San Francisco, CA · On-site · Full-timeCompensation: $415K–$450K base (flexible for exceptional candidates) + equity
About the Company
Our client is an AI company building document-intelligence software that turns complex, unstructured documents into reliable, structured data for the tax and accounting industry. Recently acquired by a larger information-services company, they pair startup speed and ownership with enterprise scale, shipping products used daily by major accounting firms. We’re representing them on a confidential basis and can share more about the team once we connect.
The Role
This is a hands-on player-coach role leading one of the client’s core engineering teams. You’d manage a team of 4–7 senior, staff, and principal-level engineers (scaling toward 10–12 over the coming year) while staying an active technical contributor, reporting directly to the company’s technical founder.
What you’ll be doing
- Directly manage 4–7 engineers at the staff and principal level while continuing to write code, review designs, and debug hard problems week to week
- Ship customer-facing, eval-driven AI products that convert unstructured documents into trustworthy structured data for enterprise customers
- Grow engineers through direct feedback and coaching, and develop future leaders on the team
- Own hiring, onboarding, and team scaling as the org grows
- Tie engineering decisions to real business outcomes, partnering closely with product and customer-facing teams
Tech stack: Python, TypeScript, cloud infrastructure, document AI, agentic and retrieval-based systems
Requirements
- 10–20 years of software engineering experience, spanning individual-contributor work and a clear progression into formal leadership
- Formal engineering management experience (Tech Lead Manager, Senior Tech Lead Manager, or Director of Engineering) with 2 to 10 direct reports
- Currently and genuinely hands-on in code: still shipping production software regularly, reviewing designs and PRs, and debugging alongside senior engineers
- A track record building or leading external, customer-facing products at fast-moving, product-focused technology companies
- Backend, backend-infrastructure, or backend-generalist depth (full-stack with a backend lean is welcome)
- Strong people leadership: clear expectations, direct feedback, coaching on technical and product judgment, early handling of performance issues, and a record of growing engineers
Nice to Haves
- Experience hiring, onboarding, and scaling an engineering team, including managing staff- and principal-level engineers
- Exposure to ML/AI systems such as agentic or retrieval-based systems, document AI, or eval-driven development
Why Join
- Player-coach leadership with real technical ownership, not a pure people-management seat
- Startup pace and end-to-end ownership backed by the scale and stability of a large parent company
- Highly competitive compensation, including a meaningful equity/RSU component
- Direct line to the technical founder in a hands-on, collaborative, high-octane team
Details
- Location: San Francisco, CA
- Work policy: On-site, 5 days per week
- Compensation: $415K–$450K + equity
- Visa sponsorship: No new sponsorship; open to visa transfers (e.g. OPT, H-1B transfers); TN accepted
- Employment type: Full-time