Clera
A fast-growing, Y Combinator–backed startup building AI-powered voice and text agents for the home improvement industry is looking for a Tech Lead to scale engineering impact and organizational maturity. You'll work hand-in-hand with the CTO and senior leadership to set technical direction, drive architectural decisions, and keep a talented team shipping high-quality software at pace.
This is an on-site role based in San Francisco, CA. The company is at the seed stage with strong investor backing and a lean, highly capable team. No visa sponsorship is available — candidates must have existing authorization to work in the United States.
Manage the engineering team day-to-day, removing blockers and keeping delivery on track.
Own architectural decisions and guide the team on system design tradeoffs.
Have final say on task prioritization and delivery tradeoffs.
Review code and RFCs to maintain quality, consistency, and engineering standards.
Establish and enforce engineering best practices, processes, and tooling.
Act as a technical liaison and thought partner to the CEO, CTO, Director of Sales, and Head of Customer Success.
Contribute actively to the codebase (~20–30% of your time).
Raise the overall productivity and maturity of the engineering organization.
Required
6+ years of professional software engineering experience, with most recent roles as a Staff Engineer or Tech Lead.
Proven leadership: you've managed engineering teams, mentored engineers, and driven engineering strategy.
Strong background in software architecture, cloud platforms (ideally Microsoft Azure), and full-stack development.
Hands-on experience with LLMs and conversational AI systems — this is a hard requirement.
Experience designing and leading AI/ML systems at scale in cloud-based SaaS or startup environments.
Track record of shipping under pressure in fast-growing startups or scale-ups.
Excellent project management and prioritization skills with strong business acumen.
Strong cross-functional communication — you can advocate technical decisions clearly to non-technical stakeholders.
Ability and willingness to work on-site in San Francisco, CA.
Nice to Have
Prior leadership experience in conversational AI or voice technology specifically.
Experience with NLP pipelines and production deployment of ML/LLM models.
Familiarity with telephony, call center automation, or home services industry workflows.
Salary: $220,000 – $250,000 USD per year
Competitive early-stage equity package
Opportunity to shape the technical foundation and culture of a high-growth AI company
On-site — San Francisco, CA
Remote work is not available for this role
No visa sponsorship available; candidates must have the right to work in the United States
Be cautious! Do not send money to a potential employer. Do not pay any money for a potential contract of employment or for pre-employment training.
About the Role A fast-growing, Y Combinator–backed startup building AI-powered voice and text agents for the home improvement industry is looking for a Tech Lead to scale engineering impact and organizational maturity. You'll work hand-in-hand with the CTO and senior leadership