VP of Engineering

About the Role

The Foundation for Agentic Networks (FAN) is the home of Project NANDA—an open-infrastructure initiative originated at MIT that builds the foundational protocols and registry for the Internet of AI Agents. Working alongside an active open-source community, we are making a decentralized, interoperable agent ecosystem a reality.

As the VP of Engineering, you will shape the engineering organization, define the technical direction, and dictate how FAN operates publicly. This is a working leadership role bridging high-level architecture with hands-on execution.

Key Responsibilities & Scope

• Technical Direction: Architect standards across FAN’s portfolio. Determine the balance between shared infrastructure and project-specific development, and allocate engineering effort efficiently based on ROI.
• Product Delivery: Transform working-group specifications into production-grade, open-source software. Build and manage the team responsible for cross-project deployment.
• Team Leadership: Hire, onboard, and manage the next 3–5 engineers, establishing the operational benchmark and culture for the engineering team.
• External Representation: Serve as the technical voice for FAN at NANDA summits, working groups, and standards committees. Co-author technical papers and protocol specifications.
• Strategic Alignment: Collaborate directly with Board members on the product roadmap, operational priorities, and critical technical decisions.

Required Qualifications

• Experience: 5+ years of software development experience, including successfully leading engineering teams of 5–15 people.
• Execution Capability: Hands-on technical ability; capable of contributing directly to the codebase alongside managerial duties.
• Domain Expertise: Proven track record of shipping infrastructure, developer platforms, protocols, distributed systems, registries, or SDKs.
• AI Proficiency: Fluency with modern AI/agent frameworks (e.g., MCP, A2A, LangChain, CrewAI, or equivalent).
• Public Record: Verifiable technical history, including public code repositories, talks, papers, or community contributions.
• Cross-Functional Operations: Experience working within or alongside open-source communities with the ability to drive progress across organizational boundaries.

Preferred Qualifications (Bonus)

• Experience with internet-scale registry systems (DNS, PKI, decentralized identity).
• Background in standards bodies (IETF/W3C-style governance) or research-adjacent organizations.
• Existing network within the Boston tech or agent infrastructure community.

What We Offer

• Leadership & Authority: A formal seat on the technical steering committee with voting rights on protocol decisions. Direct influence over engineering culture, hiring, and technical strategy.
• Visibility: Guaranteed speaking slots at NANDA summits, co-authorship on specifications, and a generous conference/travel budget.
• Network Access: Direct collaboration with FAN’s partner institutions and the broader Project NANDA ecosystem.
• Flexibility: A fully remote, async-first work environment with no fixed hours to optimize deep work.

Interview Timeline

• Intro Call (15 min): Initial operational alignment and mutual introduction.
• Skills Matrix: Candidate completes a self-assessment of technical capabilities.
• Technical Challenge: Take-home assignment based on the NANDA paper parameters.
• Technical Interview: In-depth review of the challenge submission and system architecture questions.
• Leadership Interview: Final strategic alignment conversation with the leadership team.
• Result Announcement: Decision delivery and next steps for onboarding.