About the role
About the Role
Lead hands-on engineering for an applied AI and enterprise software team, shaping the technical architecture and product direction alongside the CTO and founders. You will guide a small engineering pod while personally building critical systems and helping turn machine learning into production products.
What You'll Do
* Build and lead a pod of three to four engineers, supporting their growth, performance, and hiring while remaining hands-on with key projects.
* Own platform architecture and make build-versus-buy and infrastructure decisions.
* Establish engineering standards for AI-assisted development, including code review, completion criteria, release cadence, and on-call practices.
* Lead technical design and initial implementation of new initiatives.
* Evaluate applied ML research and determine what is ready for production systems.
* Partner with the CTO on product roadmap, model strategy, and the engineering approach.
What We're Looking For
* Typically 5 to 8 years of engineering experience, with exceptional candidates considered from 4 to 5 years.
* Experience shipping applied machine learning products, including training and deploying models in production, not only integrating LLM APIs.
* Experience owning technical architecture end-to-end, including infrastructure and build-versus-buy decisions.
* Track record as a technical lead, pod lead, or manager who has set engineering standards and held engineers accountable.
* Recent hands-on software delivery, strong applied ML judgment, and practical experience using AI agents in development.
* Experience at an AI-native company and in attracting technical talent; a stable employment history is expected.
* Comfort with ambiguity, inherited code, and hands-on work.
Compensation & Benefits
Base salary: $200,000 to $400,000 annually. Visa sponsorship is not available.
Location
On-site in New York City, United States.