Tech Lead

About the Role A fast-growing, seed-stage voice AI company in San Francisco is looking for a Tech Lead to step in as a CTO-like engineering leader. You'll own day-to-day engineering operations, raise the technical bar across the team, and play a critical role in driving continued ARR growth — all while working hands-on in a high-intensity, in-person environment. This is an opportunity to join a small but formidable team building AI-powered voice and text agents that automate customer service and operational workflows for businesses at scale. The company is backed by a top-tier accelerator and a strong group of investors, and operates in the rapidly expanding conversational AI / call center automation space. What You'll Do Manage and lead a team of 4 engineers day-to-day — setting roadmaps, running 1:1s, and owning task prioritization Review code and architectural decisions, ensuring quality standards across speed, performance, and design Establish engineering best practices, processes, and project management cadences Act as a sparring partner to senior leadership and cross-functional teams (Sales, Customer Success) Contribute directly to the codebase (~20–30% of your time as an individual contributor) What We're Looking For Required 4–12 years of experience, including formal people management of a team of 4–10 engineers (not just leading side projects) Strong background as an individual contributor before moving into leadership Backend development fluency in Python and solid cloud engineering skills (AWS, GCP, or Azure) Demonstrated ability to evaluate code quality: architecture, performance, and technical trade-offs Hands-on experience designing and leading AI/ML systems at scale , preferably in cloud-based SaaS or startup environments Experience with conversational AI, voice technology , and/or NLP/LLM applications Proficiency deploying ML models in production on cloud platforms Strong communication skills and executive presence; comfortable advocating technical decisions to non-technical stakeholders Highly structured, proactive, and excellent at prioritization and project management Must have the right to work in the US — no visa sponsorship available Nice to Have Prior experience at a conversational AI or voice AI company Management consulting background Compensation & Benefits Salary: $240,000 – $260,000 USD annually Equity participation in a high-growth early-stage company Location San Francisco, CA, United States This role is fully on-site, 5 days per week in San Francisco No visa sponsorship is available; candidates must have existing US work authorization