Head of Engineering

Staffing Science; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

4-day workweek

Strong funding and growth opportunities

Opportunity to work with cutting-edge AI technology

Job summary

A fast-growing Series A startup in San Francisco is seeking a Director / Head of Engineering to lead architectural decisions and scale a growing team. This role requires strong leadership in full-stack development and AI-driven product delivery, coupled with a hands-on approach. You'll work in a vibrant environment focused on innovation and team excellence.

Qualifications

• 3-5+ years of experience leading engineering teams in a startup environment.
• Hands-on leadership with coding experience.
• Strong understanding of scalable architecture and system design.

Responsibilities

• Own architecture across backend, frontend, infrastructure, and AI systems.
• Deliver scalable, secure, and performant foundations for growth.
• Lead and mentor a team of engineers.

Skills

Leadership

Full-stack development

AI-driven product experience

System design

Collaboration with Product and Design

Tools

React

Python

Job description

Director / Head of Engineering (On-Site, San Francisco – 4-Day Workweek)

MUST BE A US CITIZEN

About the Opportunity: We’re partnering with a fast-growing Series A startup that’s using Generative AI to reinvent how complex organizations operate. They’re looking for a hands-on technical leader who can shape engineering direction, scale a growing team, and help define how modern AI integrates directly into real-world product experiences.

What You’ll Do

• Own architecture across backend, frontend, infrastructure, and AI systems.
• Define and deliver scalable, secure, and performant foundations for 10x growth.
• Make critical technical decisions with strong trade-off analysis and execution clarity.
• Partner with product and design to bring Generative AI capabilities to life.
• Operationalize LLMs and data pipelines to deliver intelligent, reliable, high-impact user experiences.
• Translate emerging research into differentiated, durable product features.
• Lead and mentor a team of 8+ engineers, with plans to nearly double in the next year.
• Cultivate an engineering culture built around speed, ownership, and continuous learning.
• Model technical excellence while creating an environment people love to build in.

Delivery & Quality

• Implement modern CI/CD pipelines, observability tools, and pragmatic workflows.
• Balance fast shipping with long-term scalability, maintainability, and security.

What Great Looks Like

• 3–5+ years leading engineering teams (Director/VP/Head level) in startup environments.
• Proven ability to manage full-stack development — ideally in React / Python or similar open-source stacks.
• Hands-on leader who still codes, reviews pull requests, and guides architectural design.
• Experience delivering AI-driven or high-growth SaaS products.
• Strong partnership mindset with Product and Design; outcome-driven thinker.
• Deep understanding of scalable architecture, system design, and performance trade-offs.

Nice-to-Have

• Exposure to LLM integration, AI/ML pipelines, or Gen AI features.
• Familiarity with modern DevOps, observability, and secure infrastructure practices.
• Experience across both startup and larger-brand environments.

Why This Role

• 4-day on-site workweek 🏙 (San Francisco)
• High-growth Series A company with strong funding and momentum.
• Opportunity to lead end-to-end architecture, grow a world-class team, and ship transformative AI-driven software.