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- Dev Talent Spotlight | November '25
Dev Talent Spotlight | November '25
+ When you solve a problem you truly care about, it stops feeling impossible.
Lisa Deng
November 11, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes
🌟 Featured Developer
⏳ 7+ years experience
🏠 Sydney, Remote
💻 Next.js, Django, Java, TypeScript, Python, AWS
💵 $180K p/a or $100 p/h
✅ Pay is negotiable in exchange for equity
“I’m drawn to environments where there’s space to take ownership, improve systems, and help shape both the product and the team culture.”
A seasoned software engineer with 15+ years building scalable platforms across climate-tech, e-commerce, and cloud infrastructure.
Currently leading engineering at an Australian climate-tech startup, where they built a B2B2C home electrification platform rolled out to over 60,000 customers nationally, enabling households to reduce carbon emissions through solar, heat pumps, and batteries.
They’ve shipped production systems at scale in both startups and global tech companies, from architecting cloud compute services to delivering accessibility-driven apps in disability tech. Passionate about equity in tech, accessibility, and building environments where products and people can thrive.
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Expert Tips: Finding the Right Technical Co-Founder and Keeping Them 🚀
When you solve a problem you truly care about, it stops feeling impossible.
That’s how Jack Reichelt, CTO and Co-founder of Kumo Study, describes the moment he decided to leave big tech and join a small ed-tech startup helping students with ADHD.
After 13 years in engineering roles spanning enterprise, consulting, and education, Jack wasn’t looking for another job he was looking for alignment.
And he found it through SkillsRobin.
When we asked what convinced him to join a mission-driven founder instead of a well-funded company, his answer was refreshingly simple: Preparation
“Before our first chat, Alex [Kumo’s founder] already had a deck, research, and an early prototype. She didn’t have all the answers but she had clarity, and that mattered.”
For non-technical founders seeking a technical co-founder, Jack offers four grounded lessons:
Show you’ve started.
Lead with mission, not jargon.
Admit what you don’t know.
Make clarity your pitch.
And for developers debating whether to join an early-stage startup, Jack’s closing advice hits home: “Don’t chase trends. Solve something that actually matters to you or someone you love. That’s where resilience comes from.”
Kumo Study is now building better learning tools for students with ADHD. Proof that when purpose meets preparation, the right people show up.
🔥 Join Our Fireside Chat: How to Find Your Technical Co-Founder
Join Lisa (SkillsRobin founder) and Jack Reichelt for a candid conversation about finding technical co-founders, hosted by BMightie. Learn how to pitch your vision to excite builders and reframe the search from "finding someone to build for you" to "building with someone who believes in you."
🗓️ Other Notable Profiles
⏳ 7+ years experience | Built and deployed complex data visualisation tools used by leading AI research organisations. Designed and implemented full-stack greenfield apps from mockup to production, blending design thinking with deep engineering skill. |
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⏳ 2-5 years experience | Integrated OpenAI models to build personalised learning tools for an EdTech startup. Designed full-stack systems combining UX design and AI to enhance user experience and engagement. |
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⏳ 7+ years | Led the UX rebrand of Gfycat, doubling its user base and contributing to its acquisition by Snapchat. Co-authored AR utility patents and launched a hub connecting Australian developers and creatives for hackathon collaboration. |
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⏳ 7+ years | Led the development of a platform empowering union organisers to engage hundreds of members in under three months. Experienced in prototyping, education, and data visualisation, with a passion for building technology that strengthens local and internal communities. |
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New Job Opportunities
Technical Lead - Wellbeing and Impact Startup |
📍 Sydney (Hybrid) | Join a seed-funded wellbeing startup on a mission to get people moving for their health and for the planet. You’ll lead a small, high-performing team building an event-driven, AWS-based architecture designed for scale, reliability, and impact. The company values experimentation, ownership, and technical excellence, ideal for hands-on leader. |
Founding Engineer – Trauma-Informed Reporting Startup
📍 Australia remote | Join mission-driven startup using AI to make workplaces safer, fairer, and more inclusive. As a founding engineer, you’ll lead AI integration, shape the roadmap, and build intelligent systems that help organisations prevent and respond to bullying, harassment, and discrimination through secure reporting and data insights. |
Looking to hire?Post your role with SkillsRobin to receive personalised referrals from our network of trusted tech professionals. | Looking for a dev job or side-hustle?Create a profile on SkillsRobin and get invitations to connect from startup founders and hiring managers. |
Founding Engineer – AI Healthcare Automation Startup
📍 Sydney (Hybrid or In-office) | Be a part of seed-funded AI startup reimagining healthcare communication through voice and messaging automation. As a founding engineer, you’ll shape the product, technical direction, and culture from day one. Build intelligent systems that automate calls, bookings, referrals, and patient engagement across 30+ languages. |
Freelance Full-stack – Personalized skincare support startup
📍 Sydney (Hybrid or In-office) | Looking for someone to complete the initial backend and WMX (Webflow, Memberstack and Xano) integration and connection. |
CTO / Founding Engineer – AI-Powered Strata Management Startup
📍 Sydney (Hybrid or In-office) | We’re reimagining how strata management works in Australia. You’ll transform a working prototype into a scalable platform building predictive insights, AI-powered tools, and real-time clarity for owners’ corporations. Co-create the future of property management alongside the founder. |
Offers
🛠️ Never type your AI Prompts again
Our founder, Lisa has been testing AI voice dictation tools and discovered Wispr Flow’s 10x better than Siri. Wispr Flow allows you to effortlessly translate speech to text with 95% accuracy. It even formats text into paragraphs and lists and can figure out when to use a ‘?’.
Get one month free of pro using Lisa’s referral code:
https://wisprflow.ai/r?LISA445
Need a co-founder or founding engineer? Get hands-on advice from Lisa, SkillDev Robin’s founder, on how to attract the right technical partner and craft job descriptions developers actually respond to.
Make your pitch deck impossible to ignore : This highly sought after designer turns founder stories into stunning, investor-ready decks starting at $1200 for 20 slides.
View full rates and contact details.Get 10% Google Workplace for the first year when you sign up through this link https://referworkspace.app.goo.gl/9kwf
Help A Founder Pilot Their Product | Rachel, founder of Woofya, is building a platform that helps pet parents care better for their pets at home, not just at the vet. She’s inviting a few passionate pet owners to join a 2-week pilot. From tracking your pet’s comfort to improving their daily routines, you'll help refine a real product in development, get a personalised pet-health report, and receive a $20 voucher for completing the pilot. |
About SkillsRobin
SkillsRobin is an open-source employee referral program that connects startups with pre-vetted technical talent through trusted industry referrers.
Our fees are simple and founder-friendly:
No upfront costs - you only pay when you hire
$500 for part-time hires, $3,500 for full-time hires - only pay once they join your team
6-month guarantee - additional fee of the same amount only if hire stays 6+ months
10x cheaper than traditional recruiting agencies
25% discount on all fees for early, bootstrapping startups (<A$100,000 in funding raised or ARR < $100,000)
Candidates are developers based in ANZ, interested in working with early stage startups and come with referrals from industry professionals, saving you time in the initial screening process.
Know a founder looking for a CTO or founding engineer?
Forward this newsletter and speed up their search
Questions about any of these profiles or our process? Reply to this email ([email protected]) or visit our website