Head of Software

Tacit•San Francisco, CA

6d•$200,000 - $300,000

About The Position

Tacit is an early-stage deep tech startup based in San Francisco, developing hardware that rethinks human-computer interaction. The company is backed by General Catalyst, Khosla Ventures, and Greylock Partners, and has a founding team from Stanford, BrainGate, Oculus, and Tesla. The Head of Software Engineering will lead and scale a highly technical software organization spanning consumer applications, real-time inference systems, cloud infrastructure, and core R&D platforms. Reporting directly to the CTO, this leader will build on existing technical foundations, accelerate product development, and help shape the company’s approach to software engineering in the age of AI. The role calls for exceptional people leadership, AI-native engineering practices, and strong technical judgment. The position offers an opportunity to define new ways for people to interact with computers, turn scientific breakthroughs into consumer products, and build a world-class software organization with significant autonomy and direct access to executive leadership.

Requirements

Proven track record recruiting, developing, and leading high-performing software engineering teams that deliver ambitious technical goals.
Deep hands-on experience with frontier AI models, coding agents, and AI-native development workflows, with strong convictions about AI's impact on software engineering.
Strong software engineering background and technical judgment, including experience architecting complex systems and balancing rapid execution with long-term quality.
Excellent communication and organizational leadership skills, with the ability to establish clarity, ownership, and accountability without unnecessary process.
High ownership in a fast-moving startup environment and willingness to engage deeply in technical decisions and problem-solving.

Nice To Haves

Leadership experience at frontier AI companies such as OpenAI or Anthropic, or at high-growth AI-native product organizations.
Experience scaling software engineering organizations from early stage through major commercial product launches.
Background shipping complex systems spanning hardware, software, real-time ML, or consumer applications.

Responsibilities

Lead and grow the software team, initially about five engineers, including recruiting, mentoring, and developing talent across product, infrastructure, and systems engineering.
Champion practical adoption of frontier AI models, coding agents, and automated workflows to increase engineering productivity.
Translate product strategy into engineering priorities and milestones while maintaining high standards for architecture, reliability, and security.
Accelerate delivery of consumer applications, real-time AI systems, and internal platforms as the company scales.
Partner with ML, hardware, firmware, and product teams to translate technical breakthroughs into user experiences.