Engineering Manager

Building the AI Infrastructure for Construction

Construction remains one of the largest real-world systems still operating on fragmented, manual infrastructure.

Every project in the U.S. moves through permitting and pre-construction workflows spread across ~20,000 jurisdictions - each with inconsistent rules, systems, and levels of digitization.

This creates one of the largest bottlenecks in the physical economy, delaying housing and infrastructure projects and costing billions in lost time and capital every year.

Permit Flow is rebuilding this layer from the ground up - using modern software and AI systems to automate permitting end-to-end.

We are still early, and the core systems are actively being defined.

This is one of those rare moments where engineering decisions directly shape an emerging category.

We're looking for an Engineering Manager to lead and scale a high-performing engineering team building the core infrastructure behind Permit Flow.

This is a builder-leader role. You will own both people leadership and technical execution in a fast-moving environment where systems are complex, ambiguous, and deeply connected to real-world outcomes.

You will report directly to our VP of Engineering. Our VP strongly values hands-on technical leadership - the best-fit EMs here are deeply technical, strong communicators, and comfortable staying close to architecture, system design, and the codebase to make high-quality technical decisions.

You will be expected to drive your own roadmap end-to-end from technical direction and execution planning through delivery and customer impact - ensuring what your team builds consistently performs in production and delivers real value to users.

You will operate across systems, people, and execution at scale:

• Lead and grow a high-performing engineering team, raising the bar for ownership, quality, and execution speed
• Build strong engineering culture through clear expectations, 1:1s, feedback loops, and career development
• Define technical direction across architecture, scalability, reliability, and long-term system evolution
• Own roadmap planning and execution from definition through delivery and customer impact
• Partner closely with product, design, and leadership to translate ambiguous real-world problems into scalable systems
• Drive delivery of critical infrastructure used across thousands of jurisdictions
• Improve system reliability, observability, performance, and engineering efficiency
• Play a key role in hiring and developing engineers and future leaders

We're looking for strong technical leaders who thrive in high-ownership, high-ambiguity environments.

• 5+ years in software engineering, including 1+ year in engineering leadership
• Experience building and scaling engineering teams in startup or high-growth environments
• Strong system design and architecture fundamentals (scalable web or distributed systems)
• Ability to lead through ambiguity and turn unclear problems into structured execution
• Strong communication skills across technical and non-technical stakeholders
• High standards for engineering quality, reliability, and performance
• Deep technical fluency - comfortable engaging with code review, architecture, and tradeoffs
• Bonus: experience in workflow-heavy, enterprise SaaS, or infrastructure products
• Bonus: exposure to complex regulated environments (construction, logistics, government systems, etc.)

This is not a maintenance role - it is a systems-building role at the foundation of a category being created in real time.

Permit Flow sits at the intersection of:

• fragmented real-world regulatory infrastructure
• high-friction physical economy workflows
• emerging AI systems capable of automating end-to-end complexity

The systems built here directly impact how quickly housing and infrastructure projects move from idea to execution.

This role offers rare leverage: your decisions will shape both the engineering organization and the core product surface area at an early but rapidly scaling company.

• Competitive salary and meaningful equity in a high-growth company
• 100% company-paid base medical, dental, and vision…