Head of Engineering

CONFIDENTIAL — Builders + Backers

About Us

Builders + Backers has radically reimagined entrepreneurship. We operate the world's first AI-enabled venture studio for entrepreneurship education, combining conversational AI, data-driven behavioral insights, and proven venture creation methods. Our mission is to democratize access to entrepreneurial resources to create the new onramp to entrepreneurship for everyday innovators—anyone, anywhere, anytime. AI powered, expert guided.

The Opportunity

We are seeking an experienced engineering leader to take ownership of Builders Studio, our AI-native platform for venture builders, launching mid-2026. This individual will inherit a working platform and a complete development system—detailed specifications, a pattern-based architecture, CI/CD pipelines, and an issue-to-deploy workflow—and own its evolution as we scale to thousands of entrepreneurs worldwide.

The platform was built AI-first: coding agents do the volume implementation work, guided by precise specifications, with humans owning product judgment, architectural integrity, and quality. You will be the human judgment at the center of that system—directing agents, reviewing their output, maintaining the specifications, and leading the AI orchestration layer at the heart of the product.

This role begins with a structured ramp alongside the platform's original architects, who taper to advisory as you take ownership. The team stays deliberately lean—coding agents are the engineering capacity—and you will shape any future technical hires as growth warrants them.

This is a role for someone who wants to lead the technical foundation of a system that will democratize entrepreneurship globally, practicing engineering leadership the way it will be practiced everywhere in a few years.

Key Responsibilities

Platform Architecture & Technical Ownership

  • Own the end-to-end architecture of a production platform built on TypeScript, React, Express, and PostgreSQL, running on GCP

  • Lead the AI orchestration layer: conversational agents, signal assessment, intelligence services, model routing, context management, and cost optimization

  • Guard architectural integrity as the platform grows—keeping a pattern-based codebase consistent so additions stay cumulative rather than becoming rewrites

  • Maintain and evolve the specifications, type definitions, API contracts, and component catalog that make agent-generated code correct on the first pass

  • Make thoughtful build-vs-buy decisions that balance speed, scalability, cost, and long-term flexibility

  • Own engineering practices, code quality standards, observability and monitoring, and technical documentation

AI-First Development Operations

  • Operate the issue-to-deploy pipeline: directing coding agents from issue to pull request, with rigorous human review of working code as the quality gate

  • Translate product decisions into crisp, agent-executable specifications and issues

  • Evolve the development system itself—test infrastructure, CI/CD, agent workflows—as the tooling landscape advances

  • Maintain evaluation frameworks for AI output quality across the platform's orchestration patterns

  • Set the pace of the product: in an AI-first build, decisions are the bottleneck, not code—partner daily with product leadership to turn "let's try this" into working features in hours, not sprints

Strategic Technical Execution

  • Ramp inside the platform alongside its original architects during the transition period, taking full ownership as their involvement tapers to advisory

  • Own cloud infrastructure strategy on GCP, including security, monitoring, and deployment

  • Drive cross-functional collaboration between technical, product, content, and business teams

  • Translate complex technical concepts into clear insights for non-technical stakeholders, telling the "story" of the technology

  • Define and shape future technical hires when growth in scope or velocity warrants them, and set the engineering culture they join

Required Qualifications

Experience & Background

  • Demonstrated ownership of production system architecture—you've been the accountable technical decision-maker, not just a contributor

  • Production experience shipping LLM-powered applications—you know the difference between a demo and a system that holds up with real users

  • Hands-on fluency with AI-first development: you already build with coding agents as a primary implementation method, and you know how to review agent output critically

  • We weight demonstrated AI-native building over years of tenure—if your work proves the judgment this role requires, we want to hear from you regardless of how long you've been doing it

Technical Depth

  • Deep TypeScript expertise across the stack: React frontends, Node/Express services, and PostgreSQL data layers

  • Strong systems design thinking: ability to keep a scalable, maintainable architecture coherent as it evolves

  • Solid database fundamentals: schema design, query optimization, and data modeling trade-offs

  • Understanding of API design, authentication, security, and modern deployment practices (CI/CD, infrastructure as code)

AI/ML Platform Knowledge

  • Hands-on experience integrating LLMs into production applications

  • Strong command of prompt engineering, context management, and AI orchestration patterns

  • Experience with evals and AI output quality measurement

  • Multi-model deployment experience (provider routing, cost optimization, model abstraction) strongly preferred

Leadership & Communication

  • Precision in written thinking—in this method, the specification is the product, and crisp written decisions are how the work gets done

  • Excellence in translating complex technical concepts for non-technical stakeholders

  • Comfortable making decisions with incomplete information in fast-moving environments

  • Product judgment: you care what the user experiences, not just what the system does

Ideal Candidate Will Also Have

  • Hands-on experience operating agentic coding pipelines (Claude Code or similar) in production workflows—issue-to-PR automation, CI-gated agent contributions, spec-in-repo patterns

  • Experience taking ownership of a system you didn't originate—ramping inside someone else's architecture, preserving what works, and evolving it with confidence

  • An opinionated, articulable perspective on how AI-native systems should be built

  • Familiarity with cost optimization strategies across multiple AI model providers

  • Understanding of design systems and component-based frontend architecture

  • An entrepreneurial mindset, comfortable with ambiguity, creative problem-solving, and building structure within rapidly evolving environments

  • Exposure to entrepreneurship ecosystems (venture studios, accelerators, innovation programs)

  • Passion for democratizing entrepreneurship and building tools that empower thousands of everyday innovators

Compensation

Competitive salary and equity package commensurate with experience and stage.

What We Offer

A rare opportunity to lead a category-defining platform at the intersection of AI and entrepreneurship. As our Head of Engineering, you'll inherit a documented, working platform with a structured ramp from its original architects, own technical strategy from day one, work with cutting-edge AI technologies, and directly impact thousands of entrepreneurs worldwide.

We offer:

  • High-impact role in a values-driven organization where your work shapes the success of everyday innovators

  • Competitive compensation and meaningful equity reflecting your foundational contribution

  • Remote-friendly work environment with occasional travel for team collaboration

  • Access to a global network of entrepreneurs, investors, and thought leaders

  • Support for professional development, conferences, and thought leadership opportunities

  • Resources and autonomy to run an industry-leading platform on your own terms

Culture and Values

We believe in human-AI synergy, where technology amplifies rather than replaces human potential. Our work is driven by a deep commitment to expanding access to entrepreneurship and building tools that make venture creation possible for anyone, anywhere.

Our Core Principles:

  • Pursue Excellence, Always, In Everything

  • Action Is Our First Instinct

  • We are Empowered and Empower Others

  • Truth Serves Better Than Comfort

  • We Remember the Rookie Feeling

Location

Washington DC region, with remote-friendly structure and occasional travel for team meetings and key events. We value in-person collaboration during critical architecture and planning phases.

How to Apply

Please apply via buildersandbackers.com/careers with:

  • Resume highlighting relevant AI-native building and technical leadership experience

  • Brief cover letter (3–4 paragraphs) addressing:

  • Something you've shipped using AI-first development methods, and what you learned about where the approach works and where it doesn't

  • An example of a technical decision you made that had significant impact

  • Why you're interested in democratizing entrepreneurship through technology

Builders + Backers is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.