Tech Lead
Run engineering. Own the bar.
Leaping AI · San Francisco, CA
Leaping AI builds voice and text AI agents for customer support, lead qualification, and appointment scheduling — serving home remodeling, home services, travel, customer service, and digital receptionist use cases.
The company is YC W25-backed, has raised a $4.7M seed from Nexus Venture Partners and Y Combinator, and doubled ARR in H1 2026 with another 2x targeted for H2. The team is 12 people today, including four engineers, and operates primarily in-person out of San Francisco.
"You own engineering from day one — the engineering function day-to-day, a team of four engineers, and a direct line to the CTO/CEO. Equity with revenue behind it: 0.3%–0.7% at seed stage."
We are looking for a Tech Lead with 4-12 years of experience to step in as a CTO-like leader and run the day-to-day engineering operations at a fast-growing YC W25 voice AI startup. You'll manage a team of 4 engineers, raise the bar across the board, and help double ARR again in H2 — all while working in-person five days a week in San Francisco.
You'll own the engineering function day-to-day with a direct line to the CTO/CEO, and this is a ground-floor opportunity on a funded team with real revenue behind it.
- Manage and lead a team of 4 engineers day-to-day — setting roadmaps, running 1:1s, and owning task prioritization
- Review code and architectural decisions, ensuring quality standards across speed, performance, and design
- Establish engineering best practices, processes, and project management cadences
- Act as a sparring partner to the CEO, CTO, and cross-functional leaders (Sales, CS)
- Contribute to the codebase yourself (~20-30% of your time)
- 4–12 years of experience in software engineering, with formal engineering team leadership
- Backend (Python) and cloud engineering fluency
- Ability to evaluate code quality — architecture, performance, tradeoffs
- Structured and proactive operator who can effectively balance priorities
- Formally managed a team of 4+ engineers, with previous experience as an IC
- Willing to work in-person 5 days/week in San Francisco
- Experience at a conversational AI or voice AI company
- Management consulting background
- Individual contributor only with no interest in people management
- Primarily customer-facing background (e.g., solutions engineer) without real hands-on product/engineering experience
Initial Screen with Kevin, CEO (30 min)
A 'vibe check' conversation focused on communication style, energy, proactiveness, confidence, and English fluency.
Behavioral Interview (45 min)
Assesses leadership experience, project management skills, ability to prioritize under pressure, and how the candidate holds teams to high standards. Conducted by Kevin (CEO).
Technical Interviews with CTO, incl. Work Trial (2 days)
A series of ~3 technical sessions including a coding test and a work trial. Evaluates ability to assess code quality, software architecture, cloud infrastructure, and LLM/AI experience.
Final Culture Interview (45 min)
Focused on culture fit and alignment with team values and working style. Assesses whether the candidate thrives in a fast-paced, intense, in-office environment.