Vice President of Engineering
12 - 15 years
San Francisco Bay Area
Full-time
Onsite
1 month ago
About the role
Full-Time: VP of EngineeringBay Area, CA Full-time
Position OverviewOpenInfer is hiring a VP of Engineering to lead our engineering organization as we scale from foundational platform to widely deployed infrastructure. You will partner with the CEO and CTO to set technical strategy, own engineering execution end to end, and drive how OpenInfer integrates into a fast-growing ecosystem of hardware, hyperscaler, OEM, and enterprise partners.
This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who has built and shipped serious systems software, knows how to grow a senior engineering org without losing technical depth, and is energized by the work of turning infrastructure technology into a category-defining company.
Reports to: CEO Partners closely with: CTO, CBO/CRO, and the executive team
About OpenInferOpenInfer is building the Inference OS for the heterogeneous compute era. We orchestrate AI inference workloads with SLA awareness across GPUs, CPUs, and emerging accelerators, enabling data-center-class AI to run on a distributed mesh that spans hyperscale, on-prem, and edge environments. Our core platform includes Loom (the orchestration engine), Weave (the inference orchestration layer), Jean (our enterprise multi-agent platform), and OpenClaw (our open-source agent application).
We are backed by Cota Capital, Essence, Jeff Dean, Eric Schmidt's fund, and a strong advisory bench, and are currently expanding the team to support our Series A and the next phase of customer and partner growth across enterprise, on-prem cloud, and sovereign markets.
Key Responsibilities
Required Qualifications
Nice to Have Qualifications
What You'll Gain
Benefits We Offer
At OpenInfer we offer comprehensive benefits, some include:
These benefits are further detailed in OpenInfer policies and are subject to change at any time, consistent with the terms of any applicable compensation or benefits plans.
How to Apply
Position OverviewOpenInfer is hiring a VP of Engineering to lead our engineering organization as we scale from foundational platform to widely deployed infrastructure. You will partner with the CEO and CTO to set technical strategy, own engineering execution end to end, and drive how OpenInfer integrates into a fast-growing ecosystem of hardware, hyperscaler, OEM, and enterprise partners.
This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who has built and shipped serious systems software, knows how to grow a senior engineering org without losing technical depth, and is energized by the work of turning infrastructure technology into a category-defining company.
Reports to: CEO Partners closely with: CTO, CBO/CRO, and the executive team
About OpenInferOpenInfer is building the Inference OS for the heterogeneous compute era. We orchestrate AI inference workloads with SLA awareness across GPUs, CPUs, and emerging accelerators, enabling data-center-class AI to run on a distributed mesh that spans hyperscale, on-prem, and edge environments. Our core platform includes Loom (the orchestration engine), Weave (the inference orchestration layer), Jean (our enterprise multi-agent platform), and OpenClaw (our open-source agent application).
We are backed by Cota Capital, Essence, Jeff Dean, Eric Schmidt's fund, and a strong advisory bench, and are currently expanding the team to support our Series A and the next phase of customer and partner growth across enterprise, on-prem cloud, and sovereign markets.
Key Responsibilities
- Engineering leadership. Own the engineering organization across Loom, Weave, Jean, and OpenClaw. Build the team, the operating cadence, the technical bar, and the culture. Recruit and retain world-class systems and infrastructure engineers.
- Technical strategy. Co-author the multi-year technical roadmap with the CEO and CTO. Translate market signals, customer needs, and partner constraints into clear architectural direction and prioritized investment.
- Delivery and quality. Run a high-velocity engineering org that ships infrastructure-grade software with the reliability, observability, and security standards expected by enterprise, on-prem, and sovereign customers.
- Partner ecosystem integration. Lead the engineering side of our deepening relationships with silicon vendors, OEMs, hyperscalers, networking providers, and enterprise platforms. Own joint POCs, reference architectures, and the technical integration surface that makes OpenInfer the default orchestration layer wherever heterogeneous compute is deployed.
- Customer-facing technical leadership. Be the senior engineering voice in customer and partner conversations. Translate field reality back into product and architecture decisions.
- Cross-functional partnership. Work tightly with product, BD, GTM, and operations. Help shape how we sell, support, and evolve the platform alongside its earliest design partners and Series A customers.
Required Qualifications
- 12+ years of engineering experience, with 5+ years leading engineering organizations at a Director, Senior Director, or VP level. Comfortable leading leaders and ICs simultaneously.
- Deep background in distributed systems, infrastructure software, or systems-level platforms. You have built things where performance, reliability, and hardware/software co-design actually matter.
- Strong system design instincts across compute, networking, storage, and scheduling.
- Track record of shipping infrastructure or platform products into enterprise, cloud, or telco environments at production scale.
- Experience driving joint engineering work with strategic partners (silicon, OEM, hyperscaler, ISV, or enterprise) and turning those efforts into shipping integrations and revenue.
- Demonstrated ability to scale an engineering team through high growth without sacrificing rigor, ownership, or speed.
- Excellent written and verbal communicator. Equally credible in front of engineers, customers, partners, and investors.
Nice to Have Qualifications
- Prior experience at a high-performing infrastructure startup, ideally one that scaled from early traction through Series B/C.
- Hands-on familiarity with modern inference workloads, MoE architectures, agentic systems, or edge/distributed AI.
- Direct experience with inference, ML serving, accelerator software stacks, or orchestration/runtime systems.
- Background spanning hyperscaler and on-prem environments, or work with sovereign, regulated, or defense-adjacent customers.
- Open-source leadership or community experience.
What You'll Gain
- The opportunity to define the engineering org of a company sitting at the center of one of the most consequential infrastructure shifts of the decade.
- A seat at the strategy table alongside the CEO, CTO, and a deeply technical executive team and advisory bench.
- Working alongside industry experts in AI optimization, high-performance computing, and hardware acceleration.
- Hands-on exposure to cutting-edge work at the intersection of AI, systems, and hardware acceleration.
- Active engagement with open-source development and a growing community of contributors.
Benefits We Offer
At OpenInfer we offer comprehensive benefits, some include:
- Medical, Dental, and Vision benefits
- Flexible Paid Time Off, 10 days
- Parental Leave
- 401(k) Plan with company matching
- Snacks and coffee to keep you energized
These benefits are further detailed in OpenInfer policies and are subject to change at any time, consistent with the terms of any applicable compensation or benefits plans.
How to Apply
- Please send your resume and a brief cover letter to [email protected]. Include a short paragraph on why this role, and links to relevant work, open-source contributions, or systems you've built or scaled.
Skills
Desktop Computing Software Products