Technical Lead (AI Focus)

Job DescriptionJob Description

Optix is seeking a Technical Lead to guide our engineering team through the shift to an AI-first product and development culture—serving as both a hands-on builder and technical mentor.

In this role, you'll split your time between building AI-powered features yourself and establishing the technical foundation for how AI integrates across our product and team practices. You'll make architectural decisions, mentor engineers, and partner directly with our Head of Product to translate product vision into technical reality. You’ll collaborate directly with the leadership team to ensure Optix not only builds world-class AI capabilities but also does so with a

sustainable, scalable engineering culture

where AI-first thinking becomes second nature.

This is a unique opportunity to shape transformation in a profitable SaaS company as we evolve from a rules-based automation platform into a conversational, agentic workspace management system.

Note: This is a hybrid opportunity for someone based in Vancouver, BC (60% in our beautiful waterfront Gastown office, 40% from home).

Requirements

Who you are

8+ years of software engineering experience, with at least 2 years building production AI features that customers actually paid for (not just prototypes)

Proven experience at a SaaS company, navigating ambiguity and establishing AI best practices

Strong full-stack engineering fundamentals; experience with PHP/Laravel and MySQL is a significant plus

Deep hands-on expertise with AI APIs, prompt engineering, RAG implementation, and evaluation frameworks

Experience mentoring engineers and driving adoption of new technical practices across a team

Demonstrated ability to make architectural decisions that balance innovation with pragmatism

You can clearly articulate when

not

to use AI and how to evaluate whether AI features are actually working

AI technical expertise

Production experience integrating LLMs into existing application architectures

Knowledge of AI frameworks like LangChain, Pydantic, LlamaIndex for building reliable AI features

Deep understanding of prompt engineering, context management, and structured output for business applications

Experience with model evaluation, A/B testing, performance monitoring, and quality assurance for AI features

Knowledge of when to use RAG vs fine-tuning vs prompt engineering

Bonus points for

Experience leading the cultural shift to AI-first development practices within an existing team

Data engineering background: ETL pipelines, vector databases, embedding management

Deployment expertise: Containerization, cloud platforms (AWS/GCP), monitoring AI systems in production

Prior experience in B2B SaaS platforms serving enterprise customers

What You'll Do

Technical Leadership

Partner with our Head of Product to translate business objectives into technical AI solutions and architectural decisions

Establish evaluation frameworks and quality standards for AI feature development

Mentor our engineering team, building their AI capability and driving adoption of AI-first development practices

Guide technical decisions on model selection, integration patterns, and system architecture

Hands-On Development

Design and build AI-powered features including intelligent sales widgets, automated message generation, and predictive workflow optimization

Architect scalable AI systems that integrate seamlessly with our existing automations platform

Implement monitoring and evaluation infrastructure to continuously improve AI feature performance

Identify opportunities to leverage AI across our platform for maximum customer impact

Benefits

We take care of our teammates

This is a unique opportunity to join a rapidly growing technology startup. Taking care of our team on this journey is a priority. We offer:

Competitive salary compensation and commission structure

Strong Employee Stock Option Plan offering

Excellent health and dental coverage program provided by Sunlife

Mission-driven workplace experience with a positive, collaborative and supportive team culture

Personal and professional growth opportunities

Healthy snacks and locally roasted coffee – slow pour is our jam

Team lunches and socials

Annual health and fitness credit

Fun offsite activities that allow us to reconnect as a team

A beautiful, waterfront Gastown office and a flexible 60/40 hybrid workplace plan

About Optix

By 2030, up to 30% of all workspaces will be flexible. As the world undergoes this monumental shift, flex space operators are leading the charge towards a new way of working - characterized by community, connection, and creating exceptional experiences.

Optix is the first and only flex space automation software, enabling coworking and flex operators to thrive. We provide operators with a proven B2B SaaS platform that automates their operations, engages their community, and helps them grow their business.

We're a passionate group of people who support each other to do our best work. We enjoy pour-over c…