Tech Lead

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