VP of Engineering, AI Platform

On-Site

Location:

San Francisco, CA, USA

This San Francisco-based AI company develops production-scale infrastructure and sophisticated AI-native products. As a profitable, venture-backed organization with approximately 140 employees, they focus on solving complex engineering challenges at the intersection of distributed systems and machine learning. The environment emphasizes high technical standards, rapid execution, and deep ownership. The company has established significant commercial traction while maintaining the agility and innovation of a high-growth startup environment.

About the Role

This VP of Engineering position is a high-impact, player-coach role responsible for leading the platform engineering organization. You will own the technical strategy and architectural roadmap for a core AI platform, scaling infrastructure through significant growth phases. The role requires balancing high-level leadership with hands‑on technical involvement in distributed systems and AI orchestration. You will partner with the executive team to drive engineering velocity and reliability, ensuring the platform supports complex, production-grade agentic systems while fostering a culture of technical excellence.

What You’ll Do

• Lead and scale a high-performing platform engineering team to support organizational expansion.
• Define the technical strategy and architecture for the core AI platform and underlying infrastructure.
• Oversee development across AI agents, LLM orchestration, retrieval systems, and developer tooling.
• Ensure engineering velocity, reliability, and observability through hands‑on problem‑solving and architectural reviews.
• Partner with executive leadership to conceptualize and execute new product and platform initiatives.
• Establish engineering processes and cultural standards to maintain quality during rapid scaling.
• Manage production‑scale AI operations across distributed systems and cloud architectures.

What You Bring

• 10+ years of software or platform engineering experience.
• 4+ years in a formal engineering leadership role managing teams.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related STEM field.
• Proven experience scaling platform or infrastructure organizations through significant revenue or headcount growth.
• Technical proficiency in Type Script, Python, and cloud architecture.
• Demonstrated experience with production‑scale AI/ML infrastructure or agentic systems.
• Ability to work on‑site five days per week in San Francisco.

Nice to Haves

• Experience building new products or technical initiatives from the ground up.
• Familiarity with frontier AI development tools and LLM evaluation frameworks.
• Previous leadership experience in high‑growth, venture‑backed startup environments (Series A–D).
• Strong instincts for product and business strategy alongside deep technical expertise.
• Base salary of $400,000–$500,000.
• Competitive equity package.