Head of Engineering

Location: San Francisco, CA (On-site)
Employment Type: Full-time
Experience: 4–15 years
Base Salary: $150,000–$190,000 per year
Visa Sponsorship: Not available

Role Overview

An early-stage technology company serving the real estate and built-environment sectors is seeking a hands-on Head of Engineering to lead engineering execution while remaining deeply involved in software development. This role combines technical leadership with individual contribution, with approximately 70% of the work focused on engineering and 30% on team leadership.

Working closely with the CTO, you will own engineering execution, guide architectural decisions, and build reliable backend, data, and AI systems for enterprise deployments. You will also establish engineering standards, develop the team, and work directly with customers to translate complex requirements into scalable software.

Key Responsibilities

• Technical Leadership: Own architecture and technical direction across backend services, data systems, and AI-powered applications, making sound build-versus-buy and infrastructure decisions.

• Hands-on Development: Write and review production code, investigate complex technical issues, and contribute directly to system design, implementation, and delivery.

• Engineering Execution: Translate business priorities into technical plans, assign ownership, identify delivery risks, and remove blockers to maintain execution quality.

• Engineering Standards: Establish practical standards for code quality, security, testing, observability, reliability, and production operations.

• Customer Collaboration: Work directly with enterprise customers to understand requirements, communicate technical trade-offs, and deliver successful implementations.

• Team Development: Recruit, manage, and mentor engineers, provide actionable feedback, and maintain clear performance expectations.

• Platform Scalability: Convert customer-specific implementations into reusable components and systems that support future deployments and reduce engineering overhead.

• Technical Decision-Making: Evaluate architectural alternatives and make decisions that balance immediate delivery needs with long-term maintainability.

Required Qualifications

• Substantial recent experience developing and maintaining production software in a hands-on engineering role.

• Demonstrated experience leading engineers or coordinating complex technical projects involving multiple contributors.

• Strong software architecture and system-design capabilities, with the ability to investigate issues across code, data, and infrastructure.

• Technical depth in backend engineering, data systems, infrastructure, or applied AI.

• Proven ability to make sound technical trade-offs and deliver projects in fast-changing environments.

• Experience setting engineering priorities, reviewing designs, and maintaining high standards for software quality and reliability.

• Strong communication skills and the ability to collaborate effectively with founders, engineers, and customers.

• Willingness to take ownership of engineering outcomes while continuing to contribute directly to development.

• Ability to work on-site in San Francisco, California.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience as a staff engineer, tech lead, engineering manager with strong coding responsibilities, startup CTO, or technical co-founder.

• Experience at a Series A or Series B startup or another high-growth technology company.

• Background building enterprise software, AI-enabled applications, data-intensive systems, or infrastructure platforms.

• Experience delivering customer-facing technical implementations and transforming bespoke solutions into reusable products.

• Experience hiring and developing engineering teams in early-stage organizations.

Compensation and Benefits

• Annual base salary of $150,000–$190,000.

• Health, dental, and vision insurance.

• Paid time off and parental leave.

• Flexible working hours.

• Professional development opportunities.

Work Arrangement

Full-time, on-site position. Visa sponsorship is not available.