We are building an AI tool that speeds up financial due diligence for investors and advisors.

Team:

• Chaz: Founder of Fat Llama (YC S17) - Acquired by Hygglo. Responsible for Business and Sales.
• Arns: Founder of Fancy (YC S20) - Acquired by Gopuff. Responsible for Tech and Product.

Model ML is an AI-native workspace initially designed for investment banking, private equity, consultancies, and asset managers. You will work alongside two well-known founders who successfully sold their last two YC-backed companies. Model ML, has already raised double figures from Y Combinator and top-tier venture firms. With strong product-market fit and live production deployments at some of the world's largest and most prestigious institutions, Model ML's team is working around the clock across offices in New York, London, and Hong Kong to become the leading AI application platform for enterprise.

Soon, all your digital information will be stored in one place. Everything you do, whether that be sending emails, building presentations, having meetings, pulling data, or doing research, will all be underpinned by an AI model that belongs to you. Using Model ML, you'll simply talk to your laptop or phone to get things done.

About the role

As VP of Engineering at Model ML, you'll be a key leadership hire reporting directly to the CTO, responsible for scaling our engineering organization through a period of hypergrowth. You'll lead a talented team of across backend, frontend, ML, and infrastructure, with the mandate to rapidly expand the team while maintaining our high bar for technical excellence and engineering culture. This is a unique opportunity to shape the technical foundation of an AI platform that's transforming how financial institutions work, balancing hands-on technical leadership with strategic team building. You'll establish engineering best practices, drive architectural decisions, own the hiring strategy to build a world-class team, and ensure we ship robust, compliant solutions at pace. We're looking for someone who can be both in the weeds—conducting code reviews, mentoring engineers, and contributing to critical technical decisions—while also thinking strategically about team structure, processes, and long-term technical vision. You'll work closely with product, design, and go-to-market teams to translate business objectives into engineering priorities, all while fostering a culture of innovation, ownership, and excellence. If you thrive in fast-paced environments, love building teams from the ground up, and want to leave your mark on a company poised for explosive growth in the AI and fintech space, this role is for you.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and scale the engineering team from to support rapid company growth, building out backend, ML, and infrastructure capabilities
• Own the end-to-end hiring process: define role requirements, source top talent, conduct technical interviews, and close exceptional candidates
• Establish and enforce engineering best practices, including code review processes, testing standards, documentation, and deployment procedures
• Set engineering priorities and roadmap in collaboration with the CTO, product, and business stakeholders to deliver on company objectives
• Conduct regular code reviews and provide technical mentorship to engineers at all levels, fostering continuous learning and growth
• Drive architectural decisions and technical strategy to ensure the platform scales reliably for enterprise financial services clients
• Build and nurture a high-performance engineering culture that values quality, collaboration, ownership, and innovation
• Implement agile processes and workflows that enable the team to ship quickly while maintaining stability and security
• Manage team performance through regular 1-on-1s, feedback sessions, and career development planning
• Partner with the CTO on long-term technical vision, infrastructure investments, and technology choices
• Remain hands-on with critical technical challenges, contributing code and technical expertise where needed
• Ensure compliance with financial services regulations and security standards across all engineering practices

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience
• 10+ years of software engineering experience with at least 3–5 years in engineering leadership roles (Engineering Manager, Director, or VP level)
• Proven track record of scaling engineering teams through rapid growth, ideally from 10–40+ engineers
• Strong technical background with hands-on experience in full-stack engineering, distributed systems, and modern tech stacks
• Experience establishing engineering best practices, processes, and culture at a fast-growing startup or scale-up
• Strong technical credibility with the ability to conduct code reviews, mentor engineers, and contribute to critical technical decisions
• Experience working in highly regulated industries (financial services, healthcare, or similar) is preferred
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to translate technical concepts for non-technical audiences
• Track record of balancing speed and quality—shipping products rapidly while maintaining high engineering standards
• Experience with modern cloud infrastructure, CI/CD pipelines, and DevOps practices
• Familiarity with AI/ML systems and working alongside AI teams is a strong plus
• Entrepreneurial mindset with comfort operating in ambiguous, fast-paced environments

What We Offer:

• You will be reporting directly to the founders, who have two successful venture-backed exits under their belt.
• Competitive salary + equity
• Performance-based incentives.
• Supportive and innovative work environment.

What you can expect:

• It won't be easy; in fact, it will be very hard.
• BUT, it will be a lot of fun.
• You need to be comfortable with being uncomfortable; timelines will change, priorities will most likely shift.

To conclude, we're building a team of like-minded, incredibly smart, tenacious individuals with relentless work ethic and focus, all driving towards our very clear revolutionary mission. If you match this description, buy into that mission and you're at a career stage where you're ready to make your defining statement to the world, please apply.

Building on top of Open AI. AI expert desired but no essential. Front & backend skills bonus too.