Head of Software Engineering

Head of Engineering, Venture Build Studio

Location: Hybrid / Remote, with occasional in-person meetings in Ann Arbor, Michigan

Employment Type: Full-Time

Seniority: Senior

We are seeking a Head of Engineering to help build, validate, and scale technology products within a venture build studio focused on physical infrastructure, utilities, construction, capital projects, and related asset‑intensive industries.

This is a hands‑on technical leadership role for someone who can operate across early‑stage product discovery, prototype development, engineering architecture, AI‑enabled applications, and scalable product delivery. The ideal candidate has strong experience in software engineering and product development, with specific exposure to geospatial systems, computer vision / visual recognition, AI‑enabled workflows, field data, maps, imagery, infrastructure assets, or physical‑world applications
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This role requires a versatile candidate who can operate in a mixed mode: hands‑on and supervision others. requires someone who can help translate market problems into technical products, rapidly build proof‑of‑concepts, select appropriate technology stacks, manage internal and external developers, and support the creation of multiple venture‑backed or venture‑studio‑built companies.

• Lead engineering strategy and technical execution across multiple venture build initiatives.
• Translate business concepts, customer pain points, and market opportunities into product architectures, technical roadmaps, prototypes, and scalable platforms.
• Support early‑stage venture validation by building MVPs, demos, proof‑of‑concepts, and technical feasibility assessments.
• Help define product requirements, data requirements, system architecture, engineering scope, and build‑versus‑buy decisions.
• Partner with venture leads, product leaders, subject matter experts, customers, and external advisors to shape technically credible and commercially viable products.

• Support development of applications involving geospatial data, maps, satellite imagery, aerial imagery, LiDAR, utility networks, field assets, construction sites, infrastructure corridors, or other physical‑world datasets.
• Lead or oversee technical approaches involving computer vision, image recognition, object detection, segmentation, change detection, condition assessment, and visual inspection workflows.
• Design systems that combine spatial data, visual data, enterprise data, user workflows, and AI‑enabled analysis.
• Support products serving utilities, infrastructure owners, engineering firms, construction organizations, asset managers, or related physical infrastructure markets.

• Define technical architecture, development standards, cloud infrastructure, security practices, data pipelines, APIs, and integration approaches.
• Recruit, manage, and coordinate internal engineers, external development partners, contractors, and technical vendors.
• Establish practical engineering processes for a venture studio environment, balancing speed, quality, scalability, and cost.
• Review code, technical designs, system performance, vendor deliverables, and engineering plans.
• Ensure products are built with appropriate levels of reliability, security, data governance, maintainability, and scalability.

• Support the use of AI, machine learning, computer vision, generative AI, and automation where appropriate to improve product value.
• Help evaluate AI models, data strategies, model performance, training requirements, third‑party tools, and deployment approaches.
• Ensure AI‑enabled features are developed with practical guardrails, human‑in‑the‑loop workflows, explainability where needed, and fit‑for‑purpose validation.
• Work across more than one venture or product initiative at a time.
• Help evaluate technical feasibility, development cost, delivery timelines, platform risks, vendor capabilities, and product scalability.
• Support investor, customer, and partner discussions by explaining technical strategy in clear business language.
• Contribute to…