AI Engineering Lead

Tessl is a fast-growing Series A startup based in London, founded by Guy Podjarny. We’ve raised over $100M from world-class investors including Index Ventures, Accel, GV, and Boldstart. At Tessl, we believe AI is transforming software development. AI Native Developers will define features, architecture, and workflows in specs, not code, guiding the work of AI agents. We’re building the pioneering platform for this new paradigm and leading the developer movement and ecosystem around it. Joining Tessl means becoming an early team member with the opportunity to shape the future of how software is created and maintained.

The Role

As AI Engineering Lead, you’ll lead the charge in defining and scaling the intelligence that powers our Agent Enablement Platform. You’ll shape the research roadmap, architecting multi-agent systems that automatically generate and retrieve context that makes AI a dependable teammate for developers. You’ll oversee a hybrid team of researchers and engineers working at the frontier of context generation, retrieval, and evaluation. Together, you’ll design systems that can interpret complex development environments, synthesize documentation, and continuously measure and improve agent effectiveness as a project evolves. You’ll balance hands‑on technical depth with high‑leverage leadership—diving into Python orchestration code one moment, then steering long‑term architecture, evaluation frameworks, and team growth the next. This is a role for someone who thrives in ambiguity, moves fast without breaking rigor, and can make thoughtful calls on when to ship and when to invest in foundations.

What you’ll do

• Architect and own our AI pipelines — from multi‑agent workflows and retrieval pipelines to automatic evaluation and feedback loops.
• Design scalable context generation systems that synthesize documentation, styleguides, and steering artefacts to enhance agent performance.
• Optimize retrieval pipelines to achieve the ideal balance of quality, latency, and cost.
• Build internal tooling for evaluation, context engineering, and inference — the backbone of how we train and measure our agents.
• Collaborate across teams (PM, UX, product engineering, and leadership) to ship high‑impact features at startup speed.
• Define and scale the team culture — recruiting top talent, mentoring others, and embedding the principles of AI‑native engineering into everything we build.

What you’ll bring

• A degree (Masters/PhD preferred) in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Applied Mathematics, or related fields.
• 10+ years of engineering experience, with 3+ years leading AI‑focused teams.
• Fluency in some of these areas: Python, Anthropic/OpenAI APIs, vector databases, and eval tooling.
• Strong fundamentals in Machine Learning, Data Science and Evaluation Frameworks.
• Experience with agent orchestration, retrieval‑augmented generation (RAG), and agentic workflows.
• Proven experience shipping AI‑first products that bridge research and real‑world application.
• Comfort working across the stack or partnering closely with frontend/backend teams.

• A strong perspective on coding agents, how they impact the software development lifecycle, and the future of code generation research.
• A bias for outcomes and iteration — you care more about improving performance than chasing perfection.
• A mentor’s mindset — able to guide a fast‑moving team while staying hands‑on and curious.
• Excitement to build the industry’s first agent enablement platform for developers and enterprises.

Benefits, Salary & Office

• Office: Our brand new 10,000 sq. ft office is in the AI hub of Kings Cross, London. We have generous catering and have regular social events such as team lunches, drinks and more. We require all staff to be in our London HQ at least 3 days a week on our anchor days of Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.
• Salary: We offer a competitive salary based on experience and skills, benchmarked against industry standards.
• Benefits: 25 days holiday, health insurance, including dental and vision, which extends to partners and dependents, as well as a company‑matched pension. We also provide a commuting stipend for those who live outside London, and a cycle to work scheme.

Application Process

Here’s an outline of what you can expect during our interview process:

• Introductory Call with Maurilio, Head of Engineering
• Take‑Home Exercise: You’ll receive a practical challenge based on real scenarios you might tackle at Tessl: an opportunity to showcase your approach to problem‑solving on your own schedule.
• On‑site Technical Session: This is a 2 hour technical session at the Tessl office. You’ll pair with two of our AI Engineering team members to build on your take‑home exercise. This session simulates working together on real problems and allows us to explore your technical expertise more deeply.
• Culture Conversation with Petra, People Lead
• Leadership Discussion with Maurilio, Guy (CEO) and Dru (Head of Product). Our final stage focuses on strategic alignment and long‑term vision. You’ll learn more about Tessl’s roadmap and learn more about how you could contribute to our mission.

We care deeply about the warm, inclusive environment we’re building at Tessl and we value diversity – we welcome applications from those typically underrepresented in tech. If you like the sound of this role but are not totally sure whether you’re the right person, do apply anyway!