Job Title - Lead Technology Manager / Product-Technical Lead

Job Summary

We are seeking a hands-on Lead Technology Manager to serve as the first technical hire for an early-stage project. This person will own the technical foundation, help shape the product experience, and work directly with the founder to turn ideas into a clear, executable plan. The ideal candidate is equally strong in technology, product thinking, and user experience, with the ability to build lean, move fast, and make smart decisions with limited structure.

About the Role

This is a high-impact role for someone who can operate independently and take ownership across technical direction, product design, and UX execution. You will help define the architecture, guide development priorities, and make sure the product is not only functional but intuitive and useful. Because this is the first technical hire, you should be comfortable working as a one-person technology function at the start and later recommending what type of second hire is needed, if any.

Responsibilities

- Own the technical direction and help establish the product’s foundation.

- Work directly with the founders to translate business goals into product and technical plans.

- Shape product decisions with a strong focus on user experience, usability, and workflow design.

- Lead architecture decisions, technology selection, and implementation planning.

- Build and maintain a practical development process that supports fast execution.

- Collaborate on product strategy, feature prioritization, and roadmap decisions.

- Review technical work, guide quality standards, and help solve complex problems.

- Identify when workload or scope justifies adding a second technical person.

- Define what that second hire would do, why they are needed, and how responsibilities should be split.

- Support testing, documentation, iteration, and ongoing product improvements.

- Help ensure the product is simple, intuitive, and aligned with customer needs.

Qualifications

- 8+ years of experience in software engineering, technical leadership, product development, or UX/product technology roles.

- Experience leading a project from concept to launch.

- Strong background in software architecture, cloud systems, APIs, and secure product design.

- Product and UX experience, including user flows, wireframes, prototypes, usability thinking, or product design collaboration.

- Ability to turn vague ideas into clear product requirements and technical action plans.

- Hands-on experience coding, reviewing work, and making practical implementation decisions.

- Comfortable being the first and only technical person on a project at the start.

- Strong communication skills and the ability to work directly with a founder.

- Experience mentoring others or building a small team is a plus.

- Startup, early-stage, or high-ownership environment experience is strongly preferred.

Preferred Experience

- Founding engineer, technical lead, product engineer, or fractional CTO background.

- Strong product sense and the ability to think through user experience, not just technical execution.

- Experience with AI-enabled products, modern web platforms, or automation tools.

- Familiarity with working lean, setting priorities, and making decisions under ambiguity.

- Experience knowing when a project needs a second hire and how to define that role clearly.

- Ability to balance strategy, execution, product quality, and user empathy.

What Success Looks Like

Success in this role means the project has a clear technical direction, an intuitive product experience, and a practical plan for execution. You should be able to create momentum early, make the work manageable for one person at the start, and identify the right time and reason to expand the team. The right person will bring structure, product thinking, and UX awareness without slowing down progress.

Compensation etc.: Full time, 1099 to hire after 6 months with potential equity options
Putting 100K for this application, but compensation will be based on experience.

Pay: From $80,000.00 per year

Work Location: In person