5+ years of engineering experience, preferably as a technical founder or lead
Proven track record of shipping software with end-to-end ownership
Experience in leading teams and establishing technical standards
Strong understanding of applied machine learning techniques
Comfortable working with AI coding agents and legacy code
Responsibilities
Build and lead a small engineering team, fostering growth and performance
Own the platform architecture and make key infrastructure decisions
Establish engineering standards for AI-assisted development
Lead technical designs and initial implementations for new projects
Evaluate machine learning approaches for practical application
Collaborate with leadership on product and machine learning strategy
Benefits
Opportunity to shape the technical direction of an early-stage SaaS company
Hands-on leadership role with direct impact on product development
Collaborative environment with company leadership
Focus on applied AI products in enterprise software
On-site work in New York City, fostering team cohesion
Full Job Description
About the Role
Lead engineering for an early-stage SaaS team building applied AI products for enterprise software. You will own architecture and technical direction while staying hands-on, partnering with company leadership on product and machine learning strategy. What You'll Do
Build and lead a pod of three to four engineers, supporting their growth, performance, and hiring while shipping critical work yourself.
Own platform architecture and make build-versus-buy and infrastructure decisions.
Set engineering standards for AI-assisted development, including review criteria, definition of done, release cadence, and on-call practices.
Lead technical designs and initial implementations for new initiatives.
Assess applied machine learning approaches and distinguish research that can support live systems from more speculative ideas.
Partner with company leadership on product roadmap, model strategy, and machine learning direction.
What We're Looking For
At least 5 years of engineering experience, ideally as a technical founder, founding engineer, staff-level individual contributor, or technical lead.
Recent experience as the primary author of shipped software, with end-to-end ownership and minimal oversight.
Experience leading engineers and setting technical standards, architecture, and infrastructure practices.
Applied machine learning judgment, including classical methods, transformers, world models, and AI agents.
Strong practical use of AI coding agents, comfort with ambiguity and inherited code, and a willingness to take on unglamorous work.
Compensation & Benefits
Salary range: $200,000 to $400,000 annually. Visa sponsorship is not available. Location
