In this edition I'm going to show you why most applications get ignored — and the exact fix before you apply to another role.
The core problem:
Most resumes are written around responsibilities. What your job title was. What you were in charge of. How long you stayed.
Startup hiring managers don't care about any of that. They care about one thing: what did you change?
Startups are small, fast, and resource-constrained. Every hire needs to move the needle. So when a hiring manager reads your resume, the question running through their head is not "what did this person do?" — it's "what would this person do here?"
If your resume doesn't answer that question in the first 10 seconds, you're out.
Here's the difference:
❌ "Responsible for backend development of internal tools"
✅ "Rebuilt internal data pipeline, cutting processing time by 60% and saving the engineering team 8 hours per week"
Same job. Same person. Completely different signal.
The formula is simple: action verb + what you did + measurable result. Apply it to every single bullet point on your resume.
If you can't find a number, use scale. "Built feature used by 40,000 daily active users" is more compelling than "developed user-facing features."
The 20-minute fix:
Open your resume right now. Go through every bullet point and ask: what was the before and after? Rewrite it with a number. That's it. This one change will move you from the ignored pile to the interview pile at the vast majority of startups.
One more thing: startup resumes should be one page if you have under 10 years of experience. Two pages maximum otherwise. Hiring managers at 30-person companies are not reading three pages. They're not reading past the fold on page one if the first half doesn't grab them.
TODAY'S ROLES
1. DevRel Engineer — SigNoz(US based, remote) 💰 $150K – $200K + 0.1% – 0.5% equity 📍 SigNoz is a global open source project with users in 30+ countries. We are building an open-source application monitoring which helps developers monitor their applications and troubleshoot problems, quickly.
We have crossed 23000+ Github stars, 6000+ members in the slack community and 150+ contributors.. 🔗 Apply via ashbyhq— https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/SigNoz/8447522c-1163-48d0-8f55-fac25f64a0f3
2. Engineering Lead — Multifactor(San Francisco, on-site) 💰$165K - $235K +1.00% - 4.00% 📍 Multifactor is redefining zero-trust identity security for the AI era. We build cryptographic infrastructure that lets humans and AI agents securely share access to online accounts without ever exposing credentials. Think of it as turning any online account into a shareable, revocable, cryptographically guaranteed permission link.🔗 Apply via workatastartup— https://www.workatastartup.com/jobs/91263
3. Full Stack Engineer — Roboflow (NY, SF or Remote) 💰 $165k base salary; We’re building the tools, community, and resources needed to make the world programmable with artificial intelligence. Roboflow simplifies building and using computer vision models. 🏢 🔗 Apply directly via careers page — https://roboflow.com/careers?ashby_jid=e1757849-8d06-45b8-b462-f08c8e761397#jobs
4. Full Stack Product Engineer — Jiga (Remote US/Europe) 💰 $80k - 140k + 0.05% - 0.10%. Jiga is on a mission to help engineers build physical products faster. Think npm install for mechanical engineers - we're building the infrastructure that makes hardware development as fast as software. 🏢 🔗 Apply directly on their YC page — https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/jiga/jobs/J4JEuXd-full-stack-product-engineer-remote-europe
5. Growth — Reflex (San Francisco, US) 💰 $120K - $190K + 0.10% - 0.50% equity. Reflex is the operating system for building mission-critical enterprise applications. Today’s enterprise stack is fragmented. Shipping an app requires stitching together multiple tools and coordinating across multiple roles. Reflex replaces that complexity with a single, unified platform to build, deploy, and manage production applications end-to-end.🏢 🔗 Apply directly on their YC page — https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/reflex/jobs/lEzZ5Y8-growth
6. Software Engineer Generalist — Reflex (San Francisco, US) 💰 $120K - $180K + 0.10% - 0.30% equity. Reflex is the operating system for building mission-critical enterprise applications. Today’s enterprise stack is fragmented. Shipping an app requires stitching together multiple tools and coordinating across multiple roles. Reflex replaces that complexity with a single, unified platform to build, deploy, and manage production applications end-to-end.🏢 🔗 Apply directly on their YC page — https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/reflex/jobs/iPiiK8L-software-engineer-generalist
7. Lead Software Engineer Infra — Reflex (San Francisco, US) 💰 $160K - $250K + 0.15% - 0.50% equity. Reflex is the operating system for building mission-critical enterprise applications. Today’s enterprise stack is fragmented. Shipping an app requires stitching together multiple tools and coordinating across multiple roles. Reflex replaces that complexity with a single, unified platform to build, deploy, and manage production applications end-to-end.🏢 🔗 Apply directly on their YC page — https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/reflex/jobs/Jcwrz7A-lead-software-engineer-infra
8. Enterprise Account Executive (AE) — Kyber(New York, NY, US) 💰 $220K - $260K + 0.05% - 0.25%. With Kyber, companies operating in regulated industries can quickly draft, review, and send complex regulatory notices. For example, when Branch Insurance's claims team has to settle a claim, instead of spending hours piecing together evidence to draft a complex notice, they can simply upload the details of the claim to Kyber, auto-generate multiple best in-class drafts, easily assign reviewers, collaborate on notices in real-time, and then send the letter to the individual the notice is for. Kyber not only saves these teams time, it also improves overall quality, accountability, and traceability.🏢 🔗 Apply directly on their YC page — www.ycombinator.com/companies/kyber/jobs/59yPaCs-enterprise-account-executive-ae
9. Staff Engineer/Tech Lead — Kyber(New York, NY, US) 💰 $200K - $260K + 0.50% - 1.50%. With Kyber, companies operating in regulated industries can quickly draft, review, and send complex regulatory notices. For example, when Branch Insurance's claims team has to settle a claim, instead of spending hours piecing together evidence to draft a complex notice, they can simply upload the details of the claim to Kyber, auto-generate multiple best in-class drafts, easily assign reviewers, collaborate on notices in real-time, and then send the letter to the individual the notice is for. Kyber not only saves these teams time, it also improves overall quality, accountability, and traceability.🏢 🔗 Apply directly on their YC page — https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/kyber/jobs/GPJkv5v-staff-engineer-tech-lead
10. Founding Reliability & Performance Engineer — LiteLLM(San Francisco, CA, US) 💰 $200K - $270K + 0.25% - 0.75%. LiteLLM is an open-source AI gateway (36K+ GitHub stars) that routes hundreds of millions of LLM API calls daily for companies like NASA, Adobe, Netflix, Stripe, and Nvidia. We're at $7M ARR, 10 people, YC W23.🏢 🔗 Apply directly on their YC page — https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/litellm/jobs/unlCynJ-founding-reliability-performance-engineer
TACTIC OF THE WEEK
Stop applying. Start appearing.
Startup hiring managers don't spend their days reviewing inbound applications. They search. They look at LinkedIn, GitHub, and Twitter for people who are already doing the work they need done.
Before you apply to any role this week, ask yourself: if the hiring manager searched for someone with my skills right now, would they find me?
If the answer is no, that's where to start. Update your LinkedIn headline to include your core skill and the words "open to new opportunities." That single change puts you in more recruiter searches immediately.
Apply through official channels anyway — but make sure you're also visible before the application arrives.
See you next week.
— Open Roles