Engineering
US$200,000 – US$400,000 / yr base salary
Posted 10 Oct 2026
Advertised as “Founding Engineering Lead”
BranchFactor Summary
The original posting with the fluff stripped out
- Expected experience
- 5–8 yrs
- Management level
- People management
- Employment
- Remote
- Contract
- Full-time
- Visa sponsorship
- Not offered
| Base salary | US$200,000 – US$400,000 / yr |
|---|
About the Role
Lead engineering for an early-stage SaaS team building applied AI products for enterprise software. You will partner with the technical leadership team on architecture, product direction, and machine learning strategy while leading a small engineering pod and remaining hands-on with critical work.
What You'll Do
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Build and lead a pod of three to four engineers, supporting their growth, performance, and hiring while shipping key work yourself.
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Own platform architecture and make build-versus-buy and infrastructure decisions with product and revenue impact.
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Set engineering standards for AI-assisted development, including review criteria, definition of done, release cadence, and on-call practices.
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Lead technical designs and initial implementations for new initiatives.
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Evaluate applied ML research and determine which techniques are suitable for production systems.
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Partner with technical leadership to shape the product roadmap, model strategy, and ML approach.
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Initially spend most of your time building, with the balance focused on team leadership.
What We're Looking For
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Typically 5 to 8 years of engineering experience, with 4 to 5 years considered for exceptional candidates.
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Experience training and deploying machine learning models in production, beyond integrating LLM APIs.
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End-to-end ownership of technical architecture, infrastructure decisions, and build-versus-buy tradeoffs.
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Experience setting engineering standards and leading or managing engineers while continuing to code.
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Strong applied ML judgment across classical methods and newer approaches, including transformers and agent applications.
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Recent experience personally shipping production software, comfort with ambiguity and inherited code, and effective use of AI coding agents.
Compensation & Benefits
Annual salary range: $200,000 to $400,000 USD. Visa sponsorship is not available.
Location
On-site in New York City, United States.