VP, Engineering (Hands-on CTO)

Head of Engineering / CTONYC | Silicon Valley | Seattle$300,000 – $350,000 Base + EquityUS Citizens & Green Card Holders OnlyAbout the CompanyFast-growing, venture-backed AI compliance platform serving 500+ financial institutions and 7,000+ users. The platform captures, monitors, and archives enterprise communications — messaging, voice, email, and social — enabling banks, asset managers, and capital markets firms to meet the strictest regulatory requirements in the industry. Claude (Anthropic) is not a feature here — it is foundational to how the platform delivers intelligence. The company is past the building phase. It is scaling.The RoleThis is a hands-on engineering leadership role — 90%+ of your day is writing Python and building AI-powered systems. This is not a project management position. This is not a meetings-all-day title. You write code every day and you own the engineering function.You come in with full authority to evaluate the existing engineering organization and make the decisions necessary to build the team that can deliver at this level.What You OwnPython backend architecture and engineering standards across the entire platformClaude AI integration and LLM-powered compliance intelligence — you set the directionSecurity posture and scalability — financial institutions trust this platform with their most sensitive communications dataEngineering team evaluation and build-out — you assess what exists and make the decisions necessary to winSpeed to market — you define the operating model that ships fast without creating tomorrow's liabilityBoard and investor communication when it countsWhat You BringStartup background is required — you have built and shipped in a fast-moving, resource-constrained environment where ownership is totalFinancial services background is required — you understand how these institutions operate, what they fear from regulators, and what they demand from their technology vendorsRegTech experience is a strong differentiator — communications surveillance, compliance archiving, or financial regulation puts you at the front of the lineDeep Python engineering expertise — primary language in production, not adjacentHands-on Claude (Anthropic) or LLM API experience in production systems — prompt engineering, AI architecture, inference optimizationDistributed systems experience handling high-volume, sensitive data at scaleSecurity and compliance mindset — you have built systems that hold up under regulatory audit and enterprise security reviewThe ability to walk into an engineering organization, assess it honestly, and act decisively on what you findExecutive presence — board, investors, CEO — you communicate at every level with clarityYou ship. You own outcomes. You do not wait for permission.Why This SeatThe regulatory tailwind behind this market is accelerating. Financial regulators are no longer asking firms to comply — they are requiring it with penalties that get attention in boardrooms. This company is already inside 500+ of those firms and growing. The technology is real. The revenue is real. The path to exit is credible.$300,000–$350,000 base plus meaningful equity. If you have spent your career in startups building engineering organizations inside financial services and want to do it at a company where the stakes, the technology, and the upside are all worth your time — this is the conversation.US Citizens and Green Card holders only. No sponsorship available.