Chief Engineer

Success Matcher Recruitment; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 320,000; Full time

Job summary

Success Matcher Recruitment is seeking a senior Principal/Staff Engineer to own a core technical domain and drive architecture across AI agents, runtimes, and AI-native experiences in production systems.

You will work closely with founders and product leadership, guide senior engineers, and shape the engineering culture for a fintech-regulated environment. On-site in San Francisco, CA, 5 days a week for an early-stage, equity-heavy opportunity.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of engineering leadership roles.
• Proven experience building large-scale production systems.
• Deep expertise in AI, LLMs and agentic systems.
• BS degree in CS or STEM field.

Responsibilities

• Own a core technical domain end-to-end, driving architecture, standards, and outcomes.
• Architect and build production systems with hands-on leadership.
• Partner with founders and product leadership on key architectural decisions.
• Guide senior engineers and raise the technical bar.
• Build systems across AI agents, runtimes, conversational/voice AI, data platforms, and AI-native experiences.
• Drive an AI-native engineering culture using frontier tools such as Claude Code and Cursor.

Skills

AI/LLMs

Software architecture

Hands-on coding

Fintech/regulatory domain

Education

BS in Computer Science or STEM field

Tools

Claude Code

Cursor

Job description

Our client is a fast-growing, venture-backed AI startup building production-grade agentic AI systems for the financial services sector. Currently cash-flow positive with $30M in Series A funding, their platform reaches over 10 million users across 100+ financial institutions.

Why You Should Join

• Work at the rare intersection of startup growth, financial stability, and real-world AI scale.
• Own a core engineering domain with the equity, autonomy, and impact of an early founding team member.
• Deploy production-grade AI systems directly into regulated, high-stakes environments rather than building experimental prototypes.

What You'll Do

• Own a core technical domain end-to-end, driving architecture, engineering standards, and business outcomes.
• Architect and build production systems directly through hands-on technical leadership.
• Partner closely with founders and product leadership on high-impact architectural decisions.
• Guide and unblock senior engineers while elevating the overall technical bar.
• Build systems across AI agents, AI runtimes, conversational/voice AI, data platforms, and AI-native product experiences.
• Drive an AI-native engineering culture using frontier tools such as Claude Code and Cursor.

Required Experience

• 10+ years of engineering experience, with prior roles as Principal Engineer, Staff Engineer, Chief Engineer, or Technical Founder.
• Proven experience building and owning large-scale production systems with 0 to 1 delivery.
• Deep expertise in AI, LLMs, agentic systems, and modern AI development workflows.
• Strong hands-on coding and system architecture capabilities.
• Background in conversational AI, voice AI, RAG, AI evaluation systems, or fintech/regulated financial environments.
• BS degree in Computer Science or a STEM-related field.
• Ability to work on-site 5 days a week in San Francisco, CA.