Head of Software Engineering

Stealth Startup • Redwood City, CA

3d

About The Position

We're building the intelligence layer for the home: ambient, proactive, and built into a family of devices, a central hub, accessories, and the software that ties them together. We’re a Series A startup backed by a tier-1 VC & technology partners, with an ex-unicorn founder. Early team, moving fast.

This is a player-coach role at a critical moment. You'll manage and scale a high-performing team while staying close to the work — setting engineering standards, unblocking execution, and ensuring we ship fast without accumulating debt that slows us down later.

Requirements

• 8+ years in software engineering
• 3+ years managing engineering teams
• Deep experience shipping consumer-facing software — you know what a polished, high-quality product takes
• Fluent in AI/ML-integrated systems — you've worked on products where models are core to the experience, not a bolt-on
• Strong people manager: you develop engineers, give direct feedback, and build team culture
• Execution-oriented — you keep things moving, resolve ambiguity, and protect the team from noise
• Technically credible enough to earn respect from strong engineers without needing to be in every design decision

Responsibilities

• Lead, grow, and retain a world-class software engineering team across consumer software and AI
• Own engineering execution — sprint planning, resourcing, delivery, and team health
• Set and enforce engineering standards: code quality, architecture patterns, review culture, and on-call practices
• Partner with product and design to scope work, surface tradeoffs, and hit milestones
• Recruit aggressively — you'll be a key part of building the team around you
• Serve as the connective tissue between individual engineers and company leadership

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed