# Technical Lead Manager

**Company:** [Instabase](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/instabase)
**Location:** San Francisco, CA
**Role:** ML Engineering
**Salary:** $230k – $270k/yr
**Experience:** 8+ years
**Skills:** LangGraph, LangChain, Python, FastAPI, Django, Node.js, Next.js, Docker, Kubernetes, GCP, AWS, Postgres, Redis, LLMs, Mcp
**Posted:** 2026-06-30

> Player-coach Technical Lead Manager for AI Systems & Agents at Instabase. Hands-on architect and builder of stateful multi-turn agent loops, secure code execution sandboxes, tool orchestration via MCP, and evaluation harnesses while leading and growing a small elite team of AI engineers.

## Job Description

## What You Will Do
- Architect Stateful Agent Loops: Design and implement highly reliable, multi-turn agentic planning and execution state machines capable of self-correction, tool orchestration, and long-context memory persistence.
- Build Secure Execution Sandboxes: Own the runtime execution layer where model-generated code (such as Python data-analysis scripts) is safely isolated, monitored, and run in real-time without compromising enterprise security boundaries.
- Pioneer Tool Orchestration & MCP: Expand our agent capabilities by designing composable tool-calling integrations using Model Context Protocol (MCP) and custom API interfaces.
- Build Evaluation & Trajectory Testing Harnesses: Establish programmatic frameworks (using LLM-as-a-judge and trajectory evaluations) to test if agent loops, tool-calling selections, and error recoveries behave safely and deterministically.
- Scale High-Performance Systems: Work on deep systems problems including latency optimization, semantic caching, speculative execution, and streaming intermediate agent states for a responsive user experience.
- Scale the Team: Bootstrap, hire, and mentor a small, elite, high-velocity team of software and AI engineers.

## Our Technical Stack
**Orchestration & Frameworks:** LangGraph, LangChain, Python (FastAPI/Django), Node.js, Next.js.
**Infrastructure & Security:** Secure sandboxed runtimes (Docker, gVisor, WebAssembly), GCP, AWS, Kubernetes, Cloud SQL (PostgreSQL, TimescaleDB), Redis, Pub/Sub.
**AI & Models:** Integration with advanced reasoning models (GPT-4o, o3, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, DeepSeek) across custom function-calling, LLM fine-tuning, and hybrid vector-search RAG pipelines.
**Standards:** Model Context Protocol (MCP) tool schemas and APIs.

## About You
- 8+ Years of Professional Engineering Experience: A strong, proven background in software engineering, with significant tenure building and scaling backend systems, infrastructure, or platform services.
- Active LLM & Agentic Engineering Experience: Practical, hands-on experience building production-grade LLM applications, multi-agent workflows (using DAGs or state machines), or tool-calling executors.
- Systems & Infrastructure Rigor: Deep familiarity with building secure sandboxed runtimes, container isolation, API platforms, caching strategies, or high-throughput real-time data streaming.
- Small-Team Leadership Experience: Proven track record of mentoring senior engineers, driving technical design reviews, and leading high-velocity squads as a Tech Lead, TLM, or hands-on EM.
- An Active Builder: You love writing code. You are excited about the prospect of coding daily and staying out of the meetings and administrative bloat of traditional big-tech management.
- Educational Background: BS, MS, or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a highly quantitative field.

## Compensation
The base salary range for this role is $230,000 to $270,000 + bonus, equity, and benefits. The actual pay may vary based on factors such as location, experience, and skills.

## US Benefits
- Flexible PTO
- Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance
- 401(k) with Matching
- Parental Leave & Fertility Benefits
- Therapy Sessions Covered (10 free sessions)
- Wellness Stipend
- Lunch credit when in the office

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