Tech Lead Manager: AI-Driven Architecture & People Leadership

Nectar Social; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 210,000 - 270,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity compensation

Health & 401(k)

ClassPass membership

Hybrid schedule

Housing stipend

Mobile stipend

Commuter benefits

Free lunch

Job summary

Nectar Social is seeking a Tech Lead Manager to own the technical vision for one or more engineering teams. You’ll shape architecture, drive high-impact initiatives, and collaborate with Product and Design to translate requirements into scalable solutions.

You will mentor engineers, participate in customer calls to understand real-world needs, and guide engineering standards as the company grows beyond ~50 people. This role blends leadership with hands-on engineering and product ownership.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of total software engineering experience with 2+ years of direct reports.
• Strong architectural intuition across the full stack and complex PRs.
• Product instincts with opinions on direction and scope.
• Proven cross-functional collaboration with Product and Design.
• Startup experience in fast-growth, ambiguity, and shifting priorities.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication for technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Active hands-on AI literacy or experience with AI agents and workflows.

Responsibilities

• Define technical roadmap, system design, and architecture standards.
• Lead by example with production code, reviews, and critical path work.
• Partner with Product and Design to scope features and feasibility.
• Mentor engineers, raise the technical bar, and conduct architecture reviews.
• Sit in customer calls to gain technical intuition on usage and UX.
• Drive RFCs, testing strategies, CI/CD, monitoring, and post-mortems.
• Help scale the team through technical interviews and assessments.
• Oversee 2-5 direct reports with regular 1:1s and career growth planning.

Skills

Experience Level

Technical Architecture

Product Instincts

Cross-Functional Collaboration

Startup Agility

Communication

AI Literacy

Tools

React

TypeScript

AWS

Pulumi

Postgres

ClickHouse

Turbopuffer

Job description

Nectar Social is seeking a Tech Lead Manager to own the technical vision for one or more engineering teams. You’ll shape architecture, drive high-impact initiatives, and collaborate with Product and Design to translate requirements into scalable solutions.

You will mentor engineers, participate in customer calls to understand real-world needs, and guide engineering standards as the company grows beyond ~50 people. This role blends leadership with hands-on engineering and product ownership.