VP of Engineering

Company Description

Inhabitr combines innovative technology, operational efficiency, and eco-friendly design to deliver inspiring and tailored spaces. Specializing in FF&E (Furniture, Fixtures & Equipment) procurement, we ensure projects meet their full potential, aligned with brand aesthetics, delivered on time, and within budget. Headquartered in San Francisco and Mumbai, we bring a global perspective to our clients' needs while emphasizing sustainability and quality.

Inhabitr is an AI-powered design and sourcing platform transforming CapEx procurement and operational workflows for the hospitality industry. We leverage AI-driven recommendations, intelligent workflows, and real-time data insights to simplify complex sourcing and operational processes, reduce inefficiencies, and empower teams to make faster, smarter decisions.

At Inhabitr, AI is not an add-on; it is core to how we build products, optimize workflows, and scale operations. Our team operates with high ownership, fast iteration cycles, and a relentless focus on building systems that are reliable, scalable, and intelligent.

We are looking for a VP of Engineering who can help build both the platform and the engineering culture from the ground up.

About the role

As VP of Engineering, you will own engineering execution, architecture, delivery, and technical team building across the company.

This is not a “manage from dashboards” role.

You will be expected to:

• Dive into architecture discussions
• Unblock teams technically
• Challenge assumptions
• Improve engineering velocity
• Push for product simplicity
• Balance speed with scalability
• Build systems that survive real-world operational chaos

You should be equally comfortable:

• Reviewing backend architecture
• Discussing AI workflows
• Debugging production bottlenecks
• Hiring senior engineers
• Helping define technical strategy with founders

You will work directly with Founder & CEO, Product, Design, AI/ML, and Operations leadership.

Responsibilities

Technical Leadership

• Define and evolve Inhabitr’s technical architecture and engineering strategy
• Lead development of scalable AI-first platform systems
• Drive backend, frontend, data, AI orchestration, and infrastructure decisions
• Ensure engineering quality, reliability, observability, and security standards
• Create pragmatic technical roadmaps aligned to business priorities
• Build systems that support rapid iteration without collapsing under scale

Hands-on Problem Solving

• Act as the technical escalation point for critical engineering challenges
• Remove blockers across teams — technical, operational, or organizational
• Jump into code, architecture reviews, debugging, or system design when needed
• Help teams simplify overly complex implementations
• Drive strong engineering execution discipline

Team Building & Leadership

• Hire and mentor high-caliber engineers and engineering managers
• Build a culture of ownership, accountability, curiosity, and speed
• Create an environment where engineers think like product builders, not ticket closers
• Establish engineering processes that improve execution without creating bureaucracy
• Coach teams on prioritization, tradeoff analysis, and operational excellence

Product & Business Partnership

• Partner closely with Product and Design to translate ambiguity into execution
• Contribute to strategic product and platform decisions
• Balance long-term platform thinking with startup execution realities
• Bring technical clarity to business discussions

What We’re Looking For

Core Traits

We care deeply about how you think and operate.

You are:

• A strong problem solver
• Highly self-motivated
• Hands-on and execution-oriented
• Comfortable operating in ambiguity
• Able to simplify complexity
• Biased toward action
• Calm under pressure
• Willing to challenge weak assumptions — including founders’
• Obsessed with building teams that can execute at high velocity and comfortable with in person white board problem solving

You should naturally step into problems instead of waiting for ownership boundaries.

If you see something broken, you fix it.

This role is ideal for a highly hands-on engineering leader who thrives in early-stage environments and enjoys balancing technical depth, organizational leadership, and rapid execution.

Required Experience

• 12+ years in software engineering with significant leadership experience
• Experience leading engineering teams in fast-moving startups or high-growth environments
• Strong background in scalable SaaS platforms
• Experience with modern cloud-native architectures
• Strong understanding of distributed systems, APIs, data systems, and platform design
• Experience working closely with Product and Design organizations
• Proven ability to recruit and grow engineering teams
• Experience leading and scaling globally distributed engineering teams across multiple time zones
• Strong async communication and operational leadership skills
• Ability to build alignment and execution across geographically distributed teams
• Deep experience with cloud platforms such as AWS, GCP, or Azure (AWS strongly preferred)
• Strong understanding of cloud infrastructure, reliability, scalability, networking, and cost optimization
• Experience building reliable production AI systems, not just prototypes
• Understanding of LLM evaluation, observability, latency, cost optimization, and AI system reliability
• Ability to operate with founder-level urgency while balancing long-term platform quality with aggressive delivery timelines

Strongly Preferred

Experience in one or more of the following:

• AI-first products or applied AI systems
• Workflow automation platforms
• Marketplace or sourcing platforms
• Design-tech / construction-tech / procurement-tech / supply-chain systems
• Product data management systems
• Search, recommendation, or matching systems
• Document intelligence / extraction systems
• Generative AI orchestration and evaluation pipelines

Technical Environment

Our stack is evolving, but areas you should be comfortable navigating include:

• Modern web application architectures
• APIs and distributed backend systems
• Cloud infrastructure and DevOps
• Data platforms and pipelines
• AI/LLM orchestration frameworks
• Production-grade AI infrastructure, evaluation, observability, and reliability systems
• Search and retrieval systems
• Event-driven workflows
• Observability and production operations

You do not need to be an expert in every area.

You do need to be capable of understanding systems deeply enough to guide teams and remove roadblocks quickly.

What Success Looks Like

Within the first 12 months, you will:

• Build a strong engineering foundation and culture
• Improve execution velocity without increasing chaos
• Establish scalable architecture direction
• Hire and retain a strong engineering team
• Help turn ambiguous product ideas into reliable shipped systems
• Build credibility across product, operations, and leadership teams

Why Inhabitr

This is not a maintenance engineering role.

You will help define:

• The platform
• The engineering culture
• The technical DNA of the company

You’ll work on deeply complex real-world problems involving AI, workflows, product data, sourcing, logistics, and operational decision-making.

The industry is massive. The workflows are broken. The opportunity is real.