Tech Lead

About this role

ABOUT THE ROLE

A fast-growing, Y Combinator–backed startup building AI-powered voice and text agents for the home improvement industry is looking for a Tech Lead to scale engineering impact and organizational maturity. You'll work hand-in-hand with the CTO and senior leadership to set technical direction, drive architectural decisions, and keep a talented team shipping high-quality software at pace.

This is an on-site role based in San Francisco, CA. The company is at the seed stage with strong investor backing and a lean, highly capable team. No visa sponsorship is available — candidates must have existing authorization to work in the United States.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

- Manage the engineering team day-to-day, removing blockers and keeping delivery on track.

- Own architectural decisions and guide the team on system design tradeoffs.

- Have final say on task prioritization and delivery tradeoffs.

- Review code and RFCs to maintain quality, consistency, and engineering standards.

- Establish and enforce engineering best practices, processes, and tooling.

- Act as a technical liaison and thought partner to the CEO, CTO, Director of Sales, and Head of Customer Success.

- Contribute actively to the codebase (~20–30% of your time).

- Raise the overall productivity and maturity of the engineering organization.

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

Required

- 6+ years of professional software engineering experience, with most recent roles as a Staff Engineer or Tech Lead.

- Proven leadership: you've managed engineering teams, mentored engineers, and driven engineering strategy.

- Strong background in software architecture, cloud platforms (ideally Microsoft Azure), and full-stack development.

- Hands-on experience with LLMs and conversational AI systems — this is a hard requirement.

- Experience designing and leading AI/ML systems at scale in cloud-based SaaS or startup environments.

- Track record of shipping under pressure in fast-growing startups or scale-ups.

- Excellent project management and prioritization skills with strong business acumen.

- Strong cross-functional communication — you can advocate technical decisions clearly to non-technical stakeholders.

- Ability and willingness to work on-site in San Francisco, CA.

Nice to Have

- Prior leadership experience in conversational AI or voice technology specifically.

- Experience with NLP pipelines and production deployment of ML/LLM models.

- Familiarity with telephony, call center automation, or home services industry workflows.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

- Salary: $220,000 – $250,000 USD per year

- Competitive early-stage equity package

- Opportunity to shape the technical foundation and culture of a high-growth AI company

LOCATION

- On-site — San Francisco, CA

- Remote work is not available for this role

- No visa sponsorship available; candidates must have the right to work in the United States