ABOUT MESHDEFEND
MeshDefend is a VC-funded startup building an AI-native agentic operating system for enterprise data infrastructure. We are developing intelligent, autonomous and secure AI agents that help enterprises operate data infrastructure more efficiently and reliably.
ROLE OVERVIEW
Have you ever dreamed of being the engineering leader who helps shape an AI-native product, a team, and a company from the ground up As our Founding Engineering Manager, you will work at the intersection of AI, enterprise systems, and product innovation, turning bold ideas and early customer needs into reliable, scalable product capabilities. This is a deeply hands-on role for someone who enjoys solving hard technical problems, making strong architectural decisions, and building the structure, culture, and execution rhythm of a high-performing engineering team. You will have meaningful ownership over how we build, how we scale, and how we turn emerging possibilities in AI into enterprise-grade products that customers can trust.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
- Lead the design, development, testing and timely delivery of scalable, secure and enterprise-grade product capabilities.
- Drive modern engineering practices through small, empowered teams with strong ownership and continuous improvements.
- Be a product Owner for the engineering team; refine and prioritize the backlog working with Co-Founders, and senior GTM/ FDE team based on customer value, business impact and technical feasibility.
- Break down complex product capabilities into incremental releases with crisp requirements; validate assumptions and outcomes through customer feedback.
- Lead architecture and solution design working closely with CTO for core product capabilities, ensuring technical choices are scalable, secure and aligned with product goals.
- Provide hands-on full-stack technical direction across frontend, backend, data and platform components, helping the team make sound implementation decisions.
- Champion specification-driven development, Test-Driven Development, shift-left testing and automated quality checks throughout the software development lifecycle.
- Establish robust CI/CD practices and ensure code quality, test coverage, security, performance, observability, reliability and production readiness.
- Lead, mentor and develop a high-performing engineering team; promote collaboration, accountability, integrity and a customer-first mindset.
- Set team and individual OKRs, define DRIs and provide specific, actionable feedback and growth opportunities.
REQUIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE
- Typically, 6+ years of overall software engineering experience.
- At least 2+ years of experience leading or managing engineering teams.
- Working knowledge of agile software development practices, including Scrum and/or Kanban.
- Strong customer empathy, product judgment, prioritization and decision-making skills.
- Deep understanding of cloud-native architectures, cloud platforms, micro-frontends, databases, data modelling, data pipelines, and event-driven systems.
- Hands-on proficiency in at least one programming language: Python, Java or Go.
- Strong experience with TDD and automated testing using Playwright, Pytest or equivalent UI, API, backend and integration testing frameworks.
- Solid understanding of enterprise security, including authentication, authorization, role-based access control, audit and encryption.
- Ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced early-stage startup with evolving priorities and ambiguity.
What We Are Looking For
- A hands-on leader who can contribute to technical discussions while enabling the team to execute independently.
- A customer-focused product thinker who understands both technical and commercial priorities.
- A decisive leader who can operate effectively despite incomplete information.
- A results-oriented manager who delivers capabilities incrementally and validates outcomes with customers.
- A strong people leader who develops talent, creates accountability, and builds a collaborative engineering culture.
- A pragmatic problem-solver who maintains high standards.
WHY JOIN MESHDEFEND
This is a rare opportunity to join MeshDefend at the founding stage and help shape an AI-native enterprise platform from the ground up. You will work directly with experienced founders, influence product direction, engineering culture and architecture, and take meaningful ownership of systems designed to transform how enterprises operate their data infrastructure.
