Tech Lead Manager: AI-Driven Social Platform

Nectar; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Nectar is seeking a Tech Lead Manager to own the technical vision and execution for one or more core engineering teams. You will shape architecture, mentor engineers, and partner with Product and Design to deliver impactful AI‑driven capabilities.

You will sit in customer calls to build direct technical intuition, lead fast‑paced delivery, and scale the team from ~50 to the next growth phase. Strong leadership and hands‑on coding are essential.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of total software engineering experience, with 2+ years in people management on a high‑performing team.
• Strong architectural intuition and hands‑on proficiency across the full stack.
• Product‑minded with ability to form technical opinions and prioritize work by customer impact.
• Experience collaborating with Product Managers and Designers in fast‑moving startups.
• Bias toward action and comfort in ambiguous, high‑growth environments.
• Excellent written and verbal communication translating complex tech to non‑technical stakeholders.
• Active hands‑on interest or experience with LLMs, AI agents, and modern AI workflows.

Responsibilities

• Define the technical roadmap, system design, and architectural standards for your product domain, ensuring performance and scalability.
• Lead by example with production code, code reviews, and resolving critical bottlenecks.
• Partner with Product and Design to evaluate feasibility, scope features, and refine requirements.
• Mentor engineers through architecture reviews and best‑practice coaching.
• Sit in customer calls to gain direct technical intuition on how customers use our products.
• Drive RFCs, testing strategies, CI/CD pipelines, and system monitoring.
• Help scale the team through technical interviews and design assessments.
• Manage a team of 2‑5 engineers with regular 1:1s and career development.

Skills

Software Engineering

People Management

Architectural Design

Full Stack

Product Collaboration

AI Literacy

Communication

Tools

React

TypeScript

AWS

Pulumi

Postgres

ClickHouse

Turbopuffer

Job description

Nectar is seeking a Tech Lead Manager to own the technical vision and execution for one or more core engineering teams. You will shape architecture, mentor engineers, and partner with Product and Design to deliver impactful AI‑driven capabilities.

You will sit in customer calls to build direct technical intuition, lead fast‑paced delivery, and scale the team from ~50 to the next growth phase. Strong leadership and hands‑on coding are essential.