Head of Software Engineering @ Stealth Startup

Stealth Company; Culver City (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 320,000; Full time

Job summary

Stealth Company in Culver City, CA, seeks a Head of Software Engineering to lead and grow our engineering team building an ambient AI-powered consumer hardware product. This player-coach role combines hands-on development with leadership, setting standards, and driving fast delivery while avoiding debt.

You’ll own engineering execution, recruit aggressively, collaborate with product and design, and mentor engineers to ship polished consumer-facing software that integrates AI/ML at the core.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in software engineering with 3+ years leading engineering teams.
• Experience shipping consumer-facing software.
• Fluent in AI/ML-integrated systems.

Responsibilities

• Lead, grow, and retain a world-class software engineering team across consumer software and AI.
• Own engineering execution including sprint planning, resourcing, delivery, and team health.
• Set and enforce engineering standards for code quality and architecture.
• Partner with product and design to scope work and hit milestones.
• Recruit aggressively to build the team around you.
• Serve as the connective tissue between engineers and company leadership.

Skills

Leadership

Software engineering

People management

AI/ML integration

Execution

Sprint planning

Job description

Head of Software Engineering

We are a Series A (with B level of capital) stealth startup backed by tier 1 VC’s and led by a unicorn proven founders, building the next generation of AI-powered consumer hardware. We’re creating a premium home AI — ambient intelligence for busy households — and we’re looking for a Head of Software Engineering to lead and grow our engineering team.

This is a player-coach role at a critical moment. You’ll manage and scale a high-performing team while staying close to the work — setting engineering standards, unblocking execution, and ensuring we ship fast without accumulating debt that slows us down later.

What You’ll Do

• Lead, grow, and retain a world-class software engineering team across consumer software and AI
• Own engineering execution — sprint planning, resourcing, delivery, and team health
• Set and enforce engineering standards: code quality, architecture patterns, review culture, and on-call practices
• Partner with product and design to scope work, surface tradeoffs, and hit milestones
• Recruit aggressively — you’ll be a key part of building the team around you
• Serve as the connective tissue between individual engineers and company leadership

Who You Are

• 8+ years in software engineering, with 3+ years managing engineering teams
• Deep experience shipping consumer-facing software — you know what a polished, high-quality product takes
• Fluent in AI/ML-integrated systems — you’ve worked on products where models are core to the experience, not a bolt-on
• Strong people manager: you develop engineers, give direct feedback, and build team culture
• Execution-oriented — you keep things moving, resolve ambiguity, and protect the team from noise
• Technically credible enough to earn respect from strong engineers without needing to be in every design decision

Why This Role

You’ll be building and leading the engineering team behind a product that’s genuinely new — an ambient AI presence in the home. Small team, real ownership, close to the decision-making, and the opportunity to set engineering culture from scratch. We’re well-capitalized and moving fast.