Vice President of Engineering (San Francisco)

• UnitedMasters is seeking a Vice President of Engineering to lead and scale an engineering organization across backend, mobile (iOS/Android), web, data, QA, DevOps


• This leader will drive the architectural vision, delivery excellence, and technical culture behind our consumer subscription products and our growing B2B indie label business


• A core mandate of this role is leveraging AI to enhance both artist experience and engineering productivity


• You will champion AI-driven personalization, artist tools, recommendations, and automation while also deploying AI-enabled development tooling, test automation, and ML-driven operations to improve engineering velocity and quality


• This is a hands-on, build-it-from-the-ground-up mandate. A top first-year priority is establishing UnitedMasters' \paved path\ for agentic software development: defining the agentic-development methodology, making the core architecture and tooling decisions, setting context and documentation standards, standing up the eval and safety framework, coaching engineers through adoption, and demonstrating measurable developer-productivity gains


• Define the multi-year technical and AI strategy across the UnitedMasters product ecosystem, championing new technologies, especially AI/ML, automation, and mobile innovation, to drive continuous improvement


• Build AI-powered customer-facing capabilities: artist insights, content recommendations, automated marketing, distribution optimization, and ML-driven discovery, monetization, and predictive tools


• Deliver measurable improvements from AI-enabled engineering, including gains in delivery speed, cycle time, and quality through capabilities such as code generation, automated testing, code review, debugging, and engineering operations automation


• Create and scale the paved path for AI-assisted and agentic software development across engineering: define the methodology and repeatable end-to-end workflows, determine how work is decomposed across sub-agents and tools, select and integrate the tooling, establish the supporting development practices and infrastructure, and drive adoption across the engineering organization


• Establish the technical foundations for reliable and secure AI agents in UnitedMasters products, including agent architecture, agent memory and state management, context engineering, RAG, tool use, an evaluation framework, human-in-the-loop controls, and defenses against prompt injection, data exfiltration, and other adversarial risks


• Drive architectural modernization and scale initiatives across our web applications, mobile apps, and internal tech platforms


• Ensure systems are reliable, performant, secure, and built for global scale


• Lead, mentor, and develop an engineering organization, including managers, and senior ICs


• Own engineering competencies, performance systems, and technical excellence standards


• Drive SDLC practices with strong CI/CD, automated testing, and AI-enabled developer tools


• Foster an environment where teams experiment and ship quickly, backed by strong measurement and rapid iteration


• Ensure predictable execution and high-quality delivery across all engineering pods


• Partner with Product and Design leadership on prioritization, planning, and resource allocation


• Own engineering commitments and ensure exceptional communication around timelines, risks, and dependencies


• Collaborate closely with Product, Design, Data Science, Revenue, Marketing, and Artist Relations teams


• Translate business goals into clear, actionable technical plans


• Improve expectations-setting and visibility with executive stakeholders


• Lead the engineering organization shaping the future of independent music


• Build AI-powered products and tools that help artists earn, grow, and be discovered


• Drive innovation at the intersection of technology, creativity, and culture


• Make a direct impact on millions of creators around the world

Benefits

• Health & Well-being: Our health plans provide comprehensive coverage for you and your family. We offer robust medical, dental and vision benefits, with the option to enroll in FSA and HSA to save for the care you need. Plus, you can get free fitness classes through insurance, and healthy snacks at our offices


• Emotional & Mental Well-being: Focus on mental health and well-being has become more important than ever. We offer a spectrum of support for your mental well-being; from Headspace mindfulness and meditation, to free therapy and psychiatry at Talkspace


• Financial Well-being: Every full-time employee is eligible to take part in our 401(k) with company match, and competitive compensation


• Flexibility & Time Off: We believe that flexible time off allows our team members the freedom to balance the responsibilities of both their work and home lives. We also have 15 paid holidays and a paid company winter break. We offer generous paid leave and support for expecting parents and growing families


• Discounts & Perks: We want you to feel your best, both professionally and personally. We're proud to offer inspiring office spaces with engaging events, commuter benefits, and discounts on the services you want and need

Strong technical background with the ability to dive deep into systems architecture, data modeling, mobile performance, and platform-scale challengesExceptional communication skills and experience partnering with product and executive leadershipDemonstrated experience deploying AI/ML in both customer-facing features and internal engineering workflowsFamiliarity with Python/Django, JavaScript/TypeScript, Kubernetes, event-driven architecture, or modern mobile frameworksDirect, hands-on experience building agentic-development capabilities from the ground up (must-have): methodology, tooling, context standards, and eval/safety frameworks you personally designed and shipped, with measurable developer-productivity gains you droveProven success as a senior engineering leader at a scaled B2C, marketplace, or subscription-driven technology companyWe're looking for someone who has personally built these capabilities, not sponsored or inherited them from a central platform teamThis role is ideal for a systems-level thinker, an inspiring people leader, and an operator who thrives in a fast-moving, culture-driven environment12+ years engineering experience with 5+ years leading orgs of 25+ engineers, including managers and senior ICsTrack record of improving engineering velocity and developer experience through tooling, process, and automationBackground in creator economy, digital media, or marketplace ecosystemsExperience with large-scale content distribution, media ingestion pipelines, payments, subscription systems, or rights managementStrong understanding of data science, ML infrastructure, and experimentation platformsA culture-builder who values collaboration, inclusion, and excellenceA people-first leader who inspires teams and takes pride in developing othersA visionary technologist who sees around corners and builds systems that scale with the businessA business-oriented thinker who maps engineering strategy to real outcomes for artists and label partnersA decisive operator who thrives in ambiguity and moves with urgency