Technical Lead Manager, AI Platform

ironcladhq; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 210,000 - 270,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Parental leave

Wellbeing stipends

Cell phone stipend

Team events

Job summary

Ironclad is seeking a Tech Lead Manager to lead a team of engineers building production generative AI systems at enterprise scale. You will blend hands‑on technical leadership with people management, setting the technical direction while growing the team.

You will own the technical roadmap, collaborate with product, and contribute directly through design decisions and production code when needed. This role requires strong AI depth and leadership in a fast‑paced environment.

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading engineering teams as a manager with a track record of shipping production systems.
• Strong technical background in generative AI / LLM‑based systems with depth to guide the team.
• Able to contribute directly as a technical contributor and implement solutions.
• Experience operating production ML/LLM systems with eval‑driven development and monitoring for reliability and quality.
• Experience in NLP, content/document understanding, search/retrieval, Agent framework or LLM training infra/frameworks is a plus.
• Track record of hiring, mentoring, and growing engineers and handling performance conversations.
• Strong cross‑functional partnership skills with product and leadership.
• Comfortable in a dynamic, fast‑paced, outcome‑driven environment with ambiguity.

Responsibilities

• Lead and grow a team of engineers, balancing hands‑on leadership with people support.
• Own the technical roadmap and quality bar for your team's systems.
• Translate customer and business needs into technical deliverables in partnership with product management.
• Contribute direct design work and drive architectural decisions; write production code for high impact problems.
• Review architecture and maintain close awareness of technical details to unblock engineers and prioritize.
• Set engineering standards for code quality, testing, eval‑driven development, and monitoring.
• Manage prioritization and tradeoffs across teams and dependencies.
• Hire, mentor, and develop engineers; conduct performance and career discussions.

Skills

Engineering leadership

Generative AI/LLM

Hands-on contributor

Production ML/LLM systems

NLP/content understanding

Hiring/mentoring engineers

Cross-functional partnership

Ambiguity tolerance

Job description

Build AI contracting at enterprise scale. Ship it fast.

Ironclad is building AI on one of the most consequential datasets in enterprise software: over 2 billion contracts across thousands of the world's largest organizations. Contracts run every dollar, deal, and business relationship on the planet, and the AI transformation of this space is still largely uncharted. Engineers here are building agentic solutions to problems that haven't been solved yet, in a category that's still being defined. The feedback loop is short, the data is rich, and the people closest to the work are the ones deciding what gets built next. That ability to deliver impact quickly is why the the companies at the forefront of AI choose Ironclad to manage their contracts.

We’re consistently recognized as a leader in the industry: a Leader in the Forrester Wave and Gartner Magic Quadrant for Contract Lifecycle Management, a Fortune Great Place to Work, and one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Workplaces. Ironclad has also been named to Forbes’ AI 50 and Business Insider’s list of Companies to Bet Your Career On. We’re backed by leading investors including Accel, Y Combinator, Sequoia, BOND, and Franklin Templeton. For more information, visit www.ironcladapp.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

About the role

We're looking for a Tech Lead Manager to lead a team of engineers building production generative AI systems. You'll combine hands‑on technical leadership with people management, setting the technical direction for the team while growing the engineers on it.

What you'll do

• Lead and grow a team of engineers, balancing hands‑on technical leadership with people support.

• Own the technical roadmap and quality bar for your team's systems.

• Own the business outcome. Partner with product management and work across teams to translate customer and business needs into technical deliverables.

• Personally contribute direct technical output: write design docs, drive key architectural decisions, and write production code yourself for the highest‑leverage or highest‑risk problems.

• Stay close to the architecture and technical details of what your team builds well enough to review design decisions, unblock engineers, and make prioritization calls.

• Set and uphold engineering standards: code quality, testing, eval‑driven development, and production monitoring for both reliability and output quality.

• Manage prioritization and tradeoffs across competing priorities, and coordinate closely with adjacent teams whose work depends on yours.

• Hire, mentor, and develop engineers; run performance and career development for direct reports.

What we're looking for

• Proven experience leading engineering teams as a manager, with a track record of shipping production systems.

• Strong technical background in generative AI / LLM-based systems, with enough expertise to provide the technical depth and direction where the team needs.

• Able to work directly as a technical contributor, creating design and implementing solutions.

• Experience operating production ML/LLM systems: eval‑driven development, monitoring for both reliability and output quality, and staged rollouts.

• Past experience in one or more of the following areas: NLP, content/document understanding, search/retrieval, Agent framework or LLM training infra/frameworks.

• Track record of hiring, mentoring, and growing engineers, and of navigating performance and leveling conversations directly.

• Strong cross‑functional partnership skills — comfortable setting a technical roadmap in a room with product, other engineering leads, and company leadership.

• Comfortable operating in a dynamic, fast‑paced, outcome‑driven environment with real ambiguity in scope.

Great to have

• Experience scaling a team through a significant architectural transition.

• Familiarity with canary rollouts for ML/LLM systems.
  

Base Salary Range:

The base salary range represents the minimum and maximum of the salary range for this position based at our San Francisco headquarters. The actual base salary offered for this position will depend on numerous factors, including individual proficiency, anticipated performance, and the location of the selected candidate. Our base salary is just one component of Ironclad’s competitive total rewards package, which also includes equity awards (a new hire grant, along with opportunities for additional awards throughout your tenure), competitive health and wellness benefits, and a commitment to career growth and development.

US Full-Time Employee Benefits at Ironclad:

• 100% health coverage for employees (medical, dental, and vision), and 75% coverage for dependents with buy‑up plan options available

• Market‑leading leave policies, including gender‑neutral parental leave and compassionate leave

• Family forming support through Maven for you and your partner

• Paid time off - take the time you need, when you need it

• Monthly stipends for wellbeing, hybrid work, and (if applicable) cell phone use

• Mental health support through Modern Health, including therapy, coaching, and digital tools

• Pre‑tax commuter benefits (US Employees)

• 401(k) plan with Fidelity with employer match (US Employees)

• Regular team events to connect, recharge, and have fun

• And most importantly: the opportunity to help build the company you want to work at

**UK Employee-specific benefits are included on our UK job postings

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.