Tech Lead/Engineering Manager (EM)

Our client is a fast-growing audio data research company building high-quality datasets for frontier AI labs and leading technology companies. Founded in 2024 by former large-scale AI data engineers and operators, the company has grown to roughly 50 employees, serves most major AI labs and technology leaders, generates eight figures of revenue, and has raised $80M from top-tier investors. We are hiring a hands-on Tech Lead and Engineering Manager to lead and grow a product-focused engineering team. Reporting directly to the CTO, you will shape technical direction, ship the core products behind an audio data research platform, and build a high-performing organization. What you'll do • Hire, structure, mentor, and grow the engineering team while maintaining high performance standards • Remain hands-on technically and write code regularly, especially during the early months • Scope and ship products that help researchers use high-quality audio data • Build scalable processing pipelines that extract useful information from terabytes of audio data each day • Architect systems for dramatically higher capacity across data collection, curation, and delivery • Partner with the CTO to set technical direction and execute an ambitious product roadmap • Lead zero-to-one product work and scale successful systems • At least six years of product-focused engineering experience • Strong web development fundamentals and experience shipping user-facing products end to end • Experience leading technical teams through rapid growth at a high-growth startup or scale-up • A track record of building zero-to-one products and scaling them successfully • Comfort solving ambiguous, previously unsolved problems with clear customer impact • A bias toward action paired with detailed, reliable execution • Willingness to work five days per week from the San Francisco office Bonus points • At least two years of formal engineering management experience • Experience as a founder or early technical leader • Experience with large-scale data pipelines, audio systems, or AI infrastructure • Familiarity with Next.js, TypeScript, Node.js, PostgreSQL, AWS, WebRTC, or FFmpeg • Base salary of $250K-$300K • Competitive equity • Unlimited paid time off • 100% health coverage • Daily meals and fitness benefits • Visa transfers, including OPT or H-1B transfers, are available • On-site five days per week in San Francisco, California • Full-time position