AI infrastructure company

Technology

FoundingEngineeringManager

San Francisco, California, United States FULL TIME
Market Sentiment
HIGH DEMAND

Neural analysis suggests this role is
optimal for Senior candidates.

The Brief

“Founding Engineering Manager at AI infrastructure company. Skills: Engineering Leadership, Team Scaling, Technical Execution, Cross-Functional Collaboration, Technical Strategy. Mentor and develop a high retention team of engineers. Build the conditions where people do their best work and stay. Partner with founders on hiring, onboarding, and career development as the engineering org grows beyond its founding core. Own planning and delivery across multiple initiatives. Hold the bar on quality an”

What You'll Achieve.

Build the conditions where people do their best work and stay. Protect culture while scaling it. Make sure the team is building the right things, not just building things well. Contribute to architectural decisions and long-term platform investments that support scale without accumulating debt. Make sure solutions reflect real-world problems the platform is solving.

Industry & Context.

Technology
Problems you'll solve

system design; architectural decisions

Eligibility Requirements

This opportunity is for a position with their organization, not with People Culture Talent.

What They're Looking For.

Must Have

5+ years of software engineering experience, including 2+ years managing engineering teams in a startup or high-growth environment. A track record of shipping complex technical work and developing the engineers around you. Technical judgment — you can go deep on architecture and system design when it matters. Experience building engineering culture, not just org charts — ownership, accountability, and craft over process. Excellent written comfortable in an async-first environment where decisions are documented and context travels in writing. A customer-centric instinct and genuine interest in how the platform performs in production.

Nice to Have

Experience with AI-native products, developer tools, infrastructure platforms, or agent-based systems is a plus. Background in developer tooling, APIs, or cloud infrastructure. Experience in customer-facing engineering organizations. Early engineering leadership at a startup (first or second management hire).

What You'll Do.

Mentor and develop a high retention team of engineers.

Build the conditions where people do their best work and stay.

Partner with founders on hiring, onboarding, and career development as the engineering org grows beyond its founding core.

Own planning and delivery across multiple initiatives.

Hold the bar on quality and system design without slowing the team down.

Connect engineering to product and customer needs.

Make sure the team is building the right things, not just building things well.

Build operating rhythms that actually help — lightweight and practical for a team that doesn't need heavy process to produce.

Contribute to architectural decisions and long-term platform investments that support scale without accumulating debt.

Stay close to customer facing engineers.

Understand the real world problems the platform is solving and make sure solutions reflect that.

How You'll Work.

Team & Collaboration

Connect engineering to product and customer needs.

Communication Scope

written communication; async-first environment

Full Job Description

Note: We are recruiting on behalf of our valued client. This opportunity is for a position with their organization, not with People Culture Talent. We're excited to help connect talented professionals with this exceptional team! THE ROLE We're looking for a Founding Engineering Manager to join a Series A AI infrastructure company at a pivotal moment. You'll work directly with the founders and a founding engineering team that came up through Google, Meta, Cruise, and AWS. This team writes their own feature docs, owns customer support rotations, and holds craft as a non-negotiable value. The people here haven't left. There is high retention, high trust, and this person's job will be to protect that culture while scaling it. This is a hands-on role. You'll be close to the technical work, close to the people doing it, and close to the decisions that shape how the team grows. WHAT YOU’LL OWN - Engineering Leadership — Mentor and develop a high retention team of engineers. Build the conditions where strong people do their best work and stay. - Team Scaling — Partner with founders on hiring, onboarding, and career development as the engineering org grows beyond its founding core. - Technical Execution — Own planning and delivery across multiple initiatives. Hold the bar on quality and system design without slowing the team down. - Cross-Functional Collaboration — Connect engineering to product and customer needs. Make sure the team is building the right things, not just building things well. - Process & Ops — Build operating rhythms that actually help — lightweight and practical for a team that doesn't need heavy process to produce. - Technical Strategy — Contribute to architectural decisions and long-term platform investments that support scale without accumulating debt. - Customer Impact — Stay close to customer facing engineers. Understand the real world problems the platform is solving and make sure solutions reflect that. WHAT YOU’LL BRING - 5+ years of software engin

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