| Location | Austin, Texas |
| Website | https://speedrun.a16z.com/ |
We are hiring a Founding Engineer to build and scale the systems that power Maestro — in person, in Austin.
This role sits at the intersection of engineering, product, and operations. You will work directly with the Founder and partner closely with Product and Ops to translate real-world operational friction into reliable, AI-enabled software.
This is not a ticket-taking role. This is a builder role.
You will be responsible for shipping the automation, tooling, and AI systems that increase team capacity and improve member experience — and driving them to launch and adoption.
Maestro is building a high-touch, AI-enabled travel platform for high-net-worth members. We combine human expertise with automation and intelligent systems to deliver exceptional travel experiences — while building operational leverage that allows us to scale sustainably.
As a Founding Engineer, your mission is to turn AI and engineering effort into reliable, scalable systems that actually get used and reduce human work.
We are early, fast-moving, and intentional about who we hire. Every person we bring in meaningfully shapes the company.
At Maestro, we don't hire to redistribute work; we hire to create exponential leverage. Every hire must bring a unique superpower — whether that's technical judgment, systems thinking, or the ability to solve ambiguous problems under pressure. As a founding engineer, your code is the leverage: the systems you build should let the team do dramatically more without growing headcount linearly.
Ship, debug, and improve production code across the stack — backend, APIs, and AI systems
Integrate and operationalize AI workflows (LLMs, orchestration, APIs, automation) that are stable, understandable, and trusted internally
Translate ambiguous product and ops needs into working software
Prioritize based on measurable business impact, in partnership with product
Make pragmatic tradeoffs between speed, quality, and scalability
Instrument what you build and track performance in real usage
Reduce manual, human-heavy workflows through thoughtful automation
Collaborate closely with our offshore engineering team — sharing context, reviewing work, and unblocking one another to keep delivery moving across time zones
You will help us move from "high-touch but manual" to "high-touch and scalable."
We hire for outcomes, not activities. In your first 3–6 months, you will:
Ship core AI workflows and integrations that are stable and adopted internally
Measurably reduce manual, repetitive operational work through automation
Establish reliability in the systems the team depends on daily
Ship consistently, with fewer blockers and surprises
Create systems that scale as membership grows
Regardless of the role, every Maestro team member must embody:
High Agency: You find a way over, under, or through obstacles without waiting for permission.
Execution Velocity: You move work forward with momentum and intentionality.
Judgment: You make smart tradeoffs under uncertainty.
Human-Centered Conduct: You treat people like people, even under high pressure.
Ownership: You act like it's yours—without being told.
We are an early-stage, high-growth company. This means we value slope over pedigree.
We need productive challengers who:
Have thrived in ambiguity and incomplete inputs before — not just tolerated it.
Start by doing, not delegating — there are no "pure managers" here.
Optimize for leverage before elegance, and ship "good enough" systems that are reliable and adopted.
Admit uncertainty and ask for help early to protect team velocity.
Take initiative without waiting for perfect clarity.
Care about building durable systems, not just shipping features.
4+ years building and shipping production software (full-stack or backend-leaning)
Strong technical judgment across backend, APIs, and modern web
Hands-on ability to ship, debug, and improve code independently
Comfort making speed / quality / scalability tradeoffs at an early stage
Demonstrated ownership of outcomes (not just shipping features)
Experience building or integrating AI-enabled products (LLMs, orchestration, AI agents, automation, ML systems)
Experience increasing operational leverage (reducing manual work, improving capacity)
Experience building internal tools, operational systems, or workflow automation
Experience working collaboratively with distributed or offshore engineering teams
Experience in high-touch service environments (marketplaces, travel, fintech, concierge, logistics, etc.)
Comfort with metrics, instrumentation, and reliability practices
AI-first workflow — you actively use AI to increase your own and the team's efficiency
In-person / hybrid role, based in Austin, TX (minimum 3 days/week in-office).
In-person collaboration is core to how we work and learn as a team.
Competitive salary based on experience, plus meaningful founding-level equity.
Equity is structured to align long-term ownership with company growth.
Significant room to grow scope and technical leadership as the company scales.
Significant opportunity for impact and cross-functional exposure as the company grows.
Founding-Level Ownership from Day One — This is not a feature-factory role. You'll own core systems and technical decisions from the start, and directly influence company direction as one of our earliest engineers.
Build at the Inflection Point — We have paying members, real revenue streams, and strong early signal — but we're still small enough for your work to materially shape the company.
AI Applied to Real Problems — We use AI as infrastructure — embedded into workflows that increase advisor capacity and improve high-stakes decision-making. This isn't demo AI. It's AI that moves metrics.
High-Agency, High-Talent Team — We hire for superpowers. We move fast. We disagree without being disagreeable. You'll work alongside people who take ownership and expect the same.
Path to Senior Leadership — This role has meaningful scope and the opportunity to grow into broader technical or engineering leadership as the company scales.
Human-Centered Product — We're not building abstract SaaS. We're helping real people plan meaningful travel experiences — where trust, judgment, and service matter.
Early-Stage Upside — Competitive compensation with meaningful equity. If we execute well, you share in the value created.
In-Person Builder Energy (Austin-Based) — We believe early-stage velocity benefits from being in the room. Tight feedback loops. Fast iteration. Real collaboration.