Founding Partner - AI Systems Architect (The Builder)

Are you a world-class, full-stack engineer who has grown weary of building transient features on fragile legacy systems? Do you possess a deep-seated desire to architect a coherent, elegant, and ethically sound socio-technical system from first principles, free from the constraints of technical debt and corporate bureaucracy? If you are driven not just to write code, but to translate a profound philosophy into a functional and scalable reality, we invite you to consider a partnership that transcends the conventional definition of a job.

About Koru Impact

Koru Impact is a B2B well-being services firm founded on a radical commitment to evidence-based practice and intellectual rigor. We are not a typical consultancy. We reject fads and proprietary frameworks of questionable empirical validity in favor of peer-reviewed methodologies. Our core identity is that of an Antifragile, Learning Enterprise and a Resilient Complex Adaptive System (RCAS)—a living system designed not for static perfection, but to learn, adapt, and grow stronger from real-world contradictions and challenges. Our five core values—Integrity, Empathy, Agility, Excellence, and Resilience—are not aspirational statements; they are the governing principles of our operational architecture. The name "Koru" embodies our dual purpose: from Māori, it signifies "new beginnings and growth," reflecting our role as a catalyst for transformation. From Turkish, it means "to protect and safeguard," underscoring our non-negotiable commitment to the well-being of our clients and their people. We are both the catalyst for growth and its trusted protector.

The Partnership Opportunity: A Call for Founding Builders

This is not a salaried employment offer; it is an invitation to become a self-employed, founding technical partner in a high-stakes, high-reward venture. We are assembling the core technical leadership team to execute "Operation Lighthouse," an intensive 120-day plan to commercialize our services and secure our foundational clients. Your success is inextricably linked to the firm's success. Compensation is structured through a project-based point system, with distributions made quarterly based on the firm's overall performance and your specific contributions. We are building for the long term, and this requires absolute transparency: the earliest potential compensation distribution date is January 1, 2026, following the successful completion of our 2025 commercialization phase. This is a ground-floor opportunity for a true builder who values equity, impact, and autonomy over the predictability of a traditional salary.

Your Dual Role: The Builder (AI Systems Architect)

As a partner in our balanced matrix model, you will hold a critical dual role. Internally, you will be the lead of the "Builder" function, the primary architect and creator of the firm's proprietary and scalable assets. You are the master craftsperson who translates our entire philosophy into a functional, elegant, and robust technology stack. Externally, you will serve as a client-facing technical consultant and systems architect, engaging directly with clients to understand their needs and ensure the solutions we build deliver profound and defensible value. This structure ensures that those who build our technology are deeply connected to the real-world problems it is designed to solve.

What You'll Do: Architecting the Engine of Insight

Your primary mandate is to lead the design, development, and deployment of Koru Impact's core "Socio-Technical AI Capability." This is not a role for ticket-takers or feature-shippers; it is for a visionary architect who will:

• Lead the end-to-end, full-stack development of our proprietary "Insight Engine," a sophisticated platform for mixed-methods data analysis that integrates cutting-edge AI with non-negotiable human governance.
• Architect and build the "Client Insights Portal," a secure, intuitive, and professional interface that serves as the primary gateway for client engagement and value delivery.
• Implement a robust, scalable, and secure cloud infrastructure on Google Cloud, leveraging services like Cloud Run and Firestore to ensure high availability and performance.
• Establish and enforce best practices for the entire software development lifecycle, including version control with Git, automated CI/CD pipelines, and a culture of rigorous code review.
• Collaborate intimately with the Analyst, Guardian, and Operator partners to ensure the technology stack is not merely functional but is a direct, high-fidelity enactment of our firm's complex ethical and methodological protocols.
• Translate abstract strategic concepts—such as the "Divergence Resolution Protocol" and the principles of the NIST AI Risk Management Framework—into concrete technical requirements and elegant software solutions.
• Champion a component-based, mobile-first design philosophy, ensuring our platforms are accessible, performant, and provide a seamless user experience across all devices.

What You'll Bring: The Non-Negotiable Qualifications

This is a senior, partner-level role for a proven full-stack expert. We require:

• A minimum of five (5) years of professional, hands-on experience in software development, with demonstrated expertise across the entire stack.
• A minimum C1 level of proficiency in English (reading, writing, speaking, listening) at a maximum professional capacity.
• Backend Mastery: Deep expertise in TypeScript, Node.js, and Express.js for building scalable and secure server-side applications. Profound knowledge of REST architecture and experience designing and consuming complex APIs.
• Database & Cloud Expertise: Proven experience with NoSQL databases such as MongoDB and Firestore, and familiarity with backendless services like Firebase or Supabase. Hands-on experience with Google Cloud services and deployment processes.
• Frontend Excellence: Extensive experience with modern frontend frameworks, specifically Next.js and React, and a deep understanding of component-based architecture. Mastery of utility-first CSS with Tailwind CSS.
• AI Integration & DevOps Culture: Proficiency in Python and its data processing libraries (Pandas, NumPy). Experience integrating third-party AI APIs (e.g., Gemini, OpenAI) into applications. A strong command of DevOps principles, including Git workflows, CI/CD processes, and containerization with Docker.
• Architectural Vision: A systems-level thinker with a passion for performance optimization (lazy loading, code splitting), SEO, and web accessibility (WCAG).

Why Partner with Koru Impact?

We offer what a conventional job cannot: the chance to build something meaningful, from the ground up, without compromise. This partnership is for the architect who is tired of patching systems and is ready to build one. We supply:

• Architectural Autonomy: You will be the ultimate authority on our technology stack. You will make the foundational decisions that will shape the firm's capabilities for years to come, free from the inertia of legacy systems or bureaucratic oversight.
• Ethical Purpose: This is an opportunity to build technology that is not just powerful, but trustworthy. You will be a key steward of our commitment to explainable, ethical, and secure AI, creating a system designed to empower, not exploit.
• Intellectual Rigor: You will be immersed in a culture that values deep thinking and evidence-based practice. You will collaborate with a team of passionate psychologists and researchers, translating complex human-centric methodologies into elegant code.
• A Psychologically Empowered Culture: We are building a firm grounded in the principles of psychological safety, where you can take interpersonal risks, challenge assumptions, and do your best work in an environment of mutual trust and respect. This is your opportunity to build not just a product, but a legacy.