Welcome Lionel Vital: VP of Engineering at Kira

We’re excited to welcome Lionel Vital as Kira’s new VP of Engineering. Lionel blends hands-on technical depth with startup grit and a heart for education. He believes great engineering starts with listening to teachers and building tools that make their work easier, faster, and more joyful.

Q&A with Lionel

Q: Tell us a bit about your background—what brought you to Kira, and why did this opportunity resonate with you?

Lionel: I’ve spent about 15 years bouncing between being a software engineer, founder, and engineering manager. I’ve worked on everything from AI platforms to supply-chain software. Kira’s mission is what hooked me in. I grew up in Hayward, CA, and had a few teachers who went out of their way to give me personalized lesson plans. That completely changed my trajectory. The idea of building a platform that helps any teacher in the world unlock that same potential in their students is what drives me.

Q: What are you most excited about as you start your journey here?

Lionel: Collaborating directly with teachers to understand their biggest challenges, then rolling up my sleeves with the amazing team at Kira to build the tools teachers wish they had.

Q: What’s something interesting or unique about yourself that your new colleagues might be surprised to learn?

Lionel: I’m a bit obsessed with anything food-related. I roast coffee, dry-age meat, and ferment or preserve the latest peak-season produce. My kitchen looks like a science experiment half the time.

Q: How do you see your role contributing to Kira’s mission of transforming education through AI?

Lionel: My goal is to help Kira scale, both the product and the team. We already have a strong foundation, and I want to help strengthen it and streamline how we build. We can then grow the team in a way that keeps us fast, reliable, focused, and aligned with Kira’s mission.

Q: When you’re not working, what do you love doing? Any hobbies, interests, or passion projects you’d like to share?

Lionel: If I’m not eating or cooking, I’m probably dialing in a pour-over with some fruity co-fermented coffee, tinkering with live-edge woodworking projects, or watching/playing basketball (terribly—my knees and ankles are giving up). Long term, I’d love to retire on a small hillside farm where I can grow coffee and vegetables, with enough fridge and pantry space for all my food experiments and gadgets.

Lionel brings a builder’s mindset and a teacher-first focus to our engineering org. We’re thrilled to see how his leadership will help us ship faster, elevate product quality, and turn teacher feedback into tools that make learning more personal and more accessible. Welcome to Kira, Lionel!