AI Specialist

Optomi, in partnership with a leading utility-focused AI solutions provider, is looking for a Senior Route/Work Optimization Engineer to join their Durable AI Team and drive impactful optimization initiatives for the Natural Gas business unit.

The immediate focus is work and route optimization - enhancing how jobs are scheduled, dispatched, and executed in the field. This position will play a pivotal role in improving operational efficiency and customer experience by delivering solutions akin to a "utility-grade version of Amazon-like delivery/arrival notifications." The team requires a senior engineer who can lead technically, uplift junior members, and deliver outcomes quickly and effectively.

• Collaborating with a high-impact AI team delivering solutions in optimization, forecasting, and customer experience.
• Working on challenging, real-world problems in route/work optimization for a utility-operated fleet.
• Opportunities for field visits and deep business immersion in Charlotte, NC.
• A chance to refactor and elevate existing codebases, improving maintainability and performance.

• Real-world route/work optimization experience, including VRP, scheduling, dispatching, and constraints.
• Depth in Operations Research methodologies, such as time windows, constraints, heuristics/meta heuristics, and integer programming.
• Strong Python programming skills, with a focus on clean architecture, readable modules, and testable code.
• Familiarity with geospatial data, GPS, and routing networks for location intelligence and ETAs.
• Proven ability to lead and influence within a team, especially in environments requiring quick outcomes.

• Design and implement work/route optimization solutions for scheduling, dispatching, vehicle routing, and territorial planning.
• Apply Operations Research and Optimization methods to solve real-world constraints.
• Build and maintain production-grade code, refactor existing codebases, and raise engineering standards.
• Utilize geospatial data and location intelligence to optimize routing and customer notifications.
• Partner with business stakeholders to understand workflows, validate requirements, and iterate on field-tested solutions.
• Contribute to end-to-end ML/DS development, including feature engineering, algorithm selection, and evaluation.
• Collaborate with architects and security teams to implement secure patterns and contribute to internal communities of practice.
• Communicate proactively, present tradeoffs, and guide decision-making processes.

• Quickly learn the Natural Gas operational context and translate it into optimization constraints and measurable outcomes.
• Deliver an initial optimization solution or major enhancement that improves routing efficiency and customer scheduling accuracy.
• Raise the bar on code quality and maintainability, making the codebase easier to read, extend, and product ionize.
• Become a trusted partner to the business and a technical leader within the team.