Principal Engineer

Different Technologies Pty Ltd.; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity in founding team

Remote-friendly work environment

Opportunities for growth and leadership

Job summary

A pioneering technology company seeks a Principal Engineer to architect the platform that will transform the construction industry. You will design and build the technical foundation and lead the engineering team while delivering AI-driven solutions to enhance safety and efficiency. Ideal candidates should have 4–7 years of production systems experience, strong architectural opinions, and a passion for innovation. This role offers significant responsibility, equity, and a hybrid or remote work environment.

Qualifications

• 4–7 years building production systems.
• Deep expertise in frontend or backend but versatile across stack.
• Ability to prototype quickly and iterate based on feedback.

Responsibilities

• Design the technical architecture from scratch.
• Build the core platform for other engineers.
• Recruit and mentor the engineering team.

Skills

Production systems development

Architectural opinions

Frontend development

Backend development

Infrastructure management

Job description

Intellus Build · Make Construction Intelligent

Work with ex-Narvar Founding CTO (Unicorn, $1B+). 6 AI patents. Enterprise AI pedigree: Google DCDE, Oracle, Macy's, Walmart Labs.

We're hiring founding team members to transform how the $12T global construction industry builds—from residential to mission-critical infrastructure.

Principal Engineer: Platform & Architecture

Architect the Platform That Transforms Construction!

Location: Hybrid (San Francisco Bay Area Preferred) or Remote-US

Type: Full-time

Compensation: Founding-team equity (2-4%) + base salary

Construction creates the world around us—yet still runs on WhatsApp, spreadsheets, and gut feel. Sites generate terabytes of data daily—yet none of it tells anyone what to do next.

This isn't a data problem. It's an Intelligence problem.

We're building the nervous system for construction. Think Palantir meets Procore, but actually usable by contractors. Our first customers are already begging for access.

You'll be Founding Engineering Lead, building alongside our founder and construction industry veterans. Async-first. Remote-friendly. Zero bureaucracy. No meetings about meetings. Just ship code that moves dirt and dollars.

You'll set the architecture, standards, and velocity that define Intellus Build's engineering DNA.

Your growth path: You'll start hands-on, architecting and coding. As we scale, you'll build and lead the engineering team. First mover advantage: define the technical culture and the role you want to grow into.

About the Role

Intellus Build is the Infrastructure of Truth—the AI-native operating system that connects dirt to dollars.

What You'll Build

As Founding Engineering Lead, you'll architect and build the foundation of our entire platform:

• Design our entire technical architecture from scratch — make decisions that scale to millions of users
• Build the core platform that other engineers will build on top of
• Ship our first AI features to real construction sites and iterate based on field feedback
• Set up CI/CD, monitoring, and infra for 10× daily deploys
• Recruit and mentor the next engineers and define our engineering culture
• Architect systems that scale from single-site contractors to 100+ location portfolio operations

Requirements

You are:

• 4–7 years building production systems (exceptional cases reviewed)
• Deep in one area (frontend / backend / infra / mobile) but capable across stack
• Someone who thinks 'I'll build a prototype this weekend' when hearing new ideas and ships fast
• Pragmatic, but with strong architectural opinions
• Experienced building systems used by 1,000+ users

Nice to Have

• Built AI/LLM applications that people actually use (not just demos)
• Built systems at scale at a top-tier tech company (FAANG, Stripe, Uber, Airbnb, or similar)
• Open source contributions we can review
• Strong opinions about construction industry inefficiencies

Why This Role Matters

• Massive market: Construction is 13% of global GDP — $12T globally
• Real AI application: Not another chatbot — AI that prevents workplace accidents and saves lives
• True ownership: You're not employee #500. You define everything from tech stack to culture
• Explosive growth vertical: AI infrastructure is the fastest-growing construction segment—we're building the platform to power it
• Pedigree: A Stanford StartX company (elite sub-1% accelerator)

Ready to Build?

You'll complete two quick assessments to show us what you can do.

Top scorers get interviewed. We move fast. No bureaucracy.

Intellus Build is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome candidates from all backgrounds.