What are the responsibilities and job description for the Head of Engineering position at Jona?
About Jona
The gut microbiome is one of the most complex and consequential systems in the human body - and one of the least understood by most of the people whose health depends on it. Jona exists to change that.
We use deep shotgun metagenomic sequencing - the same method researchers use, sequencing everything found in a stool sample rather than scanning for a fixed panel of organisms - combined with an AI system trained on over 220,000 scientific studies. The result is a personalized report that connects your specific microbiome profile to your health, your symptoms, and what you can do about it. No black box. No generic gut scores. Transparent links to the research behind every finding.
We sell to both consumers and healthcare practitioners - concierge medicine, functional health, longevity and GI practices - and our focus is increasingly on the provider side. It's a mission-driven, science-forward company that takes the product seriously.
About the role
This is roughly 70% individual contributor and 30% team lead for at least the first 12 to 18 months. You'll manage a small team, but you'll be close to the code every day. If you're looking for a mostly managerial role, this isn't it. If you want to architect and ship real product while building a team you're proud of, keep reading.
You'll report directly to the CEO and work closely with the Chief Product Officer and Chief Commercial Officer. There's no layer between you and the people who set direction. You'll be the senior technical voice in a cross-functional org that moves fast and expects the same from engineering.
What you'll own
- Architecture and platform: scalable backends, APIs, and data pipelines. Own observability, CI/CD, security, and infrastructure from day one.
- AI and MLOps: integrate and operationalize ML models across the product stack. Drive model lifecycle, monitoring, deployment, and evaluation in production.
- Product engineering: stay close to the consumer report experience, provider workflows, and internal tooling. Ship features, not just specs.
- Team leadership: manage and mentor 2 to 4 engineers today, with a clear path to grow the team. Raise the bar on code quality, delivery discipline, and engineering culture.
- Engineering roadmap: define and own it. Work directly with product, science, clinical, and commercial counterparts without navigating a layered org.
- Hiring and culture: build the team as the company scales. Be the kind of technical leader that engineers want to follow and grow with.
What we're looking for
- 10 years of software engineering experience, including 3 years building and shipping AI-enabled applications in production
- Experience leading small engineering teams while staying deeply hands-on: player-coach, not pure manager
- Strong full-stack skills across TypeScript, React, and Node.js, Python a plus
- Experience designing scalable APIs and working with production databases, especially PostgreSQL; familiarity with NoSQL or vector stores is a plus
- Hands-on experience with AWS and containerized infrastructure (Docker); Terraform or other infrastructure-as-code experience valued
- 3 years deploying and operating ML/AI systems in production; strong familiarity with MLOps practices
- Comfortable in early-stage ambiguity - good judgment, fast decisions, low ego
- Strong product instincts - you care about what gets built and why, not just how
- Experience in regulated or health-tech environments (HIPAA, clinical data) - preferred, not required
- Experience interviewing and hiring strong engineers - a plus at this stage
Tech stack
TypeScript · React · Node.js · PostgreSQL · AWS · Docker · Terraform · Python · MLOps · LLM pipelines
Compensation
- Base salary: $225,000 to $270,000
- Equity: 0.5 to 2%
Benefits
- Medical, dental, and vision insurance for employees and dependents, including company-contributed HSA/FSA
- 401(k) with company matching
- Unlimited PTO — we operate on a freedom and responsibility model. People actually take time off.
- Fully remote across the US and Canada, with biannual all-company offsites
Salary : $225,000 - $270,000