Adam PerelmanEngineering Leadership, AnthropicAdam, build Genera.
You've owned engineering from early architecture through company scale, then moved closer to frontier AI at OpenAI and now Anthropic. That combination of CTO-level operating range and hands-on product judgment is why we're reaching out for Head of Engineering, with a real path to CTO: a seat where you own the US team, technical direction, and how Genera builds with AI at the core.
Your experience, matched to the role
Founders who know the problem, backed to win
Genera is building AI agents that let enterprise software teams run every deployment like it’s their most critical customer, doing the deep discovery, configuration, and testing work of world-class Forward Deployed Engineers at superhuman speed. Having led engineering as a CTO and worked inside frontier AI, you know exactly how real this problem is, and how much the founding team matters.
You'd work directly with Will, who's hiring for this role
Will Patterson was an early PM at Clari who built multiple products from scratch into $10M+ ARR lines, ran M&A across three acquisitions in three years, and owned AI strategy across the portfolio. As a fellow builder-operator, he is the person you would partner with day to day.
And James, who wrote the deployment playbook
James Honsa was employee #12 at Ironclad, its first Forward Deployed Engineer, and built the deployment function that scaled customers from $400K to $150M+ ARR. Will and James were Stanford classmates, with 15 years of trust behind the company.
Backed to win early
A Seed led by First Round Capital, with BoxGroup, WndrCo, and founders and executives from OpenAI, Microsoft, Ironclad, Clari, and Anrok. Serious conviction behind a small, experienced team.
Head of Engineering, with a path to CTO
Given what you've already built and led, we're talking to you for Head of Engineering, owning the US team, architecture, and how Genera builds in the age of AI, while partnering closely with the Bangalore team. For the right person, there's a real path to CTO as the company scales.
A market moving toward Genera
As enterprise AI companies add forward-deployed and implementation talent, deployment remains a constraint on growth. Genera is building for that bottleneck while the category is still taking shape, giving a small team the chance to define how the work gets done.
Operating experience, turned into product
Genera isn't a thesis off a slide. James ran deployment inside a fast-scaling enterprise software company. Will shipped products beside design partners and carried six-figure deals at Clari. They kept hitting the same wall, so they set out to build the system they wished they had.
We build hard and protect a full life
James recently shared how we use dinners to build community with the deployment leaders on the front lines of enterprise AI. But for us, sharing meals isn’t only a category-building strategy, it’s a core part of how we work. The work is hard, so we’re deliberate about the rituals that keep us human while we do it.
“Weird Lunch” Tuesdays
Once a week, no matter what, we stop in the evening to eat dinner together. The one rule for whoever's picking (the “dinner dictator”): it has to be something that would be weird to eat for lunch. Some nights we talk about the latest model release, more often it's K-pop, Veblen goods, or parenting wisdom.
Celebrating the wins, together
We mark milestones with a shared meal and a toast to every Generator who made the win happen. The most recent was a team dinner in SF, celebrating a new milestone customer.
High standards, with room for life
Many of us are parents, so Genera is built by people who understand that the best work and a full life outside it aren't a trade-off. Will and James bonded over years of skiing and trail running, and they're building a flexible environment where you can do the best work of your career while still showing up for the people who matter most.
“Every high-growth company is racing to hire Forward Deployed Engineers, and every one of them hits a capacity wall. That wall is the opportunity.”The bet behind Genera, agents that do the routine work of world-class deployment teams at superhuman scale
Worth a conversation, Adam?
No pressure, no process. Just 30 minutes with Will to talk through the role and whether it's your next chapter.
Will Patterson, Co-Founder & CEO, GeneraSee what Genera is building