Lead Product Engineer, Hedra

$160-190k

+ Equity

React

AWS

Docker

Kubernetes

TypeScript

JavaScript

Python

Kafka

Next.js

REST API

Golang

DynamoDB

Playwright

Senior level

New York

San Francisco Bay Area

Creation lab building foundation models for next-gen human storytelling

Job no longer available

Creation lab building foundation models for next-gen human storytelling

1-20 employees

B2BContentDigital MediaSaaS

Job no longer available

$160-190k

+ Equity

React

AWS

Docker

Kubernetes

TypeScript

JavaScript

Python

Kafka

Next.js

REST API

Golang

DynamoDB

Playwright

Senior level

New York

San Francisco Bay Area

1-20 employees

B2BContentDigital MediaSaaS

Company mission

To build foundation models into products that power the next generation of human storytelling.

Job

Company

Role

Who you are

5+ years of professional experience with Javascript, React, NextJS, and Typescript
A product-focused engineer who is passionate about the user experience and empowering creatives
Familiarity with audio/video web standards and tools, such as Webcodecs, webRTC, HLS, MP-DASH, FFMPEG, MP4, and MKV
Startup Experience is a must — we work hard and build quickly. Ideal candidates should be passionate with an always-on attitude that drives them to live and breathe the product (not a “punch the clock” disposition)

Desirable

Experience developing scalable services using Python or Golang
Familiarity with authentication / authorization such as oauth2 and OIDC
Experience working with relational and noSQL datastores (such as DynamoDB)
Experience writing unit and integration tests, working with CI/CD, and writing functional-tests using tools such as Playwright
Strong familiarity with frameworks / standards / concepts such as WASM, websockets, IndexedDB, promises, generators, and coroutines
Experience building and scaling cloud-based infrastructure leveraging Kubernetes and EKS
Experience developing/scaling pipelines, event streaming/processing in AWS, using tools such as SQS or Kafka
Experience architecting and implementing REST APIs for distributed systems
Experience with k8s, docker, especially in the context of deploying machine learning models on nvidia hardware

What the job involves

As we continue to expand, we're seeking a dynamic individual to lead marketing and propel Hedra to new heights
As a Lead Product Engineer, you will design, build, and deploy the frontend and backend services that power our transformative products, including Studio and Stylize
You will work with emerging web standards to build web-based video and audio creation / editing tools, utilizing Webcodecs, web-assembly, and FFMPEG
You will also work with frameworks/languages such as NextJS, React, Redux, Mobx, Typescript and Javascript, and dive deep into video container formats and streaming protocols, such as MP4, MKV, HLS, and MP-DASH
You will also work on building and deploying backend services and APIs to our Kubernetes infrastructure, write secure, stable, and scalable Python code, interface with our ground-breaking foundation model, and integrate with SQS, Kafka, S3, and DynamoDB to implement event streaming/processing logic
You will work with passionate engineers and top researchers to build a truly disruptive and novel technology

Our take

The relationship between machine learning and online content has grown closer in recent years, and Hedra is a video content platform that is pushing this symbiosis into new territory. Describing itself as a video foundation mode company, Hedra is building an online creation studio that helps users generate dialogue, audio and video from words.

As a digital presence automation tool, Hedra is moving beyond the likes of DallE and generative AI video content into more nuanced territory. Its most recent product is Character1, a video foundation model for longer-form video generation focusing on customizable AI-generated video characters.

Since Character1’s release in June 2024, more than 1.6 million videos have been generated via the platform, demonstrating the need for its August seed funding round. The $10 million investment will be channelled into developing new technology like a multimodal studio and workflow tool to complement its foundation model.

Kirsty

Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle

Company

Funding (2 rounds)

May 2025

$32m

SERIES A

Aug 2024

$10m

SEED

Total funding: $42m

Company benefits

Equity
401k (no match)
Healthcare (Silver PPO Medical, Vision, Dental)
Gym access (at our office)

Company HQ

SoMa, San Francisco, CA

Leadership

Michael Lingelbach

(Founder & CEO)

Previously Regina Casper Graduate Research Fellow at Stanford University, was an Intern at NVIDIA, Postbaccaulaureate researcher at Salk Institute for Biological Studies and a Scholar at the Janelia Research Campus.

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