Vice President of Technology

About SwayableSwayable is the world’s first causal AI platform that measures how advertising and messages change public opinion. Partners include Amazon, Meta, DoorDash, Airbnb, MIT, Stanford, as well as mission-aligned social impact and election campaigns. The company was founded in 2018 by physics PhDs and is backed by leading technology and social impact investors, including Y Combinator and Higher Ground Labs. This position is the perfect opportunity to lead technology at a high-impact, high-growth, mission-driven startup as it charts the course from 8 to 9-figure ARR.

About the RoleSwayable's Vice President of Technology will lead the evolution of our platform, our AI functionality, machine learning modeling, and the culture and practices of our engineering team. This is a CEO-reporting executive role focused on strategic architecture, technical planning, engineering excellence, and hands-on problem solving, working directly with engineers, data scientists, product management and business stakeholders. You’ll partner with the executive team to define long-term platform vision while ensuring excellence in day-to-day implementation and iteration. The role is part strategist, part team-builder, part builder, and part coach.

What You'll Do

• Architect and lead the evolution of Swayable’s scientific compute platform from seed-stage origins towards its extensible, flexible, scalable target state
• Partner with product, science, engineering management and business teams to adapt roadmaps, specs, and priorities accordingly
• Get deep on the current ontology and architecture of the platform, communicating it clearly to senior leadership (so anyone can understand it at the right level for their position), and use that shared knowledge base to lead development of the future state vision
• Surface all decisions that must be made as we establish that vision, with clear options, recommendations, trade-offs and rationales, including on the sequencing, prioritization and depth.
• Use your well-developed sense of judgement to determine where we should move fast and break things, versus where we need to develop mature systems; where we need to refactor versus where we can get by. On what basis should we make these decisions? How can the trade-offs best be understood? What’s important when?
• Actively solicit the knowledge and ideas of the team across all relevant roles by structuring artifacts, processes and working sessions thoughtfully and successfully
• Own medium- and long-term technical planning, including backlog grooming and solution design, working closely with the VP of Product and Director of Engineering.
• Guide and participate in weekly execution: code reviews, ticket planning, feasibility scoping, sprint management, to stay connected to the substance of what’s being built.
• Lead and support engineering team performance, hiring, and growth, to continue to grow our team of exceptionally talented A players.
• Stay on the leading edge of emerging technologies—particularly AI—and bring relevant innovations into the company, as well as coaching the team on staying on the cutting edge at all times.
• Participate in management and strategy meetings to help drive company-wide planning as a member of the senior executive team.
• Be hands-on in code, particularly around complex, high-impact technical problems

What Success Looks Like

• Swayable’s platform architecture is understood by all engineers, and all technical roles at the company, easily, and changes are made intentionally, with full context and understanding of how the parts interrelate
• The team is more easily able to develop great new ideas for the platform that extend its functionality, make development and quality control smoother and more efficient
• Onboarding of new team members is easy
• The engineering team ships high-quality code, on time and aligned with business needs, with clear prioritization and efficient resourcing. Engineers and product know what to build and why, especially in the compute and ML parts of the platform
• Architecture scales smoothly with product complexity and customer growth
• Strategic tech decisions are guided by a deep understanding of emerging tools and frameworks
• You bring a bias toward action: unblocking others, solving hard problems, and reducing avoidable fires

About You

• Intellectually curious, connected that curiosity to a drive to build and ship
• Experienced judgement about getting the most out of a team of smart people
• Excellent communicator across both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• 10+ years experience in software engineering, including significant time in management and leadership roles
• Proven success managing and scaling technical teams
• Deep technical expertise in modern data and ML stack—especially Python-based systems
• Strong product instincts, with the ability to translate business goals into elegant tech solutions
• Up-to-date on GenAI, LLMs, and emerging AI infrastructure. You’ve hacked projects together because you’re passionate about it.
• You can code fluently, deploy confidently, and debug effectively
• Passionate about social impact and excited to help scale a platform that moves public opinion for good

Bonus

• Advanced degree in computer science, engineering, or a scientific discipline. Original research at the graduate level is valued, since we are solving scientific computing problems, but we are flexible about credentials.
• Experience scaling a product and/or startup team where scientific computing or ML is involved.
• Background in causal inference, experimentation, or scientific research is valuable.

Compensation and Benefits

• Competitive base salary: $210K-$255K depending on experience and location
• Significant equity package
• Full healthcare coverage (no employee contribution required)
• 401K, generous PTO, and parental leave
• The chance to help build technology that matters—for business, democracy, and the world

To ApplyPlease send a brief note and evidence of extraordinary ability—CV, code, projects, or references that speak to your track record.

Swayable is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace and strongly encourage applications from people of all backgrounds.