Founding Product Engineer

About us

Mochi is the future of anime.

We're the #1 app for AI anime, where fans make the stories. In just 2 months, we’ve grown to 20K+ creators publishing 3K+ series a month, with originals from Marvel, Toei, and Webtoon writers. To date we’ve crossed 300M views on socials.

We’ve raised $4.5M from Y Combinator and angels like the founder of Crunchyroll. You'll join a strike team of lifelong anime fans reinventing how anime gets made.

Help us make the next One Piece!

The role 

We're hiring a Founding Product Engineer to own the app end to end. This role is one part product, one part design, one part builder:

• Product: You decide what we build next and own the results. You have strong user instincts, and you prove them in the metrics.
• Design: You have obsessive attention to detail. You care about layouts and cognitive load, because you know the small stuff matters.
• Builder: You have high agency. With AI, you build, test, and launch without waiting on anyone.

You don't need to be a deep engineer. You do need taste, work ethic, and bias to action.

You'll work directly with the founders. Robert (CEO) built the product himself and will work alongside you on product and design.

Must-haves

• You love anime
• You've shipped consumer apps to real users before, and you can show us
• You have real taste. You can name the apps you love and hate, and explain exactly why, down to a single screen or interaction
• You build fast with AI tools (Claude Code, Claude Design, Codex etc.), and you have enough technical judgment to debug and fix things when they break

Nice-to-haves

• You've worked on mobile, video, feed or social products
• You have design skills (Figma, motion, prototyping)
• Previous founder or early employee at a startup

What it's like here

We’re in-person at our spacious LA office in the heart of Arts District. We’re a close knit team that moves fast. Free meals provided, Crunchyroll + gym membership, pickleball outings, and occasional Smash tournaments. 401K + benefits included.

Compensation

$120K-$180K plus a 0.25%-0.75% equity grant.

Interview Process

1. A 30-minute call with Robert
2. Pilot project
3. Onsite at our office in LA
4. Reference checks, then an offer