to build and ship complete products than any specific stack.\n\n\nHOW WE WORK\n\nYC operates with a small, high-trust team. There are no rigid roadmaps or handoffs between product, design, and engineering — engineers are expected to use judgment, talk to users, and build the right thing.\n\nYou’ll work closely with partners and founders on high-impact problems and be responsible for the full experience, not just the implementation.\n\n\nDETAILS\n\n - Location: San Francisco Bay Area (or willing to relocate)\n\n - Compensation: $250K–$500K base + profit-sharing (comparable to startup equity or VC carry)\n\n - Benefits: Medical, dental, vision, 401(k) + 4% match, parental leave, flexible PTO, and more\n\n\nWORK AUTHORIZATION\n\nY Combinator is willing to sponsor certain employment visas in accordance with company policy.\n\nLegal note: Y Combinator considers qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state, and local law, including San Francisco's\n\nFair Chance Ordinance. Y Combinator is committed to protecting the privacy of the personal information of job applicants and complying with the California Consumer\n\nPrivacy Act. The privacy policy of Ashby, Inc., the hiring platform used by Y Combinator, governs the collection of such data and can be found here.","compensation":{"compensationTierSummary":null,"scrapeableCompensationSalarySummary":null,"compensationTiers":[],"summaryComponents":[]}},{"id":"1b08c336-45bb-4c31-b626-02f4aec79ca2","title":"Product Engineer, New Products","department":"Software","team":"Software","employmentType":"FullTime","location":"San Francisco Bay Area","shouldDisplayCompensationOnJobPostings":false,"secondaryLocations":[],"publishedAt":"2026-06-22T23:41:22.158+00:00","isListed":true,"isRemote":false,"workplaceType":"OnSite","address":{"postalAddress":{"addressRegion":"","addressCountry":"","addressLocality":""}},"jobUrl":"https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/ycombinator/1b08c336-45bb-4c31-b626-02f4aec79ca2","applyUrl":"https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/ycombinator/1b08c336-45bb-4c31-b626-02f4aec79ca2/application","descriptionHtml":"Y Combinator is building a new generation of products for the AI-native era — and we're hiring product engineers to build them. Some ship in the open to hundreds of thousands of developers (gstack, gbrain — already north of 130,000 GitHub stars between them). Some are proprietary products in their own right (Paxel). All of them start from the same belief: a single builder with the right tooling now ships like a team of twenty, and we intend to build the tools — and the platforms — that prove it.
This is a rare seat. You won't be maintaining someone else's roadmap. You'll be taking new products from zero to one, owning them end-to-end, and putting them in front of real users fast.
Take new products from 0→1 — design, build, and ship full-stack systems and developer tools end-to-end
Build AI-native software: agent orchestration, semantic search, embeddings, knowledge graphs, LLM workflows
Own developer and user experience completely — 30-second installs, time-to-first-value measured in minutes, interfaces people actually want to use
Ship some work in the open and engage a real community; ship other work as commercial product. Pick the right call for each
Use your own fully AI-enabled dev stack and make pragmatic tradeoffs in a fast-moving environment
This role is ideal if you:
Are a strong full-stack, product-minded engineer who owns products, not just code — no PMs, no designers, you make the product and UX calls
Live in an AI-native dev stack and have built AI-enabled products, agents, or prototypes
Care about developer experience and the craft of a tool people love
Like turning hard problems into clean, usable systems and shipping fast
Are low-ego, comfortable with ambiguity, and get along with everyone in our ~100-person company
Former founders and early-stage startup engineers
Prolific open-source contributors or maintainers
Product engineers who've built and shipped complete products end-to-end
Engineers who've owned both backend systems and frontend/user experience
Required - Experience shipping full-stack or systems software end-to-end - Strong system design and independent decision-making - Strong product sense and comfort designing user experiences - Clear communication and the ability to work directly with non-technical stakeholders - High judgment and integrity
Nice to have - LLMs, prompt engineering, or agent-based systems - Open-source maintainership and community engagement - TypeScript, Postgres/pgvector, Rails, React (the stack our current products run on) - Retrieval, search, or knowledge-graph systems
We care more about your ability to build and ship complete products than any specific stack.
YC operates with a small, high-trust team. There are no rigid roadmaps or handoffs between product, design, and engineering — engineers are expected to use judgment, talk to users, and build the right thing. You'll work on high-impact problems and be responsible for the full experience, not just the implementation.
Compensation: $185K–$485K base + profit-sharing (comparable to startup equity or VC carry)
Benefits: Medical, dental, vision, 401(k) + 4% match, parental leave, flexible PTO, and more
Location: San Francisco Bay Area (or willing to relocate)
Work authorization: Y Combinator is willing to sponsor certain employment visas in accordance with company policy.
As a member of the team, you'll get full access to the YC program, just like founders do. You'll learn how YC works, follow hundreds of companies, and meet some of the most successful people in the startup world.
Legal note: Y Combinator considers qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state, and local law, including San Francisco's Fair Chance Ordinance. Y Combinator is committed to protecting the privacy of personal information of job applicants and complying with the California Consumer Privacy Act. The privacy policy of Ashby, Inc., the hiring platform used by Y Combinator, governs the collection of such data.
","descriptionPlain":"ABOUT THE ROLE\n\nY Combinator is building a new generation of products for the AI-native era — and we're hiring product engineers to build them. Some ship in the open to hundreds of thousands of developers (gstack, gbrain — already north of 130,000 GitHub stars between them). Some are proprietary products in their own right (Paxel). All of them start from the same belief: a single builder with the right tooling now ships like a team of twenty, and we intend to build the tools — and the platforms — that prove it.\n\nThis is a rare seat. You won't be maintaining someone else's roadmap. You'll be taking new products from zero to one, owning them end-to-end, and putting them in front of real users fast.\n\n\n\n\nWHAT YOU'LL DO\n\n - Take new products from 0→1 — design, build, and ship full-stack systems and developer tools end-to-end\n\n - Build AI-native software: agent orchestration, semantic search, embeddings, knowledge graphs, LLM workflows\n\n - Own developer and user experience completely — 30-second installs, time-to-first-value measured in minutes, interfaces people actually want to use\n\n - Ship some work in the open and engage a real community; ship other work as commercial product. Pick the right call for each\n\n - Use your own fully AI-enabled dev stack and make pragmatic tradeoffs in a fast-moving environment\n\n\n\n\nWHO THIS IS FOR\n\nThis role is ideal if you:\n\n - Are a strong full-stack, product-minded engineer who owns products, not just code — no PMs, no designers, you make the product and UX calls\n\n - Live in an AI-native dev stack and have built AI-enabled products, agents, or prototypes\n\n - Care about developer experience and the craft of a tool people love\n\n - Like turning hard problems into clean, usable systems and shipping fast\n\n - Are low-ego, comfortable with ambiguity, and get along with everyone in our ~100-person company\n\n\n\n\nBACKGROUNDS THAT TEND TO SUCCEED\n\n - Former founders and early-stage startup engineers\n\n - Prolific open-source contributors or maintainers\n\n - Product engineers who've built and shipped complete products end-to-end\n\n - Engineers who've owned both backend systems and frontend/user experience\n\n\n\n\nWHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR\n\nRequired - Experience shipping full-stack or systems software end-to-end - Strong system design and independent decision-making - Strong product sense and comfort designing user experiences - Clear communication and the ability to work directly with non-technical stakeholders - High judgment and integrity\n\nNice to have - LLMs, prompt engineering, or agent-based systems - Open-source maintainership and community engagement - TypeScript, Postgres/pgvector, Rails, React (the stack our current products run on) - Retrieval, search, or knowledge-graph systems\n\nWe care more about your ability to build and ship complete products than any specific stack.\n\n\n\n\nHOW WE WORK\n\nYC operates with a small, high-trust team. There are no rigid roadmaps or handoffs between product, design, and engineering — engineers are expected to use judgment, talk to users, and build the right thing. You'll work on high-impact problems and be responsible for the full experience, not just the implementation.\n\n\n\n\nDETAILS\n\n - Compensation: $185K–$485K base + profit-sharing (comparable to startup equity or VC carry)\n\n - Benefits: Medical, dental, vision, 401(k) + 4% match, parental leave, flexible PTO, and more\n\n - Location: San Francisco Bay Area (or willing to relocate)\n\n - Work authorization: Y Combinator is willing to sponsor certain employment visas in accordance with company policy.\n\nAs a member of the team, you'll get full access to the YC program, just like founders do. You'll learn how YC works, follow hundreds of companies, and meet some of the most successful people in the startup world.\n\nLegal note: Y Combinator considers qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state, and local law, including San Francisco's Fair Chance Ordinance. Y Combinator is committed to protecting the privacy of personal information of job applicants and complying with the California Consumer Privacy Act. The privacy policy of Ashby, Inc., the hiring platform used by Y Combinator, governs the collection of such data.","compensation":{"compensationTierSummary":null,"scrapeableCompensationSalarySummary":null,"compensationTiers":[],"summaryComponents":[]}}],"apiVersion":"1"}