Chief Engineer, AI — End-to-End Architecture & Code Ownership

FORT; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 260,000 - 380,000; Full time

Job summary

FORT - Future of Recruiting Technologists in San Francisco is seeking a Chief Engineer to own a domain end-to-end, architect the systems, and ship high-impact features. You'll lead an engineering pod and participate in weekly council sessions with the founders.

This role is hands-on and non-management; you will still code and set technical standards while partnering with PMs and leaders to drive outcomes in a fast-growing startup that leverages frontier AI tools.

Qualifications

• Experience at Staff/Principal Engineer level or equivalent (e.g., CTO, Head of Development).
• Experience in a high-growth startup (Series A-C / sub-500 employees).
• Evidence of building something of lasting value as a company scaled.
• Strong 0 to 1 ownership – took a critical product or system from concept through production.
• Deeply hands-on technically – this role is for someone who still wants to architect AND code.
• Strong engineering fundamentals across Node.js, React and Python.
• Daily use of frontier AI development tools such as Claude Code and Cursor.
• Experience with conversational AI, voice AI or agentic systems would be highly valuable.
• Technical founder experience where you've built and scaled a product would translate well.
• BS/BA in Computer Science or another relevant technical discipline; advanced degrees welcomed.

Responsibilities

• Own the domain end-to-end: architecture, build, and ship results with your team.
• Lead through technical credibility and stay hands-on with code.
• Collaborate with a Domain PM as an equal to set the technical bar and guide engineers and leads.

Skills

Node.js

React

Python

Education

BS/BA in Computer Science or related discipline

Tools

Claude Code

Cursor

Job description

FORT - Future of Recruiting Technologists in San Francisco is seeking a Chief Engineer to own a domain end-to-end, architect the systems, and ship high-impact features. You'll lead an engineering pod and participate in weekly council sessions with the founders.

This role is hands-on and non-management; you will still code and set technical standards while partnering with PMs and leaders to drive outcomes in a fast-growing startup that leverages frontier AI tools.