Founding Engineering Lead
Clera · New York, New York
Posted Oct 7, 2026 · Verified open Oct 8, 2026
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ABOUT THE ROLE
Lead engineering for an early-stage SaaS team building applied AI products for enterprise software. You will own architecture and technical direction while staying hands-on, partnering with company leadership on product and machine learning strategy.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
- Build and lead a pod of three to four engineers, supporting their growth, performance, and hiring while shipping critical work yourself.
- Own platform architecture and make build-versus-buy and infrastructure decisions.
- Set engineering standards for AI-assisted development, including review criteria, definition of done, release cadence, and on-call practices.
- Lead technical designs and initial implementations for new initiatives.
- Assess applied machine learning approaches and distinguish research that can support live systems from more speculative ideas.
- Partner with company leadership on product roadmap, model strategy, and machine learning direction.
WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR
- At least 5 years of engineering experience, ideally as a technical founder, founding engineer, staff-level individual contributor, or technical lead.
- Recent experience as the primary author of shipped software, with end-to-end ownership and minimal oversight.
- Experience leading engineers and setting technical standards, architecture, and infrastructure practices.
- Applied machine learning judgment, including classical methods, transformers, world models, and AI agents.
- Strong practical use of AI coding agents, comfort with ambiguity and inherited code, and a willingness to take on unglamorous work.
COMPENSATION & BENEFITS
Salary range: $200,000 to $400,000 annually. Visa sponsorship is not available.
LOCATION
On-site in New York City.