Founding Engineer - Venture Intelligence Platform

The Opportunity

Be the founding engineer of Menlo’s venture intelligence platform. You'll build data-driven technology and tools that help the entire firm make better investment decisions faster across the entire lifecycle of startup investing. This isn't a normal dev role—it combines aspects of software and AI development, design, and messy, real-world data, as well as the opportunity to shape how a top VC firm operates in the AI era, all the while working directly with General Partners who also have multiple decades of leading and investing in iconic centi-unicorn and multi-decacorn software and AI companies.

It does not need to be a lifelong dream of yours to work in finance; rather we hope that the intentional and nuanced wording here
1) successfully signals to you that we are not a typical VC firm, but experienced technical builders and operators who know what we want for this rather unique role, and
2) piques your curiosity enough that a potential detour into the wackiness of venture for some period of time (at least at our firm) is interesting enough for you to take a first meeting with us.

Build the technical infrastructure that gives Menlo Ventures an even larger unfair advantage in identifying, evaluating, and winning deals. What you build will directly impact billions of dollars of investment decisions each year.

• Venture obsessed
  :
  You love both the idea and implementation of new products, technologies, and enterprises. You have worked at startup/s and were always curious to learn about how all aspects of the business work, not only the technical challenges.
  Builder mindset
  : 2+ years shipping production code at a startup

• Technical toolkit
  :
  Python, Modern Cloud Stack, APIs, and you've been directly involved in the ‘AI-development lifecycle’ ofa user-facing product that uses GenAI in a more-than-superficial manner. In particular, we are looking for someone who has a facility for rapidly standing up, and then iteratively debugging, and improving the performance of AI-native products.

• Self-directed operator
  :
  You'll be an R&D army-of-one for now; no daily standups, just you, the work, and regular meetings and mentoring with multiple General Partners that including both investors who have led early rounds in centi-unicorns such as Anthropic as well as former CTO, CPOs, and Founding Engineers who have directly built billion dollar category creators and lead multi-decacorn iconic software and AI companies.

• Values
  :
  You have internalized the deep engineering maxim of ‘quickly done goodly’. In the absence of external direction and goals, you figure out what your direction and goals should be and relentlessly execute against them. You believe in capitalism, making money, and positive-sum thinking.

• Data pipelines and analysis tools

• LLM integrations for market intelligence

• Slack bots and cloud infrastructure

• APIs connecting disparate data sources

• The above stack is what we envision as former builders ourselves. If you think something is better, that is your call.

• Portfolio monitoring dashboards

• Market mapping tools

• Founder intelligence systems

• Deal flow automation

• Competitive intelligence platforms

• Your own ideas that make us smarter investors and a continually higher performing firm.

• Report directly to a General Partner (Joff Redfern, former CPO at Atlassian)

• Define requirements, not just implement them

• Own the technical strategy for venture operations

• Work with partners who've built and exited companies

• Access to Menlo's network and portfolio

Every tool you build directly impacts investment decisions. Your code will help identify the next Uber, Roku, or Warby Parker. This is venture-scale leverage.

• Someone who needs a product manager to tell them what to build

• Engineers who prefer large teams and processes defined for them

• People who think venture is just about picking winners while looking at spreadsheets in Patagonia vests.

• Do not apply for this role if your primary motivation is thinking it will be a ‘shortcut’ to getting funded quickly by us later. Instead, take this role if you love building and learning, and are looking for something fundamentally different than what you would get working within a top R&D organization in the Valley.

Send your Git Hub, a note on why venture matters to you, and one tool you'd build for VCs that doesn't exist yet to

The salary range is $170,000 – $200,000. Individual compensation will take overall experience and qualifications into account. This role may also be eligible for further compensation including bonuses.