Engineering Full-Time

Chief Engineer (Principal Engineer) (US)

Interface AI • San Francisco, CA

Company

Interface AI

Annual salary

$335k – $375k/yr

Location

San Francisco, CA

Listed

8d ago

Experience:: 8 to 15 years
Workplace:: Fully on-site at Interface.ai's San Francisco office (44 Montgomery St, 21st floor). No relocation support offered.
Equity:: Competitive, founding-team-tier equity. As the most senior technical track in the company, Chief Engineers receive equity commensurate with the outsized impact and ownership expected of the role.

On-site in San Francisco, CA.

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What you'll do

Own a core domain end-to-end, its architecture, technical bar, and outcomes, as the most senior technical leader in the company
Architect and build production systems alongside your team, setting the technical standard by writing code, not from a distance
Hold a weekly council seat alongside the founders and partner with your Domain PM as an equal to drive measurable business outcomes
Steer and unblock engineers and leads across your domain, growing the team's technical capability without becoming a pure manager
Ship, review, and hold the line on quality and velocity across your domain's pods
Embed an AI-native way of working, building on frontier models and standardizing AI development tools (Claude Code, Cursor) across your domain
Shape the future of banking by building systems across areas like the core AI runtime, intelligence systems, AI agents, AI-first contact center, integrations, data platforms, or an AI-native consumer banking experience

What you need

We need a senior-most individual contributor (Principal/Distinguished level) or hands-on technical founder with 10+ years of experience building core systems in production at real scale, someone who has taken a hard, ambiguous bet from 0→1 and owned a company-defining system others depend on. You should have deep credibility in AI and agents, extreme AI fluency with daily use of frontier tools like Claude Code and Cursor, and the judgment to operate at the company's hardest, highest-ambiguity seats. Bonus points for experience in conversational AI, voice AI, agentic systems, or fintech/regulated financial services.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I apply for the Chief Engineer (Principal Engineer) (US) role at Interface AI? +

Use the Apply for a referral button on this page to send us your LinkedIn and CV. If your experience fits, we'll introduce you to the recruiter filling this role. They'll email you to check you're interested, then put you forward for this job or others that suit you better. It's free.

What does this Interface AI role pay? +

The listing gives $335k – $375k/yr.

Is this role remote? +

The listing gives the location as San Francisco, CA. Fully on-site at Interface.ai's San Francisco office (44 Montgomery St, 21st floor). No relocation support offered.