VP of Engineering

About The Role

The NEAR AI engineering team is developing decentralized and confidential machine learning infrastructure to power user owned AI. We currently focus on building infrastructure to enable private and confidential inference that works across different compute providers, as well as a blockchain-based coordination layer that incentivizes computer providers to join the decentralized inference network.

As VP of Engineering, you will oversee all engineering and research, setting technical vision and execution strategy while building a high-performing org. You will partner closely with leadership to translate company goals into roadmap, architecture, and team priorities while maintaining a high bar for security, reliability, and velocity. You’ll also be a hands-on leader: close enough to the technology to make great decisions, and senior enough to scale the organization and coach leaders.

What You'll Be Doing

• Own the technical strategy and execution for NEAR AI’s engineering and research teams, from near-term delivery to long-term architecture.
• Build and manage a high performing organization, including engineering managers and research/ML leads; create clear career ladders, feedback loops, and operating rhythms.
• Recruit exceptional talent and help NEAR AI become a destination for top-tier engineering and AI research.

What We're Looking For

• Proven engineering leadership in startup environments, with a track record of building teams, shipping ambitious systems, and operating with high ownership.
• Experience managing and scaling teams up to 30 people, including hiring, org design, and performance management.
• Deep understanding of LLMs including current tooling, inference stacks, evaluation methods, and the practical tradeoffs required to ship.
• Strong technical foundation in distributed systems and systems architecture (ability to dive deep when needed). 
• Excellent communication skills and ability to align cross-functional stakeholders and clearly articulate decisions, risks, and tradeoffs.
• High standards for execution: prioritization, focus, and the ability to turn ambiguity into momentum.

We'd Love If You Have

• Experience with confidential computing and secure systems design
• Familiarity with blockchain protocols and/or crypto-economic coordination mechanisms
• Strong performance engineering background (model inference optimization, systems profiling, latency/cost tradeoffs)
• Professional experience with Rust

Please let us know if you require any special requirements for your interview and we’ll do our best to accommodate.

Locations: San Francisco.