Employment Agreement for Tech Companies
Employment agreements built for engineering and product teams.
An employment agreement for tech companies — clear role, compensation, equity reference, full IP assignment, and confidentiality language sized for engineering work.
Free to start — No credit card required
Engineering and product hiring sits on top of an employment agreement that has to handle equity, IP, open-source contributions, and confidentiality without becoming a 30-page document. This template is structured for tech-company hiring — clear, defensible, and short enough that candidates actually read it.
Why tech companies need a employment agreement
- IP assignment from day one ensures the company owns code, designs, and product work.
- Equity reference connects to the option grant without conflating documents.
- Confidentiality covers source code, customer data, and architectural decisions.
- Open-source carve-outs preserve the engineer's ability to contribute on their own time.
Common scenarios
Engineering hires
Standard at-will employment with full IP assignment, confidentiality covering source code and architecture, and equity grant reference.
Product and design hires
Same template with IP assignment covering design decisions, product specs, and research artifacts.
Senior or executive hires
Adds optional severance, longer notice period, and explicit confidentiality on roadmap, financials, and strategic plans.
Clauses to pay attention to
Common questions
- How do we handle open-source contributions?
- Standard pattern: employees can contribute to open-source on their own time using their own equipment as long as the contribution doesn't conflict with the company's business and doesn't use confidential information. Some companies require pre-approval for contributions to projects the company depends on. The agreement should address this explicitly to avoid friction later.
- What about side projects and moonlighting?
- The IP assignment should be limited to work created during employment that's related to the company's business. Personal side projects unrelated to the company's business shouldn't be captured. Some companies require disclosure of side projects above a certain time commitment; others allow them freely as long as they don't conflict with the day job.
- Are non-competes worth including for engineers?
- It depends heavily on jurisdiction. California broadly bans non-competes; many states allow them with limits; the FTC has been moving toward federal restriction. Most tech companies rely on confidentiality and non-solicit clauses rather than full non-competes — and the talent market often punishes companies that try to use non-competes aggressively.
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