This role isn't for everyone.
We're a fast-growing, profitable SaaS startup from the US, building a next-gen AI-powered social media automation platform. We need a Head of Engineering who can lead 30 talented individuals while scaling our platform from 10,000s to 100,000s of users.
About Us
Our mission is simple: help creators grow. Our platform has supported tens of thousands of creators, publishing millions of videos across major social platforms. We've built a lean, sustainable business without external funding cashflow-positive from day one and work closely with partners like YouTube.
We're radically AI-first.
We're now launching a completely reimagined version of our product, blending AI, automation, and intuitive design in ways that unlock real value. This isn't incremental improvement — it's a complete rethinking of how creators work and how software gets built.
What Makes This Role Exceptional (and Exceptionally Hard)
- People complexity: You'll directly manage 20 individuals — 10 engineers, 7 testers, 3 ops — each with unique strengths and growth paths
- Technical breadth: From Golang microservices to React frontends to Terraform infrastructure — you need to understand it all
- AI transformation leader: Drive adoption of AI tools that make engineers 10x more productive — this is the future, and you need to believe it
- Culture architect: Build a startup environment that's both kind and high-performance — where people feel appreciated while exceeding expectations
- Timezone flexibility: Navigate between Bangalore days and California nights, joining founder calls at unconventional hours
What You'll Do
- Lead 20 exceptional technologists — know each as an individual, understand their aspirations, and help them grow
- Champion our AI-first development culture — ensure every engineer leverages AI tools to ship faster and better than they thought possible
- Evangelize test-driven development — not as a checkbox, but as a passionate belief system (enhanced by AI) that permeates every line of code
- Execute the CTO's technical vision — translate strategy into shipped features while maintaining quality at scale
- Review every critical PR — understand our Golang backend, TypeScript/Terraform infrastructure, and React/Next.js frontend in depth
- Own our AI-augmented CI/CD pipeline — where AI predicts failures before they happen and suggests fixes
- Shield your team from chaos — be the buffer between startup intensity and engineering focus
- Drive AI-accelerated engineering excellence — establish practices that let us ship 3x faster without compromising quality
- Scale our systems 10x — architect for hundreds of thousands of users while maintaining sub-second response times
What We're Looking For
Non-Negotiables:
- 10+ years in software engineering with 5+ years leading teams — we need someone who's done this before
- AI development experience — you've used Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, or similar tools and understand their transformative power
- Proven SaaS delivery experience — you've built and shipped software products, not just managed IT projects
- Direct management of 20+ engineers — with track record of high retention and team satisfaction
- Technical fluency across our stack:
- Can review Golang code and spot issues
- Understand React/Next.js architecture decisions
- Navigate Terraform configurations and AWS infrastructure
- Debug CI/CD pipeline failures
- Test-driven development advocate — you believe in it, practice it, and inspire others to embrace it
- Startup DNA — you've thrived in fast-moving environments where requirements change weekly
- Timezone flexibility — comfortable with early morning or late evening calls with US founders (few times per week)
The Bar We're Setting:
You believe AI changes everything about software development
— and have experienced it firsthand- You've scaled engineering teams through 5x+ growth without losing culture
- Your past teams would follow you to your next role
- You can point to systems you've built that handle millions of requests daily
- You've managed P&L for engineering budgets of $2M+
- You've successfully introduced AI tools that measurably improved team velocity
- You know when to push back on product and when to make technical compromises
- You're based in Bangalore with an easy commute to Koramangala (within 30 minutes during traffic hours)
Why This Role Isn't for Most People
- AI transformation required: If you're skeptical about AI's impact on development, you won't fit our culture
- Direct management load: 30 direct reports means 30 one-on-ones, 30 career paths, 30 people counting on you
- Technical breadth required: You can't just be good at backend or frontend — you need to understand it all
- Startup intensity: Features that were "next quarter" become "needed yesterday"
- Culture responsibility: The engineering culture you build will define our company for years
What Makes You Different from a Project Manager
- You can debug production issues — not just coordinate meetings about them
- You understand trade-offs — why we'd choose Golang over Node.js, or when to accrue technical debt
- You've shipped code — maybe not recently, but you know the satisfaction of deploying to production
- You speak engineer — when someone says "race condition" or "N+1 query," you know exactly what they mean
- You've experienced AI acceleration — you know firsthand how AI tools can make a good engineer exceptional
Why Join Us?
- Lead the future of software development: Build an AI-first engineering culture that others will study
- Real impact: Your decisions directly affect tens of thousands of creators and millions of end users
- Team ownership: Build the engineering culture from scratch — this is your team to shape
- Technical diversity: Work across AI/ML, video processing, distributed systems, and consumer products
- Growth trajectory: We're scaling 10x in 18 months — architect both the systems and team for it
- Work-life balance: 5-day work week with high efficiency during work hours (accelerated by AI)
- Equity: Meaningful ownership in a profitable, fast-growing company
Our Interview Process
We run a rigorous 5-stage process designed to identify exceptional leaders:
- Leadership philosophy discussion — share your approach to building and managing teams (especially AI-augmented teams)
- Technical architecture review — walk through systems you've built and scaled
- Live code review — demonstrate how you'd review PRs across our stack
- AI tools demonstration — show us how you use AI to accelerate development
- Founder alignment — ensure we share the same vision for engineering excellence
This is a full-time, in-person role at our office in Koramangala, Bangalore.
If you're looking for a cushy corporate role with clear boundaries and predictable days, please don't apply. But if you want to build something exceptional with a team that will remember this as the best job they ever had — we need to talk.
