Clera

Founding Engineering Lead

New York
Salary
$200,000 - $400,000 annually
Level
Lead
Work type
Remote · US only
Visa
Not offered

Open. First seen 25 October 2026.

Apply on the company's site →

About the role

About the Role

Lead hands-on engineering for an applied AI and enterprise software team, shaping the technical architecture and product direction alongside the CTO and founders. You will guide a small engineering pod while personally building critical systems and helping turn machine learning into production products.

What You'll Do

  • Build and lead a pod of three to four engineers, supporting their growth, performance, and hiring while remaining hands-on with key projects.
  • Own platform architecture and make build-versus-buy and infrastructure decisions.
  • Establish engineering standards for AI-assisted development, including code review, completion criteria, release cadence, and on-call practices.
  • Lead technical design and initial implementation of new initiatives.
  • Evaluate applied ML research and determine what is ready for production systems.
  • Partner with the CTO on product roadmap, model strategy, and the engineering approach.

What We're Looking For

  • Typically 5 to 8 years of engineering experience, with exceptional candidates considered from 4 to 5 years.
  • Experience shipping applied machine learning products, including training and deploying models in production, not only integrating LLM APIs.
  • Experience owning technical architecture end-to-end, including infrastructure and build-versus-buy decisions.
  • Track record as a technical lead, pod lead, or manager who has set engineering standards and held engineers accountable.
  • Recent hands-on software delivery, strong applied ML judgment, and practical experience using AI agents in development.
  • Experience at an AI-native company and in attracting technical talent; a stable employment history is expected.
  • Comfort with ambiguity, inherited code, and hands-on work.

Compensation & Benefits

Base salary: $200,000 to $400,000 annually. Visa sponsorship is not available.

Location

On-site in New York City, United States.

The team: Engineering HIRES STEADILY

This role is one of 464 open in Engineering. 398 were posted in the last 30 days and the oldest in March: a team that hires all year rather than one being built.

WHAT THE TEAM WORKS WITH, ACROSS ITS POSTINGS

Python (196 of 464), LLM (195 of 464), TypeScript (183 of 464), React (145 of 464), Machine Learning (119 of 464), PostgreSQL (87 of 464), JavaScript (82 of 464)

OTHER ROLES ON THIS TEAM

From the team and dates on Clera's own job board.

Other openings for this role

4 open postings for this role in New York, first posted 8 October 2026. The company is likely hiring for more than one position. None has been taken down and posted again.

Salary context

6 other open postings titled Founding Engineering Lead state a salary: median USD 200,000 to USD 400,000 a year.

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SKILLSLLM 18,618Machine Learning 19,532
PLACESNew York 6,156United States 71,489
COMPANYJobs at Clera 764

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