Founding AI Tech Lead in UNITED KINGDOM

About SlideSpeak

SlideSpeak is transforming how consumers and businesses create presentations with AI. Since launching just 12 months ago, our users have generated over 6 million presentations, and we're experiencing explosive growth - all while being profitable and bootstrapped. We're the fastest-growing company in the space, doubling our revenue every 3 months. We have a world-class team and product competing against legacy software that hasn't innovated in decades. The only thing that can stop us now is the team we cultivate, so we're looking for exceptional people dedicated to reimagining how people tell stories.

About the role

Skills: Python, FastAPI, NextJS, React, TypeScript, Cloud Infrastructure (GCP/AWS/Azure), AI/ML frameworks

We've built a RAG-based AI platform that's revolutionizing how people create presentations, but our success is outpacing our infrastructure. We need a technical leader who can:

• Architect systems that will handle 10x our current scale
• Make pragmatic technical decisions that balance speed and quality
• Lead development across our full stack
• Write production-grade code while setting the standard for our engineering team

You will work directly with the founding team to design and build the future of presentation creation from the ground floor of a high-growth startup. We pride ourselves on having a hands-off culture with few meetings and on giving engineers a broad scope of responsibility and autonomy.

About you

• You have concrete career goals. We expect you to help us hit our goals, so you also expect us to help you reach yours - without clear goals, there's a fundamental misalignment for success.
• You move fast and expect your teammates to move quickly, too. We've entered a phase of growth where there is more work to do than there are people to do it - this means everyone on the team will be busy, but there are also countless opportunities to grow personally and make progress towards your goals.
• You have a high quality bar for your work. As we scale our teams and customer base up, the expectations of our software rises with it.
• You're looking for teammates, not coworkers - folks you can lean on to help make your goals possible while at SlideSpeak, and beyond.

Responsibilities

• Lead architectural planning and technical strategy across our full stack
• Design and build robust backend systems using Python, FastAPI, and advanced database frameworks
• Drive frontend development with NextJS, React, and TypeScript
• Guide the development of our LLM and ML services for generating creative content (images, infographics, icons, text).
• Establish scalable infrastructure with microservices on GCP, AWS, and Azure
• Mentor junior engineers and conduct code reviews
• Participate in product planning and technical decision-making

Qualifications

• 4-5+ years experience with demonstrated leadership in architecture and planning
• Expert-level proficiency in Python and backend frameworks (FastAPI preferred)
• Strong expertise in React/NextJS and TypeScript
• Experience maintaining/scaling larger codebases with methodologies like TDD
• Deep familiarity with cloud platforms (GCP preferred) and infrastructure automation
• Proven ability to design production-grade systems that scale

Nice to have

• Experience with AI frameworks (LangChain, Llama Index, RAG-based systems)
• Knowledge of vector databases (PGVector) and PostgreSQL optimization
• Familiarity with SVG and 2D graphics development
• Previous experience in fast-paced startup environments

Tech stack

• Frontend: NextJS, Zustand, Tailwind, Prisma
• Backend: Python, FastAPI, Llama Index
• Database: PostgreSQL, PGVector
• LLMs & AI: Azure OpenAI, Google Gemini Flash, Replica
• DevOps: GitHub Actions, Checkly, Docker Compose, Azure, GCP, AWS

Benefits

• Competitive salary: $80k-$120k based on experience
• Meaningful equity in a profitable, high-growth company
• Fully remote (±3hrs GMT timezone)
• Company-provided laptop and software budget
• Budget for industry conferences (AI Engineer, WebSummit, etc.)
• Quarterly team trips across Europe and globally
• WeWork membership

Interview Process

1. Initial Screening (20 minutes)
2. Architecture & Experience Deep Dive with Founder/CEO (Case sent 4h before, 60-minute interview)
3. Technical Coding Challenge (Case 2 days before, interview 60 minutes)
4. Cultural Fit with Founder/CEO (60 minutes)