Head of Engineering

Head of Engineering, Product and Team Base salary: $250K to $400K plus equity

Location: San Francisco, 4 days in person | Full time

You are ready to own the whole engineering outcome, not just a system or a team chart. Dynamism works with San Francisco founders who need a Head of Engineering able to shape product execution, develop engineers, and still solve the hardest technical problems personally. This search is for leaders who want real scope and a direct working relationship with the CEO.

Dynamism works with multiple founder-led San Francisco startups at the point where one engineering leader can change the company's trajectory. Some founders need a Staff or Principal engineer stepping into formal leadership; others need an experienced Head who wants to build again. Each company has its own product and stack. We will share its stage, technical challenges, team, and equity before asking you to consider a match.

What you'll own

In the right role, you would bring clarity to what the team builds and how it ships. You would partner with the founder on priorities, help engineers grow, and keep a practical hand in the product and architecture.

• Own the engineering roadmap, architecture, and delivery standards.
• Lead product and technical trade-offs with a founder and cross-functional team.
• Build, review, test, and debug critical systems alongside engineers.
• Hire and coach a team with a high bar and clear accountability.
• Create the right operating habits for a company moving from early traction to scale.

Problems you'll solve

These roles call for judgment across code, people, and business. You may need to replace a fragile system, speed up a slow release cycle, or help a founder choose what not to build. Your value is making the team more effective while keeping customers and product outcomes in view.

Candidate fit

• You have led major product work as a Staff, Principal, VP Engineering, or Head.
• You have managed or mentored engineers and remained technically credible.
• You have taken ambiguous customer needs into reliable production software.
• You know when to add process and when to remove it.
• You are based in San Francisco and can work in person 4 days per week.

Role details

• Target base salary across this search: $250K to $400K.
• Equity and final package depend on the specific company.
• Full time, San Francisco, 4 days in person.
• Specific stage, stack, team size, and interview process are shared for each match.

Apply

Tell us about a product or engineering team you changed materially. What did you own, what trade-offs did you make, and what happened after it shipped?

Exclusively represented by ⚡dynamism

This search is led exclusively by ⚡dynamism, a community of exceptional builders, founders, and investors that includes YC alumni, Thiel Fellows, and AI lab researchers. We connect ambitious engineers with career-defining roles at breakout companies backed by leading funds including Y Combinator, a16z, and Sequoia.

Learn more at sfdynamism.com.

If you believe you’re a particularly strong fit, email Richard directly at [email protected].