Founding Engineering Lead

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.