Hi, We're System1!

About Startpage:

​

Startpage is System1’s flagship privacy technology brand, delivering high-quality private search, browsing, and AI experiences to millions worldwide. Founded in the Netherlands and built on privacy-by-design, Startpage operates the world’s second-largest private search engine for users who demand a safer, better web.

​

Startpage is a profitable, scaled global business generating significant revenue, gross profit, and EBITDA, with a loyal and growing international user base.

​

Search is undergoing its most significant transformation in decades. AI is redefining how users discover information, how platforms monetize attention, and how digital businesses are built and operated. We are seeking a General Manager to lead Startpage’s AI transformation — rearchitecting product, growth, monetization, and operations to build the leading AI-native, privacy-first search platform globally.

​

Role Overview:

​

The General Manager is the full P&L owner of Startpage.  You will own and drive the operating plan and financial performance of a profitable business while aggressively evolving its strategy to compete in the AI-driven future of search.

​

This role requires balancing bold transformation with financial discipline — driving innovation while protecting profitability, brand trust, and capital efficiency.

​

The GM must view AI not as a feature layer, but as core infrastructure shaping product, growth systems, monetization, and operating workflows.  You will operate with an owner mentality — running Startpage as a standalone business with founder-level accountability, supported by the scale and resources of System1.

​

Core Mandate:

​

·   Transform Startpage into an AI-native search and discovery platform

​

·   Redefine privacy-first search experiences beyond traditional query-response models

​

·   Reinvent monetization models for AI-enhanced search

​

·   Embed AI into core operating workflows across product, marketing, analytics, and operations

​

·   Deliver sustained user and query growth while maintaining disciplined profitability

​

This position is an onsite role requiring you to work in our headquarters located at 4235 Redwood Ave. Los Angeles, CA  90066.

​

Growth & Distribution Acceleration:- Drive global user and query growth through product expansion, performance marketing, lifecycle initiatives, and content/community strategies.

• Expand distribution via browsers, OEMs, privacy platforms, and publishers.
• Originate, structure, negotiate, and close high-impact strategic partnerships.
• Increase experimentation velocity through AI-assisted insights and automation.

AI-Native Product Reinvention:- Define and execute the long-term vision and multi-quarter roadmap for AI-enhanced, privacy-first search and browsing experiences.

• Develop differentiated AI-powered user experiences within privacy-by-design principles.
• Evaluate build, partner, and acquisition strategies for AI capabilities.
• Ensure AI innovation enhances trust, transparency, and user control.

Monetization & Financial Discipline:- Reimagine monetization models for AI-enhanced search experiences.

• Optimize yield with search, advertising, and feed partners while maintaining privacy alignment.
• Drive disciplined forecasting, capital allocation, and margin management.
• Improve unit economics and long-term scalability.
• Deliver transformation while protecting EBITDA and financial resilience.

AI-Augmented Operating Model:- Redesign internal workflows to be AI-first across product, growth, analytics, and operations.

• Shorten build-test-scale cycles through automation and intelligent tooling.

Leadership & Cultural Transformation:- Build and lead an AI-fluent, high-performance leadership team.

• Foster a culture of experimentation, speed, accountability, and intelligent risk-taking.
• Recruit and develop talent that thrives in AI-native environments.
• Serve as a credible spokesperson for Startpage with users, partners, media, and the global privacy community.

What Success Looks Like (24–36 Months):- Meaningful acceleration in global DAU/MAU and query growth

• Clear AI-differentiated product experiences
• Faster product iteration cycles and experimentation velocity
• Expanded global distribution partnerships
• Improved monetization yield and scalable unit economics
• AI embedded across core operating workflows
• Strengthened market position as the leading scaled privacy-first alternative

What You’ll Bring:- 5+ years of experience in consumer internet, search, AI products, private search, or high-growth digital platforms.

• 2+ years in a GM, Business Unit, or comparable P&L leadership role or as an entrepreneur.
• Demonstrated experience within the past 12-18 months leading AI-driven product innovation or business transformation.
• Proven ability to redesign operating models using AI and automation.
• Strong understanding of growth systems, monetization mechanics, and partnership economics.
• Financial acumen — able to build models, manage forecasts, and make capital-efficient decisions.
• Technical fluency to partner effectively with engineering, product, and data teams.
• Analytical, experimentation-driven mindset.
• High bias for action — you test and learn rather than overanalyze.
• Entrepreneurial operator who moves quickly and embraces calculated risk.
• Mission alignment with privacy as a strategic competitive advantage.

Why This Role Is Unique:- A Profitable Platform at Scale - Startpage is not an early-stage startup. It is a profitable, global business with meaningful revenue, EBITDA, and a loyal user base.

• True Transformation Mandate - This is not a caretaker role. You will define and execute the next chapter of private search in the AI era.
• AI at the Core of Search - As search and AI converge, Startpage sits at the center of this evolution — offering the opportunity to shape the privacy-first alternative at global scale.
• Founder-Level Autonomy - System1 operates its divisions as standalone businesses. As GM, you will run Startpage with founder-level autonomy, supported by the capital and infrastructure of a larger organization.

What We Have To Offer:- Competitive salary + bonus + equity

• Generous PTO + 11 company holidays
• Open sick time
• 100% covered Medical, Dental, Vision for employees
• 401k with match
• Health & Dependent Care Flex Spending Account
• Paid professional development
• Leadership & growth opportunities
• Virtual company and team building events

​

System1’s headquarters is located in Marina del Rey, CA with an additional office in Bellevue, WA.

​

Employees near office locations are returning to the office.

​

Equal Employment Opportunity:

​

System1 provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

​

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

About Startpage:

​

Startpage is System1’s flagship privacy technology brand, delivering high-quality private search, browsing, and AI experiences to millions worldwide. Founded in the Netherlands and built on privacy-by-design, Startpage operates the world’s second-largest private search engine for users who demand a safer, better web.

​

Startpage is a profitable, scaled global business generating significant revenue, gross profit, and EBITDA, with a loyal and growing international user base.

​

Search is undergoing its most significant transformation in decades. AI is redefining how users discover information, how platforms monetize attention, and how digital businesses are built and operated. We are seeking a General Manager to lead Startpage’s AI transformation — rearchitecting product, growth, monetization, and operations to build the leading AI-native, privacy-first search platform globally.

​

Role Overview:

​

The General Manager is the full P&L owner of Startpage.  You will own and drive the operating plan and financial performance of a profitable business while aggressively evolving its strategy to compete in the AI-driven future of search.

​

This role requires balancing bold transformation with financial discipline — driving innovation while protecting profitability, brand trust, and capital efficiency.

​

The GM must view AI not as a feature layer, but as core infrastructure shaping product, growth systems, monetization, and operating workflows.  You will operate with an owner mentality — running Startpage as a standalone business with founder-level accountability, supported by the scale and resources of System1.

​

Core Mandate:

​

·   Transform Startpage into an AI-native search and discovery platform

​

·   Redefine privacy-first search experiences beyond traditional query-response models

​

·   Reinvent monetization models for AI-enhanced search

​

·   Embed AI into core operating workflows across product, marketing, analytics, and operations

​

·   Deliver sustained user and query growth while maintaining disciplined profitability

​

This position is an onsite role requiring you to work in our headquarters located at 4235 Redwood Ave. Los Angeles, CA  90066.

​

Growth & Distribution Acceleration:- Drive global user and query growth through product expansion, performance marketing, lifecycle initiatives, and content/community strategies.

• Expand distribution via browsers, OEMs, privacy platforms, and publishers.
• Originate, structure, negotiate, and close high-impact strategic partnerships.
• Increase experimentation velocity through AI-assisted insights and automation.

AI-Native Product Reinvention:- Define and execute the long-term vision and multi-quarter roadmap for AI-enhanced, privacy-first search and browsing experiences.

• Develop differentiated AI-powered user experiences within privacy-by-design principles.
• Evaluate build, partner, and acquisition strategies for AI capabilities.
• Ensure AI innovation enhances trust, transparency, and user control.

Monetization & Financial Discipline:- Reimagine monetization models for AI-enhanced search experiences.

• Optimize yield with search, advertising, and feed partners while maintaining privacy alignment.
• Drive disciplined forecasting, capital allocation, and margin management.
• Improve unit economics and long-term scalability.
• Deliver transformation while protecting EBITDA and financial resilience.

AI-Augmented Operating Model:- Redesign internal workflows to be AI-first across product, growth, analytics, and operations.

• Shorten build-test-scale cycles through automation and intelligent tooling.

Leadership & Cultural Transformation:- Build and lead an AI-fluent, high-performance leadership team.

• Foster a culture of experimentation, speed, accountability, and intelligent risk-taking.
• Recruit and develop talent that thrives in AI-native environments.
• Serve as a credible spokesperson for Startpage with users, partners, media, and the global privacy community.

What Success Looks Like (24–36 Months):- Meaningful acceleration in global DAU/MAU and query growth

• Clear AI-differentiated product experiences
• Faster product iteration cycles and experimentation velocity
• Expanded global distribution partnerships
• Improved monetization yield and scalable unit economics
• AI embedded across core operating workflows
• Strengthened market position as the leading scaled privacy-first alternative

What You’ll Bring:- 5+ years of experience in consumer internet, search, AI products, private search, or high-growth digital platforms.

• 2+ years in a GM, Business Unit, or comparable P&L leadership role or as an entrepreneur.
• Demonstrated experience within the past 12-18 months leading AI-driven product innovation or business transformation.
• Proven ability to redesign operating models using AI and automation.
• Strong understanding of growth systems, monetization mechanics, and partnership economics.
• Financial acumen — able to build models, manage forecasts, and make capital-efficient decisions.
• Technical fluency to partner effectively with engineering, product, and data teams.
• Analytical, experimentation-driven mindset.
• High bias for action — you test and learn rather than overanalyze.
• Entrepreneurial operator who moves quickly and embraces calculated risk.
• Mission alignment with privacy as a strategic competitive advantage.

Why This Role Is Unique:- A Profitable Platform at Scale - Startpage is not an early-stage startup. It is a profitable, global business with meaningful revenue, EBITDA, and a loyal user base.

• True Transformation Mandate - This is not a caretaker role. You will define and execute the next chapter of private search in the AI era.
• AI at the Core of Search - As search and AI converge, Startpage sits at the center of this evolution — offering the opportunity to shape the privacy-first alternative at global scale.
• Founder-Level Autonomy - System1 operates its divisions as standalone businesses. As GM, you will run Startpage with founder-level autonomy, supported by the capital and infrastructure of a larger organization.

What We Have To Offer:- Competitive salary + bonus + equity

• Generous PTO + 11 company holidays
• Open sick time
• 100% covered Medical, Dental, Vision for employees
• 401k with match
• Health & Dependent Care Flex Spending Account
• Paid professional development
• Leadership & growth opportunities
• Virtual company and team building events

​

System1’s headquarters is located in Marina del Rey, CA with an additional office in Bellevue, WA.

​

Employees near office locations are returning to the office.

​

Equal Employment Opportunity:

​

System1 provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

​

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

System1 is building the next generation of AI Agent–powered consumer products, and we’re looking for a Lead AI Product Engineer to help lead the effort. You’ll design, build, and operate our most ambitious AI agent systems from early prototypes through production, owning core architecture, reliability, and performance as these products scale.

​

This is a high-impact, hands-on engineering role for a builder who can move quickly from concept to working systems, shipping, iterating, and hardening real agent workflows that deliver consumer value at scale.

​

This role sits at the intersection of multi-agent orchestration, agentic coding, and production engineering, offering the opportunity to work on cutting-edge AI while directly influencing real-world product outcomes and business performance.

​

You do not need prior experience with every protocol or framework listed below—we value strong systems thinking, production experience, and the ability to learn fast in emerging domains.

​

What You’ll Do:- Build and operate multi-agent systems that plan, coordinate, and execute tasks across multiple tools and services, to solve real user problems at scale.

• Implement agentic coding workflows, where agents generate code, run tests, create diffs or PRs, and iterate autonomously within guardrails.
• Design agent orchestration layers (planners, supervisors, evaluators) to manage task decomposition, retries, and long-running execution.
• Instrument and monitor agent behavior across success, failure, latency, cost, and human overrides, with exposure to agent-to-tool payment flows as the ecosystem evolves.
• Collaborate with Product & Design to translate user problems into shippable agent workflows, iterating quickly based on real-world feedback.

What You’ll Bring:- Strong experience building LLM-powered systems in production, including prompt engineering, structured outputs, tool/function calling, and agentic coding workflows where agents write, modify, and validate code within guardrails.

• Solid backend engineering skills with Python and/or Node.js, designing APIs, async services, and background workers that support long-running, stateful agent workflows.
• Experience designing multi-step, agent-driven execution loops (plan → act → evaluate → retry), with explicit state management, idempotency, and failure recovery.
• Comfort with distributed systems primitives (queues, pub/sub, durable state, rate limiting, concurrency controls) required to coordinate agents at scale.
• Proven ability to instrument and observe agent behavior, emitting structured events for task success, failures, retries, overrides, and code-generation outcomes.
• Experience deploying and operating systems on cloud infrastructure (AWS or GCP), using Docker and CI/CD pipelines.
• Familiarity with inter-agent communication patterns, including message schemas, shared memory, blackboard systems, or event-driven coordination.
• Experience implementing agent evaluation pipelines (prompt regression tests, simulation-based evals, automated scoring, human-in-the-loop review).
• Understanding of cost-aware execution for agents (dynamic model routing, caching, batching, budget constraints).
• Experience with RAG architectures, vector databases, and persistent memory strategies.
• Exposure to emerging agent protocols (e.g., x402 payment flows, MCP), with the ability to implement evolving specs pragmatically.

Who You Are:- You operate with high urgency, agency, and a bias for action, translating ideas into working systems quickly, learning from real-world signals, and iterating continuously.

• You pair speed with rigor, bringing strong engineering fundamentals (systems thinking, evaluation discipline, reliability) so each iteration is meaningfully better, not just different.
• You embrace a “long is wrong” mindset, simplifying, automating, and removing bottlenecks to consistently reduce cycle time.
• You think and act like an owner, making sound tradeoffs and taking end-to-end accountability for performance, reliability, cost, and user experience.
• You optimize for technological leverage, building reusable primitives, tooling, and patterns that compound team output over time.
• You are growth-minded, working backward from LTV/CAC and prioritizing engineering work that moves activation, retention, conversion, and cost per successful outcome.
• You excel at constraint removal, unblocking execution and increasing innovation per unit time, including through agentic tool use with clear guardrails and observability.

What We Have To Offer:- Competitive salary + bonus + equity

• Generous PTO + 11 company holidays
• Open sick time
• 100% covered Medical, Dental, Vision for employees
• 401k with match
• Health & Dependent Care Flex Spending Account
• Paid professional development
• Leadership & growth opportunities
• Virtual company and team building events

​

System1’s headquarters is located in Marina del Rey, CA with an additional office in Bellevue, WA.

​

Employees near office locations are returning to the office.

​

Equal Employment Opportunity:

​

System1 provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

​

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

System1 is building the next generation of AI Agent–powered consumer products, and we’re looking for a Lead AI Product Engineer to help lead the effort. You’ll design, build, and operate our most ambitious AI agent systems from early prototypes through production, owning core architecture, reliability, and performance as these products scale.

​

This is a high-impact, hands-on engineering role for a builder who can move quickly from concept to working systems, shipping, iterating, and hardening real agent workflows that deliver consumer value at scale.

​

This role sits at the intersection of multi-agent orchestration, agentic coding, and production engineering, offering the opportunity to work on cutting-edge AI while directly influencing real-world product outcomes and business performance.

​

You do not need prior experience with every protocol or framework listed below—we value strong systems thinking, production experience, and the ability to learn fast in emerging domains.

​

What You’ll Do:- Build and operate multi-agent systems that plan, coordinate, and execute tasks across multiple tools and services, to solve real user problems at scale.

• Implement agentic coding workflows, where agents generate code, run tests, create diffs or PRs, and iterate autonomously within guardrails.
• Design agent orchestration layers (planners, supervisors, evaluators) to manage task decomposition, retries, and long-running execution.
• Instrument and monitor agent behavior across success, failure, latency, cost, and human overrides, with exposure to agent-to-tool payment flows as the ecosystem evolves.
• Collaborate with Product & Design to translate user problems into shippable agent workflows, iterating quickly based on real-world feedback.

What You’ll Bring:- Strong experience building LLM-powered systems in production, including prompt engineering, structured outputs, tool/function calling, and agentic coding workflows where agents write, modify, and validate code within guardrails.

• Solid backend engineering skills with Python and/or Node.js, designing APIs, async services, and background workers that support long-running, stateful agent workflows.
• Experience designing multi-step, agent-driven execution loops (plan → act → evaluate → retry), with explicit state management, idempotency, and failure recovery.
• Comfort with distributed systems primitives (queues, pub/sub, durable state, rate limiting, concurrency controls) required to coordinate agents at scale.
• Proven ability to instrument and observe agent behavior, emitting structured events for task success, failures, retries, overrides, and code-generation outcomes.
• Experience deploying and operating systems on cloud infrastructure (AWS or GCP), using Docker and CI/CD pipelines.
• Familiarity with inter-agent communication patterns, including message schemas, shared memory, blackboard systems, or event-driven coordination.
• Experience implementing agent evaluation pipelines (prompt regression tests, simulation-based evals, automated scoring, human-in-the-loop review).
• Understanding of cost-aware execution for agents (dynamic model routing, caching, batching, budget constraints).
• Experience with RAG architectures, vector databases, and persistent memory strategies.
• Exposure to emerging agent protocols (e.g., x402 payment flows, MCP), with the ability to implement evolving specs pragmatically.

Who You Are:- You operate with high urgency, agency, and a bias for action, translating ideas into working systems quickly, learning from real-world signals, and iterating continuously.

• You pair speed with rigor, bringing strong engineering fundamentals (systems thinking, evaluation discipline, reliability) so each iteration is meaningfully better, not just different.
• You embrace a “long is wrong” mindset, simplifying, automating, and removing bottlenecks to consistently reduce cycle time.
• You think and act like an owner, making sound tradeoffs and taking end-to-end accountability for performance, reliability, cost, and user experience.
• You optimize for technological leverage, building reusable primitives, tooling, and patterns that compound team output over time.
• You are growth-minded, working backward from LTV/CAC and prioritizing engineering work that moves activation, retention, conversion, and cost per successful outcome.
• You excel at constraint removal, unblocking execution and increasing innovation per unit time, including through agentic tool use with clear guardrails and observability.

What We Have To Offer:- Competitive salary + bonus + equity

• Generous PTO + 11 company holidays
• Open sick time
• 100% covered Medical, Dental, Vision for employees
• 401k with match
• Health & Dependent Care Flex Spending Account
• Paid professional development
• Leadership & growth opportunities
• Virtual company and team building events

​

System1’s headquarters is located in Marina del Rey, CA with an additional office in Bellevue, WA.

​

Employees near office locations are returning to the office.

​

Equal Employment Opportunity:

​

System1 provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

​

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

Startpage is the second-largest private search engine on the planet, used by millions who demand a better, safer web. We’re entering a major new growth chapter - and we’re hiring a growth hacker to build the engine that powers it.

​

This is not a traditional marketing role. It’s a high-visibility, high-ownership position for a creative builder who wants to shape how a category-defining product scales. You’ll report directly to the General Manager of Startpage, operate with significant autonomy, and lead the programs that accelerate acquisition, activation, and loyalty across web, app, and browser experiences.

​

If you’re a roll-up-your-sleeves builder and an AI-powered strategist who takes ideas from 0→1, this is your stage.

​

This position is an onsite role requiring you to work in our headquarters located at 4235 Redwood Ave. Los Angeles, CA  90066.

​

The Role You Will Have:- Own the growth roadmap for Startpage: design, test, and scale initiatives that expand reach, app installs, and browser usage globally.

• Lead the non-paid growth playbook: content flywheels, organic social, community and forums, partnerships, IRL pop-ups, surprise-and-delight stunts - anything that earns attention and trust.
• Run smart bets with exploratory budgets across channels; double down where you see signal and sunset what doesn’t move the needle.
• Hands-on ownership: ideate, prototype in AI, make the assets, launch the campaign, wire the tracking, iterate.
• Launch campaigns across TikTok, app stores, influencer and creator collaborations, podcasts, brand partnerships, and viral social formats - then author crisp business cases for where we invest next.
• Define KPIs, instrumentation, and dashboards; make data-driven calls to scale, pivot, or kill experiments quickly.
• Be our trend radar and cultural translator: bring fresh ideas from the internet’s front lines into our growth engine.
• Partner tightly with social, product, design, and analytics to ship fast, learn faster, and create compounding growth loops.

What You Will Bring:- 5+ years in growth marketing or a related role, with a track record of non-traditional, high-velocity experimentation for tech or digital products.

• Scrappy attitude: 0→1 builder who executes end-to-end. Prioritizing doing over delegating.
• Sharp analytical chops; you can evaluate full-funnel performance across channels and distill complex data into clear, decisive next steps.
• Hands-on experience allocating budgets and working with influencer/creator programs.
• Comfort building and prototyping using AI tools.
• Bonus: experience growing subscription businesses or mobile apps.

Why This Role Is Different:- Global canvas, real impact: You’ll shape the growth of a product millions use every day, in a category that truly matters - privacy.

• Autonomy with upside: You’ll run the playbook, place the bets, and get the resources you need as channels prove out.
• Visibility and velocity: Direct line to leadership, rapid iteration cycles, and the chance to define how a beloved product breaks into its next phase.

What We Have To Offer:- Competitive salary + bonus + equity

• Generous PTO + 11 company holidays
• Open sick time
• 100% covered Medical, Dental, Vision for employees
• 401k with match
• Health & Dependent Care Flex Spending Account
• Paid professional development
• Leadership & growth opportunities
• Virtual company and team building events

​

The U.S. base salary range for this full-time position is $133,000 - 182,875 + bonus + equity + benefits. Our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position across all US locations. Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process. Please note that the compensation details listed in U.S. role postings reflect the base salary only, and do not include bonus, equity, or benefits.

​

System1’s headquarters is located in Marina del Rey, CA with an additional office in Bellevue, WA.

​

Employees near office locations are returning to the office.

​

Equal Employment Opportunity:

​

System1 provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

​

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.