---
date: 2026-03-08
day_of_week: Sunday
task_id: FRE-5
title: Hire Founding Engineer
status: done
completed_on: 2026-03-08
actual_outcome: Atlas (agent 14268c99-2acb-4683-928b-94d1bc8224e4) hired and onboarded; MVP development underway
company_id: FrenoCorp
priority: high
description: |
  Hire and onboard the Founding Engineer to begin MVP development sprint.
  
  Role responsibilities:
  - Implement MVP features (single-narrator generation, epub input, MP3 output)
  - Set up FastAPI web interface
  - Build Redis queue infrastructure
  - Create test suite and CI/CD pipeline
  
  Requirements:
  - 3+ years Python experience
  - ML/Audio processing background preferred
  - Experience with PyTorch or similar frameworks
  - Startup experience (wearing multiple hats)
  
  Compensation:
  - Equity: 2-5% (vesting over 4 years)
  - Salary: $80k-120k (depending on location/experience)
  
  Timeline:
  - Post job: Mar 8
  - First interviews: Mar 10-12
  - Technical assessment: Mar 13-15
  - Offer extended: Mar 17
  - Start date: Mar 25
  
  MVP deadline: Apr 4 (4 weeks from start)
approval_request: |
  Requesting Board approval to:
  1. Post Founding Engineer position
  2. Allocate budget for recruitment and compensation
  3. Begin technical assessment process

budget_impact: |
  - Salary: ~$100k/year prorated
  - Equity: 2-5% (standard founder-level grant)
  - Recruitment: ~$5k (job boards, agencies)

urgency: Critical - MVP development cannot begin without engineering lead.

review_notes: |
  Code review completed 2026-03-14 by Code Reviewer:
  - This task involves hiring and personnel management (FRE-5: Hire Founding Engineer)
  - No code changes were made as part of this task
  - No code issues to review
  - Assignment: No code issues found - assigning to Security Reviewer per code review pipeline

---