VP of Engineering
Instrumental
Software Engineering
Palo Alto, CA, USA
USD 330k-360k / year
Posted on Oct 10, 2025
VP of Engineering
Palo Alto, CA
Engineering
Hybrid
Full-time
Instrumental technology is used by the world’s most admired electronics brands, such as Meta, NVIDIA, Bose, and Cisco, to significantly reduce the $12T waste caused by downtime and mistakes every year in manufacturing. Our technology leverages data coming off the manufacturing floor and our proprietary AI to automate failure identification & resolution, improving yield, quality, and time to market.
We’ve recently hit an inflection point in the AI Compute market, which is driving significant scale and growth. Instrumental technology plays a critical role in accelerating the delivery of AI compute for global data centers. Instrumental is seeking a VP of Engineering to lead, transform, and scale our software engineering organization into the next great iteration of itself. The ideal candidate is a proven startup leader, who has risen through the technical ranks, carries deep hands-on software expertise, leads a team with focus and urgency, and has demonstrated the ability to transform engineering culture in a startup context.
We’re Looking For Someone Who Is:
- A startup-tested VP of Engineering, with experience inheriting a team, hitting the ground running, and driving step-change improvements. Or, you’ve been a technical founder at a company that scaled its engineering team to 25 or more.
- A cultural champion, able to instill grit, urgency, and excellence in a team, identify and elevate what’s working, while decisively addressing what isn’t.
- A leader with deep technical expertise across the software stack (e.g., app, ML, and systems-level work), ability to provide insight on technical issues, and the judgment to push back on complexity.
- Proven ability to attract and retain startup engineers and managers who thrive in a fast-paced environment – they reliably deliver excellent work, reduce complexity, and find a way to meet a mission in the face of challenges. Quick to coach and/or exit those who aren’t thriving.
Reasons You Should Not Join Instrumental:
- You’ve never worked at a startup before
- You expect a 9-5 (we have a global engineering team)
- You want a remote job
- Ambiguity and urgency stresses you
Requirements:
- Minimum 12-15+ years of experience, including time as a hands-on engineer.
- Prior VP of Engineering (or equivalent startup leadership) experience, with a proven track record of cultural transformation and high-velocity delivery.
- Demonstrated success hiring and retaining top-tier talent and scaling engineering teams.
- Strong technical depth across multiple layers of the stack; capable of challenging assumptions and leveling up the team technically.
- Comfortable in ambiguity and adept at creating clarity and focus under pressure.
- Relentlessly focused on urgency and rapid execution. Ability to lead a team to do the same.
- AI forward. Proactively incorporating AI into personal and team workflows, rethinking paradigms, and the way a team works today.
This position requires access to items and data that are developed under U.S. government contracts and subject to dissemination controls that limit access to U.S. citizens only.
We’re a growing team that works collaboratively, is supportive of each other, and is highly energized by the opportunity for a large impact. We actively work to promote an inclusive environment, valuing passion and the ability to learn. You’re encouraged to apply even if your experience doesn’t precisely match the job description!
The following is a representative annual base salary range: $330,000-$360,000.
Job leveling and salary opportunity are evaluated through our interview process—we review each applicant's experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities. Instrumental’s benefits include: Health, Vision, Dental, Public Transit/Commuter Plans, and Parental Leave.
Req ID: R28