Senior Engineer, Platform Architecture

ABOUT US:

Auto Hauler Exchange (AHX) is an innovative startup revolutionizing the auto transport and logistics industry. Our platform connects vehicle shippers and carriers to streamline vehicle transportation with real-time tracking, transparent pricing, and an easy-to-use interface. As we continue to grow, Auto Hauler Exchange is looking for an experienced Senior Engineer, Platform Architecture to join our software development team in Rochester, MI.

JOB OVERVIEW:

AHX runs a federated GraphQL platform, a set of Go services, and several Next.js applications on Google Cloud. As Senior Engineer, Platform Architecture you'll set the technical direction across all of it, and then write code in it alongside the team.

You'll work close to the operational realities of finished vehicle logistics, because the software has to agree with what is physically happening to a vehicle at every step: quote, tender, carrier assignment, tracking, delivery, and invoice.

This is a senior individual contributor role, not a management track. You'll spend a real part of every week with your hands in the codebase, and you'll be a key contributor to our AI strategy on both sides: what we ship to customers, and how we build it.

The first decisions on your desk are real ones: where the boundary sits between our TypeScript subgraphs and our Go service tier, and how far AI should reach into both what we ship and how we ship it. We want someone who will form an opinion and defend it in writing.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Own the architecture across our services, and decide where new capability belongs.
• Set the standards for GraphQL federation, service layering, contract versioning, and data ownership, then write them down so they hold.
• Turn product initiatives into technical designs the team can build from, with contracts and acceptance criteria attached.
• Write and review production code in TypeScript and Go every week.
• Build the first working version of a new pattern so everyone else has something to copy.
• Run point on the hard defects. Find the actual root cause, not the nearest one.
• Partner with Product and engineering leadership on the architecture of our AI product capabilities: document intake and extraction, natural-language access to operational data, and MCP servers for internal and partner tooling.
• Push AI further into how we deliver, with coding standards checked into the repo, automated
• documentation, API contract testing, and advisory code review. A human still approves anything that merges or deploys.
• Set the technical direction for our partner integrations across TMS, carrier compliance, payments, accounting, mapping, CRM, and EDI, keeping partner quirks out of our domain code.
• Define the standards for testing, observability, and release safety that new services are expected to meet.
• Mentor through design review, written architecture decisions, and pairing.

SKILLS & QUALIFICATIONS:

• A minimum of 10 years of experience in a software engineering role, several of them at a staff, principal, or architect level.
• You still write code, and you want to keep writing it.
• Deep TypeScript and Node.js, plus production Go, or another systems language and the appetite to pick up Go.
• Real GraphQL depth: schema design, contract evolution, and what breaks when you get it wrong.
• You've led a service decomposition in production and can talk about the parts that went sideways.
• Cloud platforms (GCP, AWS, or Azure), Kubernetes, and infrastructure as code.
• Event-driven systems done properly: durable messaging, transactional outbox, idempotent consumers, distributed tracing.
• You write clearly. Architecture decision records and design docs are part of the job here, not homework.
• Familiarity with AI tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, Copilot, or similar platforms, and the judgment to know when a deterministic script is the better answer.
• A bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a relevant field is preferred, but not required.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Apollo Federation specifically.
• AI shipped into a product, and AI used to change how a team delivers. Prompt engineering, LLM workflows, agentic tooling, or MCP servers all count.
• Marketplaces, logistics, or another two-sided platform where the software has to agree with the physical world.
• MySQL, Postgres, and Meilisearch or a comparable search engine.
• Next.js and backend-for-frontend patterns.

How to Apply:

If you're ready to take on a diverse and exciting role in a fast-paced startup, we'd love to hear from you! Please submit your resume, along with a cover letter detailing your relevant experience and why you're interested in joining Auto Hauler Exchange.

Auto Hauler Exchange is an equal-opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

Job Type: Full-time

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• 401(k) matching
• Dental insurance
• Employee assistance program
• Health insurance
• Health savings account
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Retirement plan
• Vision insurance

Schedule:

• 8 hour shift
• Weekends as needed

Work Location: Hybrid