Founding Technical Lead

Founding Technical Lead

Location: US-based | Onsite in Boston or San Francisco, hybrid, or flexible working arrangements available

Founding team opportunity | Potential CTO progression

The Role

You will be the first senior technical hire and a key technical partner to the founder. You'll own how the company's AI-driven platform is built and delivered, including experiment generation systems, lab automation integration, computer vision capabilities, and the selection, fine-tuning, and deployment of machine learning models.

This role combines technical leadership with hands-on execution. You'll define architecture, make build-versus-buy decisions, and lead the development of the first production-ready platform. As the company scales and delivers results, there is a clear pathway to evolve into a Chief Technology Officer position.

What You'll Accomplish

• Own the core AI platform: Develop experiment generation capabilities from prototype through to production, transforming user intent into optimized, executable workflows.
• Lead model development: Drive fine-tuning, evaluation, and deployment of LLMs, multimodal models, and AI systems.
• Enable lab automation: Build systems that remotely configure and manage laboratory automation equipment across customer sites.
• Deploy computer vision solutions: Integrate imaging devices, manage data capture pipelines, and oversee video ingestion and storage infrastructure.
• Manage platform infrastructure: Define what runs on edge devices versus cloud infrastructure, while overseeing telemetry, configuration, scalability, and cost optimization.
• Build and lead the engineering team: Establish technical direction and recruit engineers across AI, machine learning, data, and platform disciplines.
• Represent the technology externally: Engage with investors, partners, customers, and industry audiences as a technical spokesperson.

Who You Are

• Experienced founding engineer, technical lead, engineering manager, or senior technology leader within an early-stage environment.
• Hands-on technical leader who can both execute and scale teams effectively.
• Experienced in building and growing technology organizations, ideally within startup environments.
• Strong product thinker capable of contributing to strategic product decisions.
• Proven ability to attract, assess, and hire high-performing technical talent.
• Excellent communicator comfortable engaging with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• AI-native mindset with experience leveraging modern AI tooling and agentic systems.
• Highly motivated, entrepreneurial, and excited by technology-driven innovation.

Technical Experience

• Successfully delivered AI/ML products from concept through production.
• Experience with fine-tuning, evaluation frameworks, Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), structured outputs, and modern LLM workflows.
• Background in optimization, planning, recommendation, search, or workflow automation systems.
• Experience integrating software with hardware, edge devices, cameras, tablets, IoT devices, or similar technologies.
• Familiarity with device deployment, monitoring, and fleet management.
• Understanding of regulated environments and compliance frameworks such as FDA, 21 CFR Part 11, ISO standards, SOC 2, or similar.
• Exposure to computer vision, multimodal AI, robotics, or adjacent technologies is highly desirable.
• Experience within biotech, life sciences, scientific software, laboratory technology, or highly regulated industries is beneficial.
• Previous experience working in high-growth startups or small-company environments preferred.

Compensation & Benefits

• Competitive base salary.
• Meaningful equity package aligned to the seniority and impact of the role.
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• Paid time off and company holidays.
• Significant opportunity to influence company strategy, technology, and long-term growth trajectory.