Director of Engineering

5V Tech; Walnut Creek (CA); On-site; USD 170,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

5V Tech, an autonomous AI software company for industrial enterprises, seeks a hands-on Director of Engineering in Walnut Creek, CA. You will remain deeply embedded in code, guide architecture, and drive an AI-first product roadmap with the Founder/CEO and CPO.

The role emphasizes close collaboration with Product, R&D and Customer Success to deliver production-grade capabilities. You will lead a small engineering team, maintain high standards for scalability, observability and security, and

Qualifications

• 8+ years building production software with hands-on coding
• 3+ years leading engineering teams while coding
• Experience delivering AI/ML applications into production
• Strong background shipping production Python systems (FastAPI, Flask)
• Experience with REST APIs, microservices and distributed systems
• Experience with Docker, Kubernetes and cloud providers (AWS/Azure/GCP)
• Experience with PostgreSQL and modern data infrastructure
• Experience with CI/CD, GitHub and Infrastructure as Code

Responsibilities

• Stay hands-on in the codebase, writing and reviewing Python daily alongside the team
• Lead a small, elite engineering team focused on execution and outcomes
• Own software architecture, engineering quality, scalability and reliability
• Translate product vision into production software with speed and discipline
• Drive engineering best practices across CI/CD, testing, observability, cloud infra and security
• Partner with Product, R&D and Customer Success to deliver enterprise-ready capabilities
• Coach engineers and foster a low-ego, high-accountability culture
• Embrace and extend the AI-first software development workflow

Skills

Hands-on coding

Architectural leadership

Python development

AI/ML deployment

Distributed systems

Cloud-native

Code reviews

CI/CD

Security & observability

Tools

FastAPI

Flask

Docker

Kubernetes

AWS

Azure

GCP

PostgreSQL

GitHub

Terraform

Job description

This company builds autonomous AI software for industrial enterprises, combining reinforcement learning, machine learning, optimization and modern cloud software engineering to move customers from AI pilots to production at enterprise scale.

About the role

This is a genuinely hands-on Director role, not a traditional VP or Head of Engineering position sitting above the work. The company already has a clear founder-led product vision and an AI-native development methodology producing strong results, so this hire won't be redefining strategy or building out a large org. We're recruiting an engineering leader who still writes and reviews Python code daily, stays close to architecture and technical decisions, and wants to turn an ambitious technical vision into production-grade software used by the world's largest industrial companies. You'll execute an established product roadmap in partnership with the Founder/CPO and CEO, remain deeply embedded in the codebase, and maximize engineering leverage through AI before adding headcount.

Key responsibilities

• Stay hands-on in the codebase, writing and reviewing Python daily alongside the team
• Lead a small, elite engineering team focused on exceptional execution and customer outcomes
• Own software architecture, engineering quality, scalability and operational excellence
• Translate product vision into high-quality production software with speed and discipline
• Drive engineering best practices across CI/CD, testing, observability, cloud infrastructure and security
• Partner closely with Product, R&D and Customer Success to deliver enterprise-ready capabilities
• Coach engineers while fostering a low-ego, high-accountability culture of continuous learning
• Embrace, improve and extend the company's AI-first software development workflow

Ideal profile

• 8+ years building production software, with a strong preference for hands-on coding throughout your career
• 3+ years leading engineering teams (preferred), without stepping away from technical execution
• Deep experience with enterprise SaaS, distributed systems and cloud-native architectures
• Strong background delivering AI/ML applications into production
• Deep expertise designing, reviewing and shipping production Python systems (FastAPI, Flask or similar)
• Experience with REST APIs, microservices and distributed systems
• Experience with Docker, Kubernetes and AWS/Azure/GCP
• Experience with PostgreSQL and modern data infrastructure
• Experience with CI/CD, GitHub and Infrastructure as Code

Preferred qualifications

• Experience working in fast-moving Seed or Series A environments
• PyTorch, TensorFlow, reinforcement learning and modern AI frameworks
• LLMs, agentic AI and AI-assisted software development
• Commercially minded, with a passion for building category-defining Industrial AI software