Overview

Founding Engineer (Equity only, UK-based)

wavlnk · London or UK remote/hybrid · Full-time · Equity only pre-funding · Right to work in the UK required

About wavlnk

wavlnk is building a royalty recovery platform for independent artists. We help them find and fix missing payouts by joining the dots across recordings, works, parties, splits and mandates. As we prove value and trust, we will evolve this into lightweight payments validation infrastructure that partners can call before money moves. We are not a marketplace, and we do not move funds. Our aim is clear outcomes, faster payouts and fewer disputes.

Why this matters

Rights and payouts are fragmented. Small artists leave money on the table because identifiers, registrations and mandates do not line up. User-generated content and AI increase volume and ambiguity. Platforms, societies and admins need faster, auditable eligibility checks so that money reaches the right people with less friction.

The role

You will be the Founding Engineer who designs and ships version one, sets the engineering bar, and helps turn a focused recovery wedge into a trusted piece of infrastructure. This is a builder role. You will own architecture, code quality, security, delivery and reliability from day one.

What you will do in the first 6 to 9 months

• Design the data model for works, recordings, parties, splits, mandates and territories
• Build secure ingestion for distributor, DSP, and society reports, supporting file drops and APIs
• Implement matching and record linkage to resolve messy inputs into clean joins
• Create a rules engine that returns simple eligibility outcomes with clear reason codes
• Ship a lightweight creator scan that shows what is missing and how to fix it
• Build a simple partner view for results and audits
• Instrument the product with the metrics that matter, such as match quality, verification latency, pounds recovered per artist and time to cash
• Set security, privacy and audit logging foundations that scale responsibly

What great looks like

We care about fundamentals, curiosity and proof you can build useful systems. You do not need decades of experience to be the right partner.

You might be a fit if you have one or more of the following

• 2 to 6 years as a software or data engineer building backend services or data pipelines, or
• A strong academic or research background with projects that show real systems thinking, or
• Open source, competition or internship work that proves you can own a complex build end-to-end

Skills we value

• Strong programming in one or more of Python, TypeScript, Go or Java
• Data modelling, SQL, ETL or ELT fundamentals and a pragmatic approach to matching
• Building and operating web services and APIs with sensible logging and tracing
• Cloud literacy and basic infrastructure as code
• Clear writing and comfort working with non-engineers on product trade-offs

Nice to have

• Exposure to music or rights data such as DSP statements, PRO or CMO files, content ID systems
• Experience with decision systems, rule engines, signatures or audit-friendly design
• Privacy by design and security basics in production systems

How we work

• Small backlog, weekly demos, honest metrics
• Focus on speed with care where it counts
• Remote-friendly within the UK with regular in-person sessions in London or mutually convenient locations
• No agencies or recruiters

Compensation and equity

• Equity only before funding or revenue. We will offer a substantial co-founder equity grant aligned to responsibility and impact
• Standard vesting: 4 years with a 1-year cliff
• Post-cliff refresh tied to agreed milestones
• Cash salary starts after closing a round or reaching meaningful revenue, set together at that time
• Founder governance appropriate for a true Founding Engineer

Location and eligibility

• UK-based only and able to meet in person when needed
• Unrestricted right to work in the UK is required
• We cannot sponsor visas at this time

How to apply

Email hellowavlnk@gmail.com with

• LinkedIn and GitHub or portfolio links
• A short note on how you would ingest a CSV of royalty statements, match works to recordings and return a simple eligibility decision
• One project that shows you can build fast, safe and simple
• Your UK location and earliest start date

If your background is unconventional but you can show the work, we want to hear from you.

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