Overview In this role you will lead the design and deployment of advanced optimization and ML systems for transportation and logistics at Avathon. You'll tackle real world routing, scheduling, and network optimization problems across multimodal freight, driving scalable AI solutions into production. You'll collaborate with product, engineering, and operations teams to shape AI initiatives that improve efficiency and resiliency in logistics networks. This is a high-impact, technically rigorous role at a growing AI startup.
Compensation / Benefits- Stock Option Grants
- Medical Coverage and Parental Leave Plans
- 401k with Employer Match
- Monthly Technology Allowance
- Office near Pleasanton, CA
- Fully stocked offices and amenities
Responsibilities- Design and implement advanced AI/ML models for fleet optimization and capacity planning
- Develop vehicle routing, scheduling, and demand forecasting solutions (VRP, TSP variants)
- Apply reinforcement learning and hybrid ML + OR approaches
- Build and deploy transportation domain solutions (maritime scheduling, container repositioning, intermodal routing) with real-world constraints
- Productionize models with scalable cloud native architectures and APIs
- Collaborate with engineering to deploy AI in production, ensure robustness and monitoring
- Lead AI initiatives and mentor junior scientists; translate business problems into AI solutions
- Work with large-scale datasets (shipments, GPS/telematics, weather, port congestion) and build feature pipelines
Key requirements- PhD in Computer Science, Operations Research, Applied Math, or related quantitative field
- 10-15+ years of AI/ML or optimization experience or in supply chain planning systems
- Strong Python (NumPy, Pandas) and deep learning framework knowledge (PyTorch/TensorFlow)
- Expertise in optimization tools (Gurobi, CPLEX, OR-Tools)
- Deep knowledge of routing algorithms (VRP, shortest path) and time-series forecasting
- Production deployment experience for ML models
- Familiarity with cloud platforms and data streaming (optional but relevant)
- Strong problem-solving and mathematical modeling abilities
- Effective communication to explain complex models to stakeholders
- Ability to handle ambiguous, real-world constraints
- Python (NumPy, Pandas, PyTorch/TensorFlow)
- Optimization tools (Gurobi, CPLEX, OR-Tools)
- Routing algorithms (VRP, shortest path, heuristics)
