VP Engineering
AI-First Platform | Cambridge, MA (Hybrid)
I’m working with a highly backed venture builder at the forefront of AI and scientific innovation. They create and scale AI-native companies across areas like life sciences, health, and sustainability - and are hiring a VP of Engineering to define and lead their core platform.
🚀 What makes this different
- You’ll lead a team made up entirely of Principal Engineers - no hierarchy, no hand-holding, just high-calibre technical operators
- Remain hands-on (~25%), contributing directly to architecture and complex system design
- Build systems used by scientists and domain experts, not just typical SaaS users
- Operate in a truly AI-native engineering environment, where AI tooling is central to how software gets built
🧠 The role
- Own technical strategy and architecture for a portfolio-wide AI platform
- Hire, lead, and develop a small, elite engineering team
- Make critical decisions on system design, scalability, and build vs. buy
- Work closely with product and research stakeholders to translate complex ideas into production systems
- Dynamically allocate engineering resources across multiple high-impact initiatives
🔧 What’s technically interesting?
- Building AI-first systems from scratch, not layering ML onto legacy infrastructure
- Designing platforms that enable rapid company creation and experimentation
- Solving complex, real-world problems in ambiguous, fast-moving environments
- Empowering engineers to act as true end-to-end technical owners
- Driving adoption of AI-augmented development workflows at scale
👤 What they’re looking for
- Experience leading senior/principal engineers in high-performance teams
- Strong system design and architectural expertise
- Background in startup or high-autonomy environments
- Ability to balance hands-on technical work with strategic leadership
- Nice to have: experience building products for scientific or research users
🌍 Why join?
- Shape the engineering foundation behind a portfolio of AI-driven companies
- Work with exceptional engineers, researchers, and founders
- High autonomy, high impact, minimal bureaucracy