Paid Founding Contributor OR Great For Your Portfolio
Job Title: Founding Team Member — Multiple Tracks (Engineering · Design · Data · Business) Company: Acquivest Location: Remote (US) Hours: Part-time · 10–25 hrs/week depending on track Type: Part-time / Contract — strong path to full-time for top performers Paid by Milestones
About Acqivest
Acquivest is building transaction infrastructure for the $10 trillion SMB business succession market — the platform that should have existed years ago. We connect pre-approved buyers with revenue-verified sellers through AI-powered deal matching, blockchain-sealed documentation, and a fully integrated advisor network covering SBA lenders, M&A attorneys, transaction CPAs, and business valuators.
Think Credit Karma meets LinkedIn, built specifically for business acquisition — with a blockchain audit trail, an AI deal coach named River, and a Growth Engine service that helps sellers increase their business value before they list.
We are a small founding team building fast, and we are opening the platform to student contributors who want to do real work, ship real product, and build the kind of portfolio that actually gets you hired. The best performers will grow into full-time roles with the company.
The opportunity
We are hiring across seven functional areas under a single application. You do not need to fit every role — you need to fit one of them well. Tell us which track best matches your skills and we will review your background against that specific set of requirements.
This is not an internship where you make slides and sit in meetings. You will ship code, design screens, run real data, or build real partnerships that determine whether businesses get listed on this platform. Your name will be on the work.
Available tracks — choose the one that fits you most
When you apply, select the track or tracks that best describe your skills. You may select up to two.
Track A — Frontend Engineer Build the buyer dashboard, seller portal, deal pipeline tracker, River AI chat interface, and blockchain audit trail display. Stack: React 18, Next.js 14, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS. You should already know React and be comfortable consuming REST APIs. Experience with Next.js, Supabase client, or animation libraries is a bonus. Ideal for: CS, Software Engineering, HCI, or Information Systems majors.
Track B — Backend Engineer Own the API layer, database schema, deal workflow state machine, and integrations with Plaid, QuickBooks, Xero, Stripe, and Dropbox Sign. Stack: Node.js, PostgreSQL, Supabase, TypeScript. You should know SQL and REST API design. OAuth flow experience is a strong bonus. Ideal for: CS, Software Engineering, Information Systems, or Cybersecurity majors.
Track C — Blockchain Developer Write and deploy four Solidity smart contracts that seal every deal on-chain: event logging, escrow, earn-out tracking, and advisor credentialing. Stack: Solidity, Hardhat, ethers.js v6, Polygon PoS. You should have written Solidity before, even if just for a class or side project. Knowledge of OpenZeppelin and common vulnerabilities is a strong bonus. Ideal for: CS, Software Engineering, Math, or any major with self-taught blockchain experience.
Track D — AI / ML Engineer Build River — the AI deal coach that guides both sides of every transaction. Wire the Claude API with streaming SSE delivery, design context-aware system prompts, and build the matching algorithm that ranks listings by acquisition mandate fit. Stack: Python or Node.js, Claude API, pgvector, Supabase. You should have worked with at least one LLM API before. RAG experience is a strong bonus. Ideal for: CS, Data Science, AI/ML, or Statistics majors with coding backgrounds.
Track E — UX / Product Designer Design the full experience for two very different users: a 28-year-old acquisition entrepreneur who wants speed and data, and a 60-year-old retiring business owner who wants privacy and certainty. Deliverables include buyer onboarding, seller blind profile builder, deal room, River AI chat UI, and a complete design system for engineering handoff. Tool: Figma. You should have a portfolio that shows end-to-end thinking, not just visual polish. Ideal for: UX Design, Product Design, HCI, Graphic Design, or Psychology with a design portfolio.
Track F — Data Analyst Own Acqivest's analytics infrastructure from the ground up: acquisition funnel, CAC by channel, DealScore accuracy, deal velocity, Growth Engine ROI, and the investor-facing unit economics dashboard. You will also help build the schema for the institutional data product — the verified transaction database that financial firms will eventually license. Stack: SQL, Python, any BI tool. You should know SQL and have built at least one dashboard before. Financial modeling experience is a strong bonus. Ideal for: Data Science, Statistics, Economics, Finance, or Business Analytics majors.
Track G — Business Development and Partnerships Build the CPA, attorney, and SBA lender partnerships that seed the seller supply side of the marketplace. Own the advisor marketplace onboarding process and track partnership performance metrics. This is a relationship-heavy role with real stakes — the first 20 seller listings on the platform depend on the outreach you do. You should be a strong communicator with CRM experience and the discipline to run a structured outreach process. B2B sales or partnership experience is a strong bonus. Ideal for: Business, Finance, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Economics, Real Estate, or Communications majors.
What all tracks have in common
Regardless of which track you choose, here is what working at Acquivest looks like:
You will work directly with the founding team, not a manager three levels removed. You will have full context on what we are building and why every feature exists. Your work will ship to real users on a real timeline. You will be asked for your opinion, and it will be taken seriously. If you perform well, the conversation about a full-time role starts early — we would rather promote someone who already knows the product than hire externally.
Who we are looking for
We are not screening for years of experience or a specific GPA. We are screening for three things: you know the fundamentals of your chosen track, you have shown initiative through projects, coursework, or work outside the classroom, and you can communicate clearly about what you built and why you made the decisions you made.
If you have a GitHub profile, a portfolio, a project you are proud of, or a partnership or sales result you can point to — include it. That is the application.
How to apply
Complete the Handshake application and answer the following three questions in your cover note. Keep it short — two to three sentences per question is enough.
- Which track are you applying for, and what specific experience makes you a fit for it?
- What is one project, piece of work, or result you are most proud of — and what was your specific contribution?
- Why does the problem Acquivest is solving interest you?
We review applications on
a rolling basis. No hard deadline