Engineering Manager
Thinking Machines Lab
Engineering Manager
Thinking Machines Lab
Researches AI and builds tools to customize models
The mission of Thinking Machines is to build AI that extends human will and judgment. We are training frontier models with Inkling, developing Tinker to let people make models their own, and crafting interfaces that broaden human-AI communication. We believe the future worth building is human, and we're hiring people who want to build it.
We're hiring an Engineering Manager to lead a team of senior and staff-level engineers across ML infrastructure and product. You will help the team build and scale systems that are reliable, performant, and easy to operate.
This role combines collaboration with hand-on work. You’ll partner with tech leads to set the technical direction for your team and own its execution. You should also be ready to go deep on system design and contribute directly when needed.
Lead and grow a team of senior and staff-level engineers, setting clear expectations and maintaining a high bar for execution.
Own architecture, system design, and long-term technical direction for your team's systems, with emphasis on reliability and performance.
Contribute directly to design reviews, prototyping, and debugging critical issues.
Partner with researchers and product teams to define roadmaps and prioritize work.
Hire and close senior engineering talent. Mentor engineers into technical leaders.
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent industry experience in computer science, engineering, or similar.
8+ years of experience building and scaling production systems, including system design and distributed systems.
3+ years of engineering management experience in high-growth environments.
Experience managing teams of senior or staff-level engineers.
Background in infrastructure, systems engineering, or developer productivity.
Familiarity with AI/ML systems, data infrastructure, or high-performance computing.
Track record of building or contributing to widely used systems, platforms, or tools.
Location: This role is based in San Francisco, California.
Compensation: Depending on background, skills and experience, the expected annual salary range for this position is $450,000 - $500,000 USD.
Visa sponsorship: We sponsor visas. While we can't guarantee success for every candidate or role, if you're the right fit, we're committed to working through the visa process together.
Benefits: Thinking Machines offers generous health, dental, and vision benefits, unlimited PTO, paid parental leave, and relocation support as needed.
Researches AI and builds tools to customize models
Thinking Machines Lab researches and builds AI systems, aiming to make AI more widely understood, customizable, and capable. It publishes much of its research openly on its Connectionism blog, starting with work on making AI models give consistent answers to the same question. Its first product, Tinker, lets researchers and developers fine-tune open-weight AI models on their own data while Thinking Machines runs the computing clusters behind it, so customers focus on their data and training methods instead of managing hardware and pay for the computing they use. Former OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati founded the lab in 2025, and it is based in San Francisco.
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