Tech Lead - Platform

United States Digital Space LLC; Paris (TX); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity in company

Hybrid work from Paris HQ

International team

Job summary

Pelico is seeking a senior platform engineer to own end-to-end platform capabilities, from substrate development to product-like roadmaps. You’ll drive architecture decisions, expose reusable APIs, and lead by example within a small elite squad.

Hybrid work from Paris HQ with a global, diverse team, focusing on scalable, AI-native infrastructure and developer tooling used by multiple squads across the company.

Qualifications

• Track record of shipping production platform / framework / infrastructure that other engineers build on (SPIs, libraries, runtimes, dev tooling, or AI substrate)
• Deep, current hands-on coding — we build in Kotlin/Java and TypeScript/React for the squads; strong here or a fast learner
• Real API / SPI / abstraction‑design judgment with performance and correctness at scale (up to hundreds of millions of records)
• Platform-as-product mindset — optimize adoption and leverage, and comfortable deprecating
• Track record of leading senior engineers by example, not by leaving the keyboard

Responsibilities

• Build the substrate: author the framework, SPI, runtime, or AI tooling used by other squads
• Run it as a product: own roadmap, contracts, adoption metrics, and deprecation policy
• Set the bar: write specs, run spec-driven workflow, and establish eval/review gates for trustworthy agent‑authored code
• Harvest the field: convert recurring customer patterns into platform capabilities for reuse
• Lead by example: write critical code, mentor peers, and grow the squad reputation

Skills

Hands-on coding

API design

Platform mindset

Lead engineers

Tools

Kotlin/Java

TypeScript/React

Job description

About PelicoTraditional industrial manufacturing systems were built for predictability. Supply chains no longer are. Today, real-time data is buried in legacy tools that weren't designed for constant disruption. By the time an issue surfaces, it has already snowballed, sending everyone into firefighting mode. the company exists to close the gap between production plans and the daily reality on the factory floor.

We've built the manufacturing orchestration platform trusted by the world's most complex industrial operations : companies like Airbus, Boeing, Safran, Eaton, and Cartier. Our AI connects fragmented supply chain, production, and quality data into a single live operational picture — then puts AI agents to work anticipating disruptions, simulating recovery options, and keeping every team aligned before small problems become expensive ones.

Founded in 2019 and backed by General Catalyst, 83North, and Serena, we've raised $72M and are growing fast — 300% year-over-year revenue growth, deployed in 15+ countries, and supporting factories worldwide. We're headquartered in Paris, with offices in Miami, London and Amsterdam, and we're just getting started.

This is a rare chance to join a company that’s redefining an industry that hasn't been disrupted in decades — from the inside.

About the Platform squads

Pelico is a configuration-driven, AI-native platform: a field engineer stands up a running factory application by authoring YAML — schema, algorithms, widgets, actions, agents — instead of writing code. The Platform squads build the reusable blocks that make that possible, and we run them as a product: our customers are other engineers — the Solution squads, our Regional Solution Engineering pods, and customer AI teams building on top of us.

You’ll lead one squad — the configurability framework, the compute layer, the widget surface, the agent-development substrate (MCP/LSP/harness/BYOM), the integration layer, or the end-user Copilot — owning a capability cluster the whole company builds on.

Your mission

You’ll own a platform capability end to end — and ship it yourself:

• Build the substrate. Author the framework, SPI, runtime, or AI tooling other squads depend on, and review the rest at architectural depth.

• Run it as a product. Own the roadmap, the contracts your consumers rely on, the adoption metric, and the deprecation policy that keeps the surface clean.

• Set the bar. Author specs, run the spec-driven workflow, and stand up the eval and review gates that make agent-authored code trustworthy.

• Harvest the field. Turn recurring customer patterns into platform capabilities, so learning compounds instead of fragmenting into bespoke forks.

• Lead by example. Write the load-bearing code, pair with your engineers, raise their craft, and grow the squad as the leverage you ship earns it.

Your impact

Every Solution squad and every customer deployment is only as strong as the platform underneath it. Own a capability cluster well and you create leverage the entire company compounds on — the difference between a platform that scales and a pile of one-off forks.

What we’re looking for

This is a lead‑by‑example role for a senior engineer who builds platforms other engineers love. You're excited by deep, high‑blast‑radius problems, you measure yourself by what others build on your work, and you lead by being among the best engineers in the room.

You’ll need

A track record of shipping production platform / framework / infrastructure that other engineers build on (SPIs, libraries, runtimes, dev tooling, or AI substrate)

• Deep, current hands‑on coding — we build in Kotlin / Java 25 (TypeScript/React for the experience squads); strong here, or a fast learner

• Real API / SPI / abstraction‑design judgment, with a feel for performance and correctness at scale (up to hundreds of millions of records)

• A platform‑as‑product mindset — you optimize for adoption and others’ leverage, and you're comfortable deprecating

• A track record of leading senior engineers by example, not by leaving the keyboard

Nice to have

Running a team as an internal platform (adoption metrics, internal NPS, deprecation, roadmap)

• Squad‑relevant depth — codegen/annotation processors, Kubernetes/IaC/observability, React/design systems, MCP/LSP/agent harnesses, ERP/connectors, or end‑user agent UX

• AI‑native ways of working (agentic workflows, eval harnesses, spec‑driven development)

• Aerospace / defense / discrete‑manufacturing context

• French is a plus, not a requirement

If you bring the essentials and a strong mix of the rest, we want to hear from you — we're hiring the person who’ll make this real, not a checklist.

What we offer

A real ownership mandate over a capability cluster, with equity in a category‑defining scale‑up

• Deep, high‑leverage problems with real customers and real scale

• An AI‑native engineering culture and a small, elite squad — be challenged, learn, and have fun

• Hybrid working from our Paris HQ, an international team of 36+ nationalities

the company is an equal opportunity employer. We're committed to building a diverse team and an inclusive environment where everyone can do their best work.