VP Engineering - AI/ML Core and Platform Engineering

Job description — paste this into the description field

About Apeiron

Apeiron is applying agentic AI to one of the largest unsolved problems in industrial software: 140,000+ legacy control systems running the world's refineries, chemical plants, power stations, and manufacturing facilities. The installed base is $35–60B. No cross-vendor migration path exists. OEMs won't build it — it would help their customers leave. Big AI won't build it — the domain is too specialized, the training data isn't on the internet.

We are the first company to crack it. Our platform plans, parses, translates, and validates control logic across vendors using cross-attention models and closed-loop tool use. Live production demo runs at 98% fidelity, validated tick-by-tick. We have an active Honeywell Process Solutions co-sell partnership and three enterprise pilots in motion with Chart Industries, Shell, and NOV.

We are spinning out of Titan Advanced Energy Solutions and closing our Series A in July–August 2026. We need a co-founder VP Engineering in the seat before close.

The Role

You will be VP Engineering of Apeiron. You own all software development — AI/ML core, platform engineering, product, and DevOps. You inherit a small existing engineering team that needs to grow. You report directly to CEO Shawn Murphy.

What you own:

• AI/ML architecture and model development across the entire platform
• The cross-attention translation engine at the core of the product
• Multi-vendor parsing, validation, and simulation pipelines
• Closed-loop eval harness behind the 98% fidelity guarantee
• The 12–15 person engineering team you'll lead and grow
• Technical face of the company in investor diligence, customer evaluations, and OEM partner conversations

Who We're Looking For

We are looking for a founder-type — someone who can take the vision, drive it, and make the existing team even better than it already is. A builder, not a caretaker.

Required:

• 15+ years software engineering; 5+ years leading an engineering org at Director, VP, or CTO level
• Has hired, structured, and retained teams of 10+ engineers
• Deep AI/ML architecture experience — you design, review, and challenge model decisions at the architecture level, not just manage the team that builds them
• Prior co-founder, founding CTO, founding engineer, or early-stage venture-backed startup experience
• Boston area, available hybrid at Salem MA HQ (relocation assistance available)