Engineering Manager, AI Platform

Our vision is to build the next-generation platform for fast and easy creation of audio and video content. In June 2022, we launched Storyboard, a completely redesigned experience around video creation and what we have always envisioned to be our v1. We are used by some of the world's top podcasters and influencers as well as businesses such as BBC, ESPN, Hubspot, Shopify and Washington Post for communicating via video. We've raised $100M from some of the world's best investors like OpenAI, Andreessen Horowitz, Redpoint Ventures and Spark Capital.   We are looking for an experienced engineering manager to support our AI Platform team – the team that takes models from research (in house, open source or proprietary) and gets it ready for production. This is a unique team that spans both research and applied AI tech stacks. You will work closely with our research and product teams to bring the generative AI technology that powers all of Descript into the hands of our users. You will also collaborate with our research team to build modern training infra and improve productivity of AI researchers. Above all, you will be responsible for ensuring the safe and rapid deployment of our AI models so that we are able to create a magical audio and video editing experience for everyone.   Learn more about how we're building Descript from one of our Engineers.   Your Responsibilities

• Manage, build out, and mentor a team of high performing AI engineers
• Work with our product and research teams to craft both the technical and product vision for our AI features
• Collaborate closely with research teams to push to the boundaries of what is possible with advances in generative AI
• Create a diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture that makes all feel welcome while enabling radical candor and the challenging of group think

You’re someone who:

• Has 3+ years of experience managing high performing and diverse software engineering teams, and 6+ years of experience working with production software systems
• Has familiarity with the latest AI research and working knowledge of how these systems are efficiently implemented
• Shows a high degree of ownership, and is willing to pick up whatever knowledge you're missing to get the job done
• Has the ability to move fast in an environment where things sometimes are vaguely defined and may have competing priorities or deadlines

Nice to haves:

• Experience managing engineering teams at a startup before where the rate of change is extremely high
• Prior experience working with training and inference of generative AI models, especially in production environments
• Familiarity with technologies like Temporal, GPU programming, Python, TS, etc
• AI experience or a research background

The base salary range for this role is $190,000- $240,000/year. Final offer amounts will carefully consider multiple factors, including prior experience, expertise, location, and may vary from the amount above.

About Descript

Descript is building a simple, intuitive, fully-powered editing tool for video and audio — an editing tool built for the age of AI. We are a team of 140 — with a proven CEO and the backing of some of the world's greatest investors (OpenAI, Andreessen Horowitz, Redpoint Ventures, Spark Capital). 

Descript is the special company that's in possession of both product market fit and the raw materials (passionate user community, great product, large market) for growth, but is still early enough that each new employee has a measurable influence on the direction of the company.

Benefits include a generous healthcare package, catered lunches, and flexible vacation time. We currently have offices in San Francisco and Montreal, and are open to folks working remotely between PT and ET time zones. Whether you love WFH or can’t wait to get back to being in person, we're interested in