**About Us:**
We are a seed-stage B2B startup building the next generation of software
powered by generative AI for the refrigerated freight trucking industry.
Roughly 80% of goods transportation in the US is done by trucks. These trucks
are powered by over 1.2 million trucking businesses and create over $700B in
annual revenue. Channel19’s mission is to address the intricate operational
inefficiencies that burden these trucking businesses. Most of the operations
of trucking companies are still very manual/inefficient, and most of these
companies offshore these manual workflows. We're backed by top-tier investors
and our small but mighty team is growing. We are on the lookout for our first
marketing hire, who is ready to dive in, get their hands dirty, and help shape
the future of freight technology.
**About the Role:**
As a Founding Engineer, you will be a key part of the founding team defining
our ML/AI technical architecture, driving critical projects, and helping build
/ drive a high-performance engineering team. You will work with the founder,
the Director of Engineering, as well as cross-functionally with our team. This
role requires both strategic thinking and practical execution. You will do all
aspects of engineering – from architecture, to coding, to coaching, to hiring,
to quality assurance, to devops and more.
**Responsibilities:**
* Implement the latest research in ML quickly. Push the envelope of what’s possible with the latest and greatest in ML.
* Be one of the first to harness the power of large language models to delight customers and create value.
* Has some academic experience (can read and understand papers). Most likely has published papers to top AI/CV conferences.
* Write clean, maintainable code.
* Help lead our ML team and help evaluate and hire new engineers. (This will primarily be an IC role, but you will have the opportunity to lead our ML team as we scale.)
* Maintain and scale our in-house ML infra.
* Is product-focused and will help us turn research into products people love. (Prioritizing customer needs over pure research.)
* Bonus: Has worked at other product-focused, early-stage startups before. Has a few years of experience.
* Drive technical design and AI decisions, ensuring the scalability and reliability of our systems.
* Work with customers across logistics to understand their needs, and design the tools that enable the workflows of the future.
* Develop and drive the technical vision for our AI usage, in collaboration with the Channel19 team
* Act as a key decision-maker in the selection and integration of software engineering tools, frameworks, and best practices.
* Lead by example and contribute high-quality code on a daily basis.
* Interface with stakeholders across the company to understand their needs and translate them into functional software solutions.
* Balance business needs with technical requirements, ensuring we deliver on time and on budget.
**Qualifications:**
* Expertise in Python, numpy, pandas, pytorch (or equivalent)
* Examples of previous work in AI/ML
* Experience training and extending LLM (custom LLM building experience a plus)
* Familiarity with Agile methodologies
* Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering or related field (or equivalent experience).
* Proven experience as a Principal/Senior Software Engineer, or similar senior role, ideally in a startup environment.
* Excellent hands-on experience with software development and system administration.
* Deep understanding of data structures, algorithms, and system design.
* Excellent problem-solving skills and attention to detail.
* Strong communication skills and the ability to explain technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.
**What We Look For:**
* Clock speed/intellect
* Learning speed
* Empathetic
* Slope, not Y-intercept (growth trajectory)
* Good communication skills (verbal/written)
* Intrinsically motivated
* Friendly
* Obsessive behavior (e.g. attention to detail)
* Curiosity
* Low ego
* Long-term thinking
**What we offer:**
The Founding Engineer will have a fundamental role in shaping the future of
our company and delivering on our mission to enable and empower trucking
companies to grow profitably and sustainably for the long term.
We offer competitive salary, benefits, and equity.
Channel19 focuses on Supply Chain Management, Logistics, and Artificial
Intelligence / Machine Learning. Their company has offices in Fremont. They
have a small team that's between 1-10 employees. To date, Channel19 has raised
$2.7M of funding; their latest round was closed on June 2023.
You can view their website at <https://www.channel19.io/> or find them on
[LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/channel19/).
