What the role involves
We’re hiring a Founding Mobile Engineer to build the product experience for the leading AI companion for language learning. You’ll own the mobile systems powering personalized conversations for millions of users.
Language learning shouldn’t feel like an app — it should feel like talking to someone who knows you: remembers what you struggled with last week, adapts in real time, and responds instantly.
Building that means solving hard product and systems problems at consumer scale: low-latency AI conversations, fluid motion and micro-interactions, and native performance across iOS and Android.
About Pingo
Pingo helps 3,000,000+ users build fluency through real conversations. Since launching in January 2025, we’ve grown to $6 million ARR with ~50% MoM growth. Backed by Y Combinator and top investors, we’re building a small, talent-dense team obsessed with product quality and engineering rigor.
What You’ll Do:
In one sentence: Build the mobile experience that makes Pingo the default way people learn languages.
Build and ship conversation and learning experiences powered by our AI systems.
Craft high-quality UI and micro-interactions — animations, transitions, gestures, and haptics that feel instant and alive.
Optimize performance across iOS and Android — memory, threading, rendering, audio pipelines, and crash analytics for buttery-smooth reliability.
Debug native issues across Xcode, Android Studio, Instruments, and Logcat.
Shape Pingo’s personality through its interactions, motion, and small details.
You might be a great fit if you
- Deep experience with React Native and are comfortable working in Swift/Kotlin when needed.
- You’ve owned and shipped major mobile features end-to-end and are passionate about building magical, human-feeling products that delight users.
- Have strong product taste and care deeply about how things feel, not just that they work.
- Obsess over mobile performance (memory, threading, FPS, rendering).
- Experience with real-time systems (WebRTC, WebSockets, audio streaming).
- Experience building AI consumer products is a plus.
About the Job
- In-person in SF w/ founders
- $170k–$240k cash comp + 0.3-0.8% equity
- Healthcare + meals + Equinox
What they ask for
About Pingo AI
Pingo AI is an AI language learning app that helps users build fluency through speaking. It immerses learners in realistic dialogues and personalized lessons with an AI tutor who sounds like a native speaker. Our goal is to make learning languages as simple as daily conversations with Pingo — a companion who understands your goals, remembers your progress, and keeps you motivated.
Full Pingo AI profile