Tech Lead, Applied Research - Emerging Tech

Twilio Twilio · Enterprise · United States · Remote · Engineering

Tech Lead for an Emerging Technologies incubation team focused on building Horizon-3 initiatives that redefine human interaction with AI, including agent-native communication channels and an Agent-to-Human protocol. The role involves architecting and delivering prototypes and production-ready solutions, driving AI R&D, and leveraging LLMs for AI-assisted development.

What you'd actually do

  1. Architect & Deliver: Design, develop, and own the end-to-end implementation of high-stakes prototypes and robust, production-ready solutions.
  2. Spearhead AI R&D: Drive the technical direction and collaborate with cross-functional teams to experiment with, validate, and integrate AI, machine learning, and frontier technologies.
  3. Champion Engineering Excellence: Establish governance for code reviews and pioneer continuous improvements to engineering standards, mentoring peers to elevate overall code quality.
  4. Influence & Evangelize: Articulate complex technical concepts, architectural decisions, and project velocity clearly to executive stakeholders and engineering peers alike.
  5. Drive Agility: Navigate ambiguity and rapidly pivot technical strategies in response to shifting requirements, user feedback, and fast-paced market dynamics.

Skills

Required

  • 10+ years of professional full-stack software development experience
  • Proficiency across modern programming languages such as JavaScript, Python, Java or Go
  • Experience building applications using front-end (React, Angular) and/or back-end (Node.js, Springboot) frameworks
  • Data Architecture: Solid understanding of database technologies, including both SQL and NoSQL paradigms
  • Next-Gen Workflow: Mastery of an agentic coding operating model; highly effective at leveraging advanced dev tools, Model Context Protocol (MCP), and LLMs to drastically accelerate AI-assisted development.
  • Strong problem-solving skills
  • collaborative mindset with effective communication skills for technical discussions
  • Extreme Autonomy: Exceptional ability to navigate intense ambiguity, self-unblock execution, and ruthlessly solve ambiguous problems without requiring constant structural support.
  • Leadership & Collaboration: Strong communication and mentorship skills

Nice to have

  • Hands on exposure to LLM, AI, or machine learning principles or projects.
  • Cloud Architecture: Deep knowledge of cloud-based platforms (AWS, Azure)
  • Ability to ramp up on new technologies
  • Passion for innovation and exploring emerging technologies.
  • Experience working in remote or globally distributed teams.
  • Contributions to open source or tech community projects.

What the JD emphasized

  • Mastery of an agentic coding operating model
  • Extreme Autonomy
  • highly effective at leveraging advanced dev tools, Model Context Protocol (MCP), and LLMs to drastically accelerate AI-assisted development
  • Exceptional ability to navigate intense ambiguity, self-unblock execution, and ruthlessly solve ambiguous problems without requiring constant structural support

Other signals

  • AI R&D
  • rapid prototyping
  • agent-native communication channel
  • Agent-to-Human (A2H) protocol
  • autonomous future
  • Horizon-3 initiatives
  • LLM
  • AI-assisted development