Founding Product Engineer

Founding Product Engineer | Nielo Health Location: United Kingdom (Remote) Commitment: Part-time, 15 to 25 hours per week Compensation: £35 to £55 per hour, depending on experience Initial engagement: Four-week paid trial, with the opportunity to continue longer-term About Nielo Health Nielo Health is an early-stage health technology company exploring how artificial intelligence can make living with Type 1 diabetes easier, more intuitive, and less demanding. Founded from firsthand experience of Type 1 diabetes, Nielo is working towards a future where intelligent, personalised technology can better understand individuals and support them in their everyday lives. We've developed an initial voice-first AI companion prototype and established relationships with researchers and healthcare professionals in the UK and internationally. We're now entering a new phase focused on product experimentation and real-world validation. Our ambition is to build technology that people genuinely want to use, grounded in the challenges they experience every day. The Opportunity We're looking for our first Founding Product Engineer to help shape Nielo's technical development and work directly with the founder. This isn't a conventional software engineering position with an established product roadmap. You'll help turn ideas into functional prototypes, develop experimental AI-powered features, and work alongside the founder to discover which solutions create meaningful value for people living with Type 1 diabetes. You'll have significant independence in technical decisions and the opportunity to influence the direction of an emerging company from an early stage. What You'll Do

• Build and deploy end-to-end software prototypes for rapid product experimentation.
• Develop backend services, APIs, databases, and AI integrations.
• Work with large language models, conversational AI, and personalised user experiences.
• Integrate external data sources, including health-related platforms where appropriate.
• Take ownership of technical architecture, implementation, testing, and deployment.
• Collaborate closely with the founder on product ideas, experimentation, and user feedback.
• Establish reliable, secure, and maintainable engineering practices.
• Help shape Nielo's longer-term technical direction as the product develops. What We're Looking For We're interested in demonstrated ability rather than specific qualifications or years of experience. Ideally, you'll have:
• Strong Python and backend development skills.
• Experience building applications with LLM APIs and modern AI tools.
• Experience designing and integrating APIs and databases.
• The ability to independently build and deploy complete applications.
• Familiarity with cloud infrastructure and software deployment.
• Enough frontend experience to create usable experimental interfaces.
• Strong problem-solving skills and comfort working with uncertainty.
• An interest in product development and understanding real user problems. Experience with voice AI, healthcare technology, data privacy, or early-stage startups would be beneficial, but isn't essential. How We'll Work Together You'll collaborate closely with the founder on brainstorming, product direction, and reviewing experimental results, while independently owning day-to-day technical development. We value initiative, clear communication, thoughtful experimentation, and the ability to challenge assumptions constructively. The position is remote-first within the UK, with flexible working hours and regular collaboration sessions. Initial Engagement We'll begin with a four-week paid engagement focused on understanding Nielo's existing technology and developing a meaningful product experiment. Following the initial period, there may be an opportunity to continue in a longer-term founding engineering role as Nielo develops. How to Apply We're interested in what you've built, not just where you've studied or worked. Please include: A short introduction about yourself and why Nielo interests you. One software product or technical project you've personally built, including your specific contributions and the challenges you solved. A link to a GitHub repository, live application, portfolio, or demonstration, if available. Your current availability and relevant technical experience. Nielo Health | nielohealth.com