Early Backend Engineer (Supabase / Postgres)

Hello, I’m building Sølsk, an iOS-only “slow dating” app designed to fix dating-app fatigue through intentionality and community interaction. This is not a typical “I have an idea, please build it” pitch. The iOS front-end is already ~90% built in SwiftUI. I already have a Technical Co-Founder/CTO. What we need now is the backend: production-grade, secure, scalable, and wired cleanly into the existing iOS app. If you’re a backend engineer who can build the engine room of a social app (messaging, feed, permissions, reliability), this is your lane. What You’re Building Sølsk relies heavily on: Messaging between users (reliable delivery, ordering, pagination) A social/feed-like system (prompts + comments + interactions) A feature called Låse: two users enter a locked, exclusive chat for a fixed time window, then it ends and content is handled according to retention rules The backend must be built like a real product, not a demo: schema design access control / permissions server-authoritative logic (no “trust the client clock”) safe rollout + observability mindset The Stack Backend: Supabase (Postgres, Auth, RLS, Realtime, Edge Functions) iOS: SwiftUI (already built) Monetization: RevenueCat Verification: Stripe Identity (planned) Workflow: AI-first (Cursor/LLMs are expected in some way) Your Role You will work under the CTO and own backend delivery. You are not a co-founder, but you are absolutely an early, critical hire. You’ll be responsible for: Designing the core Postgres schema for feed + messaging + Låse Implementing secure authorization (RLS policies / role-based access) Building realtime messaging and feed queries that scale (indexing, pagination, ordering) Implementing server-authoritative Låse logic (timers, state changes, retention rules) Writing Edge Functions for privileged logic and future internal tooling Laying groundwork for future admin tools (moderation queue, audit logs, regional prompts scheduling) Nice-to-Haves (Not Required) Some Swift/SwiftUI familiarity (helpful for debugging integration) Prior work on social apps, messaging, realtime systems Experience building internal tools (admin dashboards / ops consoles) Experience with abuse/reporting systems and audit logging Who You Are Backend-first: you don’t just “consume APIs,” you design and own them Security-minded: you instinctively think permissions + audit trails Pragmatic shipper: you build what matters, then harden it AI-leveraged: you use Cursor/LLMs to go faster, but you still understand what you’re shipping Compensation (Read Carefully) We are a bootstrap startup and cannot pay cash right now. This role is equity-based at the start. Equity grant will be meaningful but not co-founder-level Standard vesting: 4 years with a 1-year cliff Equity range depends heavily on seniority + weekly commitment + ownership expectations (Typical target range for this role: ~0.25% to 2.5% of the company) When revenue arrives, cash compensation becomes possible. Until then, this is equity + high-impact work. Time Expectations Flexible, but we need consistency. Ideal range: 10–25 hrs/week, with the ability to surge near milestones If you can’t comfortably explain how you’d implement server-authoritative timers, permissions, and scalable feed/message queries, then unfortunately, this won’t be a fit. Here are links to the work: TestFlight: https://testflight.apple.com/join/6Hr9KjDJ Video Walkthrough: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4gLRzOLr4kmkjj8c9knPVm91N10RpeqR&si=dy-zmXO9PrZ77uON Official Website: https://www.solsk.app/ My Journey (Twitter/X): https://x.com/BtixistP My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brdel27 Job Types: Part-time, Contract Pay: $60,000.00 - $70,000.00 per year Work Location: Remote