About the Role
Most early-career developer jobs hand you a ticket queue and a style guide. This one hands you a blank whiteboard and five manufacturing companies.
Big Rocks Manufacturing is a family of precision manufacturers across Missouri — CNC machining, metal fabrication, stamping, tool & die, and powder coating. We process 200+ requests for quote every month, run five facilities on systems that don't fully talk to each other, and we know there's a better way. We just need the right person to help us figure out what that looks like — and then build it.
This is a founding technical role. You won't be executing someone else's architecture. You'll be defining ours. That means evaluating our current tech stack, identifying where AI and automation can create the most leverage, recommending the right tools and platforms, and integrating systems that have never been connected before. The AI Estimating Agent is the flagship first project — but it's one piece of a much larger technology foundation you'll help design from the ground up.
If you want to own something that matters and build something that lasts, keep reading.
What You'll Build
The Foundation (Months 1–4):
The AI Estimating Agent (Months 5–18):
The Broader Platform (Month 12+):
Ongoing:
What We're Looking For
Required:
Nice to Have:
Location
St. Louis, MO 63111 — In person with travel. Regular on-site visits to our operating companies in central Missouri are part of the job. If you want to understand what you're building, you need to see it in person.
Why This Role Is Different
You won't spend years waiting for ownership here. From day one, you're the person who defines how a multi-company manufacturing operation thinks about technology — and then builds it. The decisions you make in Year 1 shape the competitive position of six companies for the next decade.
That's a lot of responsibility for an early-career role. It's also exactly what makes it worth doing.
To Apply
Apply directly through indeed, include a cover letter and a brief note about a technical project you've built. A GitHub portfolio with AI or API work is a strong positive signal. We read them.
Pay: $55,000.00 - $72,000.00 per year
Willingness to travel:
Work Location: In person
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