Head of Engineering

The Spark

We've all felt it: that moment when a product idea clicks into place and the whole product team can see the path forward. It's energizing. It's clarifying. It's the spark that makes building worthwhile.

But too often, that spark fades. Teams rush from inspiration to execution without fully understanding what they're building or how they'll get there. They hit unexpected complexity mid-cycle, debate decisions under pressure, and watch their original vision get compromised by things they could have caught earlier. The messy middle consumes the momentum. We're building something to change that.

What We're Building

We're a pre-seed stealth startup creating the place where product teams think, plan, and decide together, faster than ever. Our AI-powered platform helps teams capture early inspiration, map out hidden complexity, and build shared understanding. They can move forward with confidence, knowing exactly what they're creating and why.

We're starting with collaborative AI experiences that help product teams author comprehensive documentation (e.g. specs, plans, docs, blogs, etc…), surface dependencies and edge cases, and drive alignment across teams and organizations. Our platform uses tool-loop agents built on the Vercel AI SDK, with a Node.js/TypeScript stack running on Vercel.

We believe great ideas deserve to flourish. We're building the conditions to make that happen.

Where We Are Today

We’ve already built an alpha product and are actively testing and iterating with early users. We have a small engineering team in place and fractional technical leadership to help establish our initial architecture and foundations. This role exists because we’re ready for a full-time engineering leader to own execution as we move toward beta and GA.

The Role

We're looking for a Head of Engineering to join as our first full-time engineering leader. You'll report directly to the CEO and take ownership of our technical vision, architecture, and team as we grow. 

This is a hands-on leadership role. In the early days, you'll spend roughly 70% of your time writing code: building the systems that power our AI agents, shaping the architecture, and establishing the patterns that will scale with us. As the team grows, you'll shift toward mentorship, hiring, and technical strategy.

In your first 90 days, you'll lead the push toward General Availability, guide our AI architecture and agent design, and establish security best practices. You'll manage a small team of engineers in the first 6-12 months, with plans to grow thoughtfully as we find our footing.

We're not looking for someone to move fast and break things. We're looking for someone who can move thoughtfully and build things that last, while keeping the spark alive for the team along the way.

What You'll Do

- Own the technical vision and roadmap in close partnership with the Chief Product Officer and can lead delivery against major milestones while making trade-offs under pressure.

- Architect and build AI-powered tool-loop agents that help teams think and plan together.

- Design evaluation frameworks to ensure our AI delivers reliable, high-quality experiences.

- Write production code daily. This role requires deep technical engagement, not just oversight.

- Guide architecture decisions with an eye toward security, scalability, and maintainability.

- Build and nurture the engineering team: hire thoughtfully, coach generously, and create conditions where people do their best work.

- Champion AI-assisted development workflows and help the team leverage frontier tools effectively.

- Establish engineering culture and practices that reflect our values: craft, trust, and humans before systems.

What We're Looking For*

- 10+ years of software engineering experience with hands-on depth in Node.js and TypeScript.

- 3+ years of engineering leadership at Director level or equivalent, ideally at a growth-stage startup where you built teams and systems from early foundations.

- Strong product taste and experience building products customers love.

- Meaningful experience building AI agents, LLM-powered applications, or agentic systems in production.

- Fluency with AI-assisted coding tools and workflows. You've integrated Claude, Cursor, Copilot, or similar into how you and your teams work.

- Experience with AI quality practices: evals, prompt engineering, and the craft of building reliable AI experiences.

- Comfort with modern cloud platforms (Vercel preferred) and serverless architectures.

- A track record of hiring and developing engineers. Not just managing them, but genuinely helping them grow.

- A strong understanding of how to design, build and deliver products incrementally, focusing on the highest risk areas first.

- Experience taking a product from zero to one at an early-stage company. You're energized by ambiguity and can work across strategy and execution without losing sight of either.

Nice to Have

- Experience with the Vercel AI SDK or similar agent orchestration frameworks.

- Background in product management tools, collaboration software, or developer tooling.

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How We Work

Our values shape everything we build and how we build it.

Courage Over Convention. We challenge norms and take bold swings. Progress takes courage, and we're here to fix what's broken in how teams work together.

Humans Before Systems. We design technology to elevate people, not replace them. Our AI should serve human creativity and judgment, never the other way around.

Keep the Spark Alive. The excitement that starts an idea should carry through every stage of building. We protect that spark for ourselves, our teammates, and the people who use what we build.

Trust Powers Everything. Trust fuels how we work and what we build. We earn it by being transparent, dependable, and inclusive.

Craft with Care. Every detail matters. When something is made with care, people feel it.

Make It Real. Good ideas are a starting point, not the end goal. We turn vision into tangible outcomes.

Compensation, Equity & Benefits

- Competitive salary commensurate with experience.

- Meaningful equity as a foundational member of the team.

- Comprehensive benefits including medical, dental, and vision coverage.

- Flexible paid time off and fully remote work within the USA.

- Company-provided Mac laptop and home office stipend.

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If you believe great ideas deserve better conditions to flourish, and you want to build new tools to make that happen, we'd love to hear from you.

We're committed to building a diverse team. We encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply.