Founding Engineer

The Opportunity

A $5.7 trillion industry that powers modern civilization is stuck in the stone age. Chemical manufacturing, responsible for 25% of global carbon emissions, still runs on paper, spreadsheets, and decades-old systems. The waste is staggering: hundreds of billions in lost productivity and unnecessary emissions.

As enterprise software evolves from a "system of record" to a "system of intelligence," we believe AI agents can transform the chemicals industry. At Poka Labs, we're on a mission to bring AI agents to this critical industry.

We've grown rapidly by deploying our solutions in chemical manufacturers and distributors, and we're looking to bring on world-class talent that can help build agentic AI products for our customers.

Role: Founding Engineer

Overview

As a Founding Engineer at Poka Labs, you will be an integral part of our product build out. Your role will be dynamic, adapting as we deepen our understanding of customer needs and the industry’s demands.

In your first 90 days, you might:

• Visit customer sites to see our software in action, learning firsthand about workflows in quoting automation, order intake, scheduling, and more.
• Build an end-to-end AI agent that is deeply embedded in daily workflows.
• Integrate our platform with enterprise ERPs, CRMs and other software
• Design new product experiences that make complex operations feel simple and magical

This isn’t a typical engineering role- you’ll wear multiple hats as we rapidly adapt to customer needs and market opportunities.

Responsibilities

• Product Development: Design and build product at lightning speed, talking with users and iterating on feedback.
• Infrastructure Management: Own our infrastructure from the ground up- working collaboratively on solutions that will unblock us
• Customer Success: Be prepared to step out of the office and into plants to meet our customers literally where they are
• AI-Native Innovation: Various AI technologies are central to our product. You’ll be critical in evaluating new technologies and deploying them for our customers.

What we’re looking for

• Technical Depth: Full-stack experience with frontend/backend, infrastructure, and DevOps. When something breaks, you fix it yourself and keep moving.
• Our Stack: AI agents powered by leading LLMs, TypeScript/React frontend, AWS infrastructure. Experience with any of these is great, but passion to learn is essential.
• Communication: You’ll explain technical decisions to plant managers, operators, C-Suite executives, and other non-technical users. Clarity over complexity, always.
• Adaptability: Comfortable with ambiguity, rapid iteration, and wearing multiple hats. Things will break- we adapt, move fast, and learn voraciously.
• Location: Based in or willing to relocate to San Francisco. We’re in office 5 days a week.

What We Offer

• Massive Impact: As a member of our founding team, your decisions today will help shape our trajectory for years.
• Culture: We like to think we’re fun, but we’ll count on you to help shape the culture and traditions of the company. Think we should have Magic Mondays, were we we watch magician YouTube videos, and bet on how they are done? Sure, why not. Note: include a crazy suggestion for a tradition in your application so we know you’ve read this far.
• Exceptional Domain Expertise: Work directly with experienced founders who deeply understand the industry we’re working in.

At Poka Labs, we’re building the intelligent backbone of modern manufacturing and we’re excited for you to come join us.