Founding AI Engineer at Arbor
Pioneer the Future of Construction Through Artificial Intelligence
At Arbor, we're revolutionizing the $1T+ construction and building materials industry through cutting-edge AI. As America's leading B2B marketplace for building materials and home improvement supplies, we're not just applying AI to an existing workflow – we're fundamentally reimagining how the industry operates. Based in Palo Alto, we're seeking a visionary founding AI engineer to help us write the first chapters of our story.
The Founding Opportunity
This is a rare chance to be one of the first technical hires at a rapidly growing startup, working alongside seasoned founders to shape not just a product, but an entire industry. As our Founding AI Engineer, you'll have unprecedented autonomy to architect our AI systems from the ground up, making decisions that will influence the company's technical trajectory for years to come.
You won't just be implementing features – you'll be defining how AI can transform one of the world's largest and most essential industries. From designing our first ML pipelines to establishing our AI development culture, your fingerprints will be on every aspect of our technical foundation.
What Makes This Role Unique
- **True Ground Zero**: Join as one of the first 10 employees and help establish our technical DNA
- **Architectural Freedom**: Design and implement our entire AI infrastructure from scratch
- **Industry-Defining Impact**: Create AI solutions that will become the standard for how construction materials are bought and sold
- **Rapid Growth Trajectory**: Shape your role and team as we scale, with clear path to technical leadership
- **Direct Access**: Work directly with founders and senior leadership to define our AI strategy
Core Responsibilities
Foundation Building
- Architect our core AI infrastructure from the ground up
- Establish ML pipelines that will scale with our rapid growth
- Define our AI development practices and technical standards
- Build the foundational models that will power our platform
Technical Innovation
- Design and implement sophisticated ML models for pricing, recommendation, and market analysis
- Create scalable data processing pipelines that can handle industry-specific challenges
- Develop novel approaches to applying AI in the construction materials space
- Pioneer new techniques for combining structured and unstructured data in our domain
Strategic Leadership
- Work directly with founders to shape our technical roadmap
- Make critical early decisions about our AI architecture and stack
- Help recruit and build our technical team
- Establish our AI development culture and practices
What Sets You Apart
Technical Excellence
- MS/PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or related field
- Deep expertise in modern ML frameworks and technologies
- Strong foundation in both theoretical ML and practical implementation
- Proven track record of building production ML systems
Founding Mindset
- Excitement about building from zero to one
- Comfort with ambiguity and rapid change
- Strong bias toward action and pragmatic solutions
- Ability to balance short-term needs with long-term vision
The Ideal Candidate Has
- 4+ years of hands-on ML engineering experience
- Deep expertise in Python and modern ML frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow)
- Experience with large-scale data processing and ML pipelines
- Strong background in MLOps and production system deployment
- Track record of leading technical initiatives from concept to completion
Why Join Arbor Now?
Founding Impact
- Be a key technical founder of a company transforming a massive industry
- Shape our technical culture, practices, and direction
- Build and lead future technical teams
- Create lasting impact on the construction industry
Exceptional Compensation
- Founding employee equity package
- Highly competitive base salary
- Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage
- Flexible PTO and remote-friendly environment
Growth & Development
- Clear path to technical leadership as we scale
- Direct mentorship from experienced founders
- Budget for conferences, training, and development
- Access to cutting-edge AI tools and technologies
This is a unique opportunity to be a technical founder at a company that's poised to transform how an entire industry operates. If you're excited about applying cutting-edge AI to solve real-world problems and want to leave your mark on a massive industry, we want to talk to you.
