Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR)

Sierra is an AI First engineering studio and tech incubator. We turn our customers’ ideas into reality! We’re based in Los Angeles, but our teammates live all around the world.

We do everything with an AI First approach, including coding, building our own tooling, and exploring incubating ideas that get traction internally.

💼 ABOUT THE ROLE

An EIR is somebody who wants to start their own company and is actively experimenting to prepare.

The idea of an EIR has existed for a while. Mostly in the context of the venture studio model, in which traditional VC is combined with some sort of talent program to incubate businesses. Our version of the role is slightly different.

Sierra is a talent focused organization, but Sierra is self funded through revenue and not the traditional VC model. Our advantage is our team and the understanding we gain while building. Our engineering & hiring services work is a unique opportunity to explore different domains and technologies in a short time to inspire your future startup’s vision.

Sierra EIRs are responsible for leading client projects AND encouraged to start a new business leveraging our resources & ecosystem. EIRs are also involved with building our company AI First. Our environment uniquely evolves our people’s understanding, ideas, and skills to build next-gen companies.

🧠 WHAT MAKES A GREAT EIR?

We’re looking for entrepreneurial minds with a bias to action and a systems-thinking lens. You might be an engineer, a product thinker, or a domain expert who’s felt the itch to build something of your own.

🧬 Core Skills

• High curiosity and fast learning ability
• Strong systems thinking
• Clear communicator across ideas and execution
• Emotionally intelligent and low ego
• Background in engineering, product, or an industry domain
• Deep understanding of (or excitement about) AI-first thinking

🎁 Bonus Points

• Strong product sense or design chops
• Solid coding or architecture experience
• Experience with ML, LLMs, or data science
• A personal brand or strong professional network
• Experience as a 2nd+ time founder

🔧 DAY IN THE LIFE OF AN EIR

If you’re coming from a product or engineering background, this version of the EIR experience is for you.

It’s geared toward builders who think in systems, tools, and products.

Through client work and internal initiatives, you’ll

• Gain rapid exposure to a variety of domains and technologies
• Identify recurring patterns and unmet needs across industries
• Develop Sierra’s internal AI Roadmap (internal tools, research, experiments)
• Contribute to the design and iteration of early-stage AI products

Over time, you’ll chart your own path

• 🚀 Found a new company
• 🤝 Join another Sierra incubation as a co-founder
• 🧭 Step into a technical leadership role within Sierra

🌱 WHAT ARE THE OUTCOMES OF BECOMING AN EIR?

As an EIR, many of the fundamental pain points are removed from the early days of starting a company

• You don’t have to stealthily moonlight your startup while juggling another job to pay the bills.
• Your entrepreneurship is institutionally encouraged and fostered.
• You work with a high-agency and low-ego team of potential co-founders / founding engineers.
• You can openly collaborate on your incubation and use our environment as a playground to explore new ideas.
• You work in a system that is rapidly surfacing needs, roadmapping, and iterating on new AI tools/products.
• You serve our clients and company. You grow and learn faster than you have before.

After some time, you found your own company, and Sierra does everything we can to set up a great team and support your journey.

You own a founding stake in your business. Through your equity in Sierra, you also own a stake in our services business and a small amount of every company we incubate. This gives you high upside AND diversification as the ecosystem grows.

💖 OUR CULTURE

• Growth mindset: We take risks, learn fast, and build with curiosity.
• Supportive: No egos here — just people helping people build.
• AI-native: We live and breathe tooling, experimentation, and speed.
• Ownership: Everyone acts like a founder, because many of us are.