- Own technical direction across model routing, agent harness, memory, skills, and optimization
- Early or founding engineer at a top AI company
Eragon is scaling beyond an approximately 18-person organization and needs a technical leader who can turn a strong, broad engineering effort into a coherent engineering organization. This hire will establish technical direction, raise the engineering bar, hire and develop the team, and ensure the company remains AI-native without sacrificing fundamentals, reliability, or code quality.
You will lead engineering across Eragon’s model-routing platform, agent harness, memory, skills, and optimization work while partnering with the CEO, COO, and CPO on product direction and the hardest technical problems. The primary spike is building and leading the engineering organization as the company scales, while remaining hands-on enough to set architectural and implementation standards and earn the team’s trust.
What You'll Own
- Set technical direction and architecture across model routing, the agent harness, memory, skills, and optimization.
- Lead, hire, and grow the engineering organization as Eragon scales beyond its current team.
- Define engineering standards for fundamentals, code quality, reliability, and AI-native development.
- Partner with the CEO, COO, and CPO on roadmap decisions and complex technical and scaling problems.
- Stay close enough to the code and technical work to set the bar and maintain the team’s trust.
Technical Requirements
- Strong engineering depth across infrastructure and product development.
- AI-native experience combined with deep software engineering fundamentals.
- Ability to set technical direction across a platform that routes between 450+ models and supports enterprise agents.
- Ability to remain hands-on while leading architecture and engineering execution.
Execution and Ownership
- Experience hiring engineers and raising the technical bar of an organization.
- Ability to operate with startup intensity and take ownership of broad, ambiguous technical problems.
- Ability to lead technical decisions while collaborating closely with company and product leadership.
- Expected to work in person in San Francisco five days per week, with a stated 9-9-6 work rhythm.
Background
- Early or founding engineering experience at a high-growth or marquee AI company.
- Typically 4–10 years of relevant experience, based on the role details.
- Leadership readiness: able to set direction, hire, and raise standards while staying technically close to the work.
- Builder or founder experience is valued but is not stated as a strict requirement.
- A strong computer science or engineering background is valued; no specific educational credential is required.
Nice to Have
- Founding or very early engineering experience at a marquee AI company that scaled.
- A builder or founder streak, including having co-founded a company or run an independent venture.
- Experience spanning both infrastructure and product.
- Prior experience in a high-growth startup environment.
- Existing San Francisco location.
Who Will Thrive Here This role suits a deeply technical engineering leader who has operated early at a strong AI company, enjoys building from first principles, and wants to shape both the architecture and the organization. The strongest fit will combine AI fluency with rigorous fundamentals, remain close to the code, and be energized by broad ownership and a demanding in-person startup environment.