About Lyra
Lyra is a small team in Barcelona building the matchmaking layer women in tech actually want. Transparent, evidence-based, and on their side.
Origin
Brilliant engineers and product leaders were sending hundreds of applications and hearing nothing. The keyword filters didn't see their portfolios. The screening logic was invisible. The algorithm, when there was one, was working against them.
Lyra started in 2024 as a community in Barcelona. Workshops, real conversations, and a stubborn belief that matching could be transparent. By 2026 it had become a product. A marketplace where candidates see the full reasoning behind every score, and companies see the talent their filters had been hiding.
Co-founders
CO-FOUNDER & COO · OPERATIONS
Two-time founder. Project manager and educator with 10+ years leading complex programs. Expert in linguistics applied to education and learning design. Builds scalable operations across cohorts, content and partnerships. Responsible for creating educational programs that reached over 1200 women globally. Studies educational frameworks with AI.
FOUNDER & CEO · PRODUCT · RESEARCH
Three-time founder, AI researcher, product lead with 7+ years of experience, university lecturer in AI. Currently partnered with the International Red Cross and Barcelona Supercomputing Center. Built SheAI, the proof-of-concept community feeding Lyra.
Why we built this
We lived the credentials-not-recognised, exploitative-wage, invisible-pipeline reality before we set out to fix it. Lyra AI is beyond a market hypothesis. We deeply care about solving this problem because we have lived the consequences ourselves. This is the time to use AI to close the labour and payment gender gap.
A note from Stephany
Before I immigrated, my life was full of joy and opportunities. I enrolled in university at 16. I had a 10, 15 and 20-year career plan. Then it became impossible to keep living in the country I came from. My university closed. There was little hope for personal development. So I started over in a new place. No contacts, no money, no idea how to play the game.
I had every kind of irregular job. I was a waitress first. They promoted me when I started proposing tech solutions to increase bookings. Then they fired me the moment I broke a leg, before I could get a sick leave. No one was hiring me with a broken leg. Suddenly I had no way to get my university studies recognised, I didn't speak English, and I had no savings.
I went to the UK as an au pair. I worked in a care home. The mission was to learn English. I did, and I came back with savings to start studying again. Back in Spain I found a more stable job, severely underpaid. When I started looking for something better, COVID hit and I was in an ERE. I changed jobs. Six months later that company went bankrupt and had to fire everyone. One thing after the next. It took several years before I could go back to tech and have real prospects again.
Hundreds of failed applications. Endless selection processes. No clear upskilling pipeline. Ghosting, until I finally understood the rules of the game. Kris lived something similar, until she landed the most average office job. Secure but with no purpose, hustling for second income streams. People conform, women especially, and the muscle of interviewing only builds through reps. That muscle gives you confidence.
I have a friend who is incredible. Let's call her Jess. Jess competed in two Iron Mans. She rode her motorcycle alone from Brussels to Spain just to visit a friend. She gave birth by IVF alone in her apartment during COVID, in the shower. She is remarkable. She lives in Sweden with her two kids, a Master's, a job, and a mortgage. She offered me a two-year home swap. She was willing to quit her job and walk into the unknown with a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old, in a new country, with no job secured. That is courage.
“Be fearless. Find a new opportunity that doesn't necessarily make you passionate, but that is exciting enough to give you the energy to cultivate, outside of work, a more meaningful life.”
The team
Video Producer
Shapes Lyra's visual storytelling. From member portraits to event films and the textures you see across the brand.
Product Designer
Owns the candidate experience end to end. Translates the four-score model into something that feels like reading a friend's note, not a black box.
Content & Brand Strategy
Voice, narrative, and the editorial system. Carla makes sure every word on Lyra sounds like Lyra. Clear, exact, no urgency theatre.
Social Impact Program Manager, Chief Scientific Officer
Translates academic fairness research into product decisions. Designs the social-impact programmes that turn matches into careers.
What we believe
Every score Lyra produces is something the candidate can read, question, and learn from. No hidden filters, no black-box ranking.
We score what someone has actually done. Portfolio artefacts, situational judgment, the receipts. Then we show our working.
Our community shows up to workshops, tests prototypes, and tells us when we're wrong. The product is built with them in the room.
We're based at Via Laietana, 26, segundo piso, Barcelona. Say hello at hello@justlyra.com.