Growth Automation Engineer (0→1) — Build the Growth Engine of a Travel Startup 🌍

About SplitStay

We’re building SplitStay — a new layer for travel.

A platform where solo travellers attending the same event (festivals, marathons, conferences) can share accommodation — making travel more affordable, social, and efficient.

We’re currently in the MVP validation phase:

👉 The core question:

Will people actually coordinate shared stays around events?

We’re not optimizing yet. We’re validating behaviour.

Link to our Pitch Deck:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1FTsHBfOq5j-f1qnjWUYUA9BfQ1i5ovWi4j4-xLCCalo/edit?usp=sharing

The Opportunity

We’re looking for a technical growth builder who wants to:

👉 Design and build the growth engine from scratch

This is not a typical role.

You’ll be working directly with the founder to:

• identify real demand signals in the wild
• build systems to capture and activate that demand
• experiment fast and iterate faster

What You’ll Work On

• Detecting demand signals across platforms (Reddit, Facebook groups, Discord, etc.)
• Building lightweight automations (n8n, Zapier, scripts)
• Creating systems to:
  • capture leads
  • route users into the right flows
  • support matchmaking
• Testing growth loops around:
  • events
  • communities
  • social behaviour
• Turning manual experiments into scalable systems

Who This Is For

You’re likely:

• a builder, not a manager
• someone who enjoys figuring things out without a playbook
• comfortable with ambiguity and early-stage chaos

You Might Have Experience With

(Not required, but helpful)

• APIs, scraping, or data extraction
• automation tools (n8n, Zapier, Make)
• Python or similar scripting
• growth hacking / early-stage experimentation
• marketplaces, communities, or social products

What Matters Most

• Speed > perfection
• Curiosity > credentials
• Ownership > instructions

What You Get

• Work directly with the founder (no layers)
• Real ownership over growth systems
• Remote-first, flexible setup
• Opportunity to shape the company from day 1
• Potential equity stake for the right person

Important

This is an early-stage role.

We’re not looking for someone to “execute tasks”.

We’re looking for someone who wants to build something from zero.

How to Apply

• connect to the founder on LinkedIn to: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rubenvanhees/
• send a short intro (no long cover letter)
• links to anything you’ve built (projects > CV)
• or just tell us how you would approach this problem:

👉 “How would you find and activate people already trying to share accommodation around events?”