Brand Engineer

About Calico

Calico is the production AI platform for teams that design, source, and manufacture physical goods. Apparel and accessories brands use Calico to turn sketches and specs into production-ready tech packs, get real-time factory costing and supply matching, and coordinate design, sourcing, and manufacturing in one place, backed by a network of vetted factories around the world.

Our customers are brands with decades of institutional process. Getting Calico into that process, and getting real production value out of it, is a hands-on job. That is why we are hiring a Brand Engineer: someone who sits with the customer, maps how they work today, and builds the path from first pilot to running their production lines with Calico AI.

The Gig

The Brand Engineer, AI Workflows is Calico's strategy and implementation lead for new customers. From the day a brand signs, you own the plan for how Calico fits into their product creation process and you stay embedded with them until it is live in production, adopted by their teams, and measurably faster than what it replaced.

This is a customer-facing role that is equal In a typical month you will spend time inside a customer's design, sourcing, and production teams; map their current workflow from sketch to purchase order; define where Calico plugs in first and what it connects to (PLM, ERP, spreadsheets, factory emails); configure and customize the platform to match; and carry the customer through go-live. You will also be the voice of those customers back to Calico's product and engineering teams, turning what you see in the field into product priorities.

You report to Calico's leadership team and work alongside Sales, Product, and Engineering.

What You'll Do

• Lead discovery with new customers: interview technical design, sourcing, production, and brand leadership; document their end-to-end product creation workflow, systems, data, and the bottlenecks that cost them time and money.
• Define each customer's AI strategy and adoption roadmap: which workflows Calico takes on first, the sequence of rollout across categories and seasons, the integrations required, and the success metrics (cycle time, spec revisions, cost accuracy, factory response time).
• Configure and customize Calico to fit the customer: tech pack templates, costing logic, supplier data, approval flows, and integrations with PLM, ERP, and existing tools.
• Own implementation through go-live: run the project plan, coordinate customer stakeholders and Calico engineering, resolve blockers, and drive adoption with the teams who use Calico daily.
• Build the business case and track it: baseline the customer's current performance, measure the change Calico delivers, and present results to customer executives on a regular cadence.
• Act as a trusted advisor on AI in production: help brand leaders understand what AI can and cannot do in their process, set realistic expectations, and shape change management inside the customer.
• Feed the field back into the product: translate customer requirements and gaps into clear specs for Product and Engineering, and prioritize them by impact across the customer base.
• Codify what works: turn each deployment into reusable playbooks, templates, and integration patterns so the next customer goes live faster.
• Partner with Sales on late-stage deals to scope implementations, pilots, and expansions.

What We're Looking For

• 7+ years in roles that put technology into a business's core process: digital transformation, data and analytics, enterprise technology, solutions or forward-deployed engineering, or technical consulting.
• Direct experience inside an apparel, footwear, or consumer goods brand, or delivering technology to one. You understand how product creation, sourcing, and production actually run and who owns each decision.
• A track record of leading cross-functional implementations end to end, from discovery and business case through integration, go-live, and adoption, with executive stakeholders on both sides.
• Technical fluency: comfortable with data models, APIs, and system integrations; able to configure a platform, work with engineers on the details, and read a tech pack or a cost sheet.
• Extremely comfortable working with uncertainty and learning new systems, software and ways of working
• Strong executive presence: you can run a discovery session with a VP of Sourcing, present results to a CEO, and hold your own with an engineering team.
• Structured, hands-on operator who can manage several customer engagements at once, write clearly, and keep a plan on track.
• Willingness to occasionally travel to customer offices and factories

Nice to Have

• Chief of staff, transformation office, or program leadership experience inside a brand's digital, data, or product organization.
• Hands-on time with AI or ML products in a business setting: piloting, evaluating, or rolling out LLM-based tools, and a clear view of where they add value.
• Background in technical design, product development, or sourcing operations.
• Experience at an early-stage startup or building a customer-facing function from scratch.
• Familiarity with global factory operations and overseas supplier relationships.
• Working knowledge of enterprise systems in this industry, such as PLM (Centric, Bamboo Rose, PTC), ERP, and product data platforms.

Why take this on

• You'll own it. You are the key member for each of our brand partners bringing them into the AI age
• You are the change maker. The gap between how sourcing works and how it should work is enormous, and you will lead the charge leading that transformation.
• The product is real. Brands are on the platform and production is moving. You're not marketing a promise, you are making a real impact
• No layers. Small team, direct line to the founders, and a short distance between what you learn and what we build.