Head of Engineering

Optimus; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading tech firm in Austin seeks a founding engineering leader to architect AI systems and data infrastructure. This role involves building machine learning pipelines and predictive models for intelligent freight insights. The ideal candidate has experience in early-stage startups, a strong product intuition, and the ability to recruit top technical talent. This full-time position offers significant opportunities for impact and leadership in a rapidly scaling company.

Qualifications

• Experience in early-stage startups ready for scale.
• Comfort with ambiguity; builds MVPs quickly.
• Ability to design and build data pipelines.
• Understand distributed systems and event-driven workflows.
• Strong SQL skills with Postgres.
• Design data pipelines for messy real-world data.
• Hands-on experience with LLM-powered workflows.
• Strong prompt engineering and JSON outputs.

Responsibilities

• Architect machine learning pipelines.
• Build integrations with major TMS systems.
• Serve potential freight broker customers.

Skills

Product & Startup Mindset

Backend / Full Stack development

Ability to recruit engineers

Strong product intuition

Experience with Python or MVC frameworks

Strong with SQL, Postgres

Hands-on experience with LLM workflows

Experience managing engineering budgets

Tools

Python

MVC frameworks

PostgreSQL

Job description

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Join as the founding engineering leader to build cutting-edge AI systems and data infrastructure that power intelligent freight insights at scale. You'll architect machine learning pipelines and predictive models that define the technical foundation of a company targeting $125M ARR in 5 years.

AI/ML Systems

Architect next-generation AI systems with advanced predictive models for shipper behavior, intelligent targeting, and automated deal scoring

Data Infrastructure

Process millions of shipment records across 500K+ companies at scale

Product Platform

Serve 20,000+ potential freight broker customers with a scalable platform

Strategic Integrations

Build integrations with major TMS systems and strategic partners

What We're Looking For

• Product & Startup Mindset
• Comfort with ambiguity; builds MVPs quickly
• Strong product intuition — able to turn data and ideas into customer-facing insights
• Experience in early-stage startups ready for scale
• Pragmatic, fast, iterative, and relentlessly resourceful
• Curious and has the ability to learn on the job to use the right tool for the job

Backend / Full Stack

• Can design and build APIs
• Can build UI and application including dashboards and actionable features
• Experience with Python or MVC frameworks
• Understands distributed systems, event-driven workflows, caching, and logging
• Strong with SQL, Postgres
• Ability to design and build data pipelines for messy real-world data
• Hands‑on experience building LLM‑powered workflows (agents, multi‑step reasoning, tool use)
• Strong with prompt engineering, structured outputs (JSON), fallbacks, guardrails

Recruiting & Leadership

• Ability to recruit and close awesome engineers on Day 1
• Proven track record of attracting top‑tier technical talent in competitive markets
• Experience building and mentoring high‑performing, distributed engineering teams
• Strong personal network of engineers to tap into immediately
• Experience managing engineering budgets and resource allocation

Seniority level

Director

Employment type

Full‑time

Job function

Engineering and Information Technology

Industries

Transportation, Logistics, Supply Chain and Storage

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