Build the Future of Surfing: Head of Engineering Wanted (santa cruz)

We're building Onda — a mobile app for experienced surfers to track their sessions, get real-time surf forecasts, connect with their crew, interact & contribute to hyper local communities and receive personalized AI-powered recommendations based on historical data and live conditions. We launched our MVP in July and are growing fast. We’re looking for a Head of Engineering to own our architecture and build something exceptional — with the potential to expand to a parity web platform and robust social experience built on strong marketing + analytics infrastructure. You’ll Lead: - Our cross-platform Kotlin MP mobile app (Android + iOS) - A Python-based cloud-native system built on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) - Event-driven services using Firebase + Cloud Functions - A modular Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) system designed to provide context-aware surf forecasts and recommendations. It combines custom logic orchestration (via LangGraph), cloud-based vector search (Vertex AI), and real-time FastAPI endpoints for inference. - Backend data pipelines that process and organize user and surf data so we can deliver custom forecasts, recommendations, and analytics for each user. - Wearables integration - Technical strategy for a future web platform, social features and regional expansion - Marketing tech stack integration: attribution, analytics, CRM tools for engagement You Might Be a Fit If You: - Surf or have a strong affinity for the ocean - Have led or architected 0→1 mobile and/or ML-based products - Know how to build event-driven, analytics-ready systems and own data infrastructure - Have experience supporting growth teams and marketing integrations - Have startup or founding engineer experience - Are excited about delivering exceptional user experiences - Enjoy building tight feedback loops between data, ML, product, design and marketing - Take ownership and get things done – even when the specs are vague and the timelines are unclear Why Join? - You will receive significant equity compensation. This is an equity-only position as we are a pre-seed startup and you’ll be getting in at the ground floor. - Real ownership over complete tech strategy - Space to experiment and shape the entire stack - Build something surfers will love - Be part of launch parties and events!