VP of Engineering - AI Startup

Kaishi is currently looking for a hands-on VP of Engineering to lead and grow a small, high-impact engineering team (8-15 engineers) as our client scale their AI-driven product. This is not a big-org, manage-managers role. You'll be deeply involved in execution, architecture, and solving real production problems-while laying the technical foundations for reliability, scale, and velocity.

You'll work closely with the founders, product, and AI teams to build, ship, and scale AI (including Voice AI) applications used in real-world, production environments.

The Role

This is not a manager-of-managers role.

You will define what great engineering looks like- from architecture and reliability to hiring bar and ownership standards - while operating with strong bias to action.

You will:

• Build and scale a high-ownership engineering culture
• Define and articulate a 2-3 year technical vision aligned with product and AI strategy
• Raise the hiring bar and implement clear performance standards
• Drive execution velocity without compromising architectural integrity
• Partner closely with Product, AI, and GTM teams to deliver measurable business impact
• Be hands-on where needed - reviewing architecture, unblocking complex systems, shaping critical builds

What We're Looking For

We are looking for a builder.

You have:

• Experience joining at early or growth stage ( 30 engineers) and scaling effectively
• Personally implemented engineering processes, hiring frameworks, and quality standards
• Defined technical direction across distributed systems, AI-driven products, or data platforms
• Built systems that scaled meaningfully in production
• Demonstrated bias to action - able to make high-quality decisions in imperfect conditions
• Strong commercial instinct - understand how engineering drives revenue and customer impact

You likely have:

• Led engineering teams of 10-50+
• Built or significantly reshaped engineering culture
• Experience in high-velocity startup environments

What This Is Not

• Not a purely strategic, board-facing CTO role
• Not an enterprise transformation role
• Not a passive people manager

We need a high-standards operator who can get messy, drive execution aggressively, and raise the bar across the organization.

Why This Role Matters

The VP of Engineering will define the foundation for next phase - shaping the culture, systems, and technical direction that enable us to scale globally.