Director of Engineering

Vast.ai; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 200,000 - 320,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401(k) with match

Equity

Onsite meals & collaboration

Startup culture

Job summary

Vast.ai is seeking an engineering leader to scale our distributed cloud platform. You will report to the founder and guide a group of about 8 engineers across two product teams, owning delivery across the customer-facing platform.

The role blends hands-on coding with leadership, focusing on shipping reliability, fast delivery, and pragmatic processes. You will shape the roadmap and build a high-performing org in a fast-moving startup.

Qualifications

• 10+ years building software across distributed systems, cloud infrastructure, or backend platforms.
• 5+ years managing engineers including hiring, performance management, and team building.
• Hands-on by choice: you review code daily and still ship.
• You communicate clearly and provide constructive feedback to peers.

Responsibilities

• Lead delivery across the customer-facing platform: console, APIs, CLI/SDK, serverless, billing, marketplace engine.
• Own hiring outcomes for your group and build a high-talent engineering org.
• Maintain engineering quality: CI, test coverage, incident response, and responsible on-call rotations.
• Grow engineers into senior roles and leads; drive predictable timelines.

Skills

Software engineering

Distributed systems

Cloud infrastructure

GPU/ML systems

High-throughput backend

People management

Hiring & performance

Code review

Feedback skills

Job description

About Us

Vast.ai’s cloud powers AI projects and businesses all over the world. We are democratizing and decentralizing AI computing — reshaping our future for the benefit of humanity.

We are a growing and highly motivated team dedicated to an ambitious technical plan. Our structure is flat, our ambitions are out‑sized, and leadership is earned by shipping excellence.

We seek engineers with strong intrinsic drive, a true passion for advancing the state of the art, and a mix of architecture, coding, and communication skills.

Location

On‑site at our office in San Francisco or Westwood, Los Angeles.

The Role

You will report directly to Jake Cannell, our founder and CEO, who built the platform and remains deeply involved in technical architecture. You will partner with him to turn technical direction and product priorities into a high‑functioning engineering organization: clear ownership, fast delivery, strong code quality, sustainable reliability, and a team that gets better every quarter.

This is not a purely managerial role. The right candidate still enjoys working in the codebase and earns technical trust through judgment, reviews, and occasional critical‑path shipping.

You will initially lead a group of approximately 8 engineers across two product/infrastructure teams.

The technical surface area is broad: distributed infrastructure, GPU scheduling and availability, marketplace dynamics, developer experience, payments and billing, reliability, security, and high‑throughput backend systems. The role is ideal for someone who likes building both the product and the engineering organization behind it.

What You Will Own

• Delivery across the customer‑facing platform: console, APIs, CLI/SDK, serverless, clusters, billing, and the marketplace engine
• Hiring and team design: partner with recruiting to source, assess, close, and onboard senior engineers; maintain a high talent bar; and build the team structure needed to support the roadmap. You will own hiring outcomes for your group.
• Engineering quality: review standards, CI, test coverage, incident response, and an on‑call rotation that does not burn people out
• Team growth: developing engineers into senior engineers and seniors into leads
• Execution cadence: turning Jake's technical direction and product priorities into shipped software on predictable timelines, with the minimum process that makes us faster

First Six Months, Concretely

• Ship code in week one
• Own delivery for a group of engineers across two to three teams by day 90
• Build and execute a hiring plan that results in four or more high‑quality senior engineering hires, while preserving the technical bar
• Stand up incident review and release processes that engineers actually like
• Earn the org's trust the only way that works here: technical judgment demonstrated in the codebase

You Are

• A strong engineer first: 10+ years building software, with real depth in at least one of distributed systems, cloud infrastructure, GPU/ML systems, or high‑throughput backend platforms
• An experienced leader: 5+ years managing engineers, including hiring, performance management, and team building at a fast‑moving company
• Hands‑on by choice: you review code daily and still ship
• Direct: you give sharp, kind feedback and expect the same
• Pragmatic about process: you add structure only where it increases shipping speed, and you cut everything else

Nice to have

Marketplace or infrastructure company experience, CUDA/GPU stack familiarity, an open‑source track record.

Benefits

• Comprehensive health, dental, vision, and life insurance
• 401(k) with company match
• Meaningful early‑stage equity
• Onsite meals, snacks, and close collaboration with founders/tech leaders
• Ambitious, fast‑paced startup culture where initiative is rewarded

Compensation

Range: $200K - $320K