Software Engineer (Early Career)

About the role

Pax is the AI control tower for global trade, helping enterprises like Verkada, Glossier, Yamaha, and Kodak run their trade compliance. We started with duty drawback—recovering $10B/year in unclaimed tariffs—and are now building the full operating system for compliance and refunds. You’ll own real features end-to-end, from API design to frontend UI, and shape the future of a $10B+ industry.

What you'll do

• Own real features end-to-end: API design, backend logic, frontend UI, and everything in between
• Build tools that make complex regulations feel like magic
• Work directly with customers to understand what matters, then ship fast
• Build with LLMs to solve real problems for real businesses, not imaginary ones

Your first 90 days

• Week 1: Ship a real feature to production
• First 30 days: Deliver an end-to-end project alongside a founder, something agentic powered by LLMs
• 60 days: Independently own a vertical end-to-end, from spec to ship
• 90 days: Work directly with enterprise clients, incorporating feedback and building product in front of them

You’ll write systems that reconcile tens of millions of dollars in annual trade volume against thousands of pages of complex federal regulations, turning PDFs of customs entries into structured, refundable data.

Requirements

• Has built and shipped something they're proud of (show us the GitHub, side project, or passion project)
• Can go deep on backend architecture and also cares that the UI feels crisp
• Genuinely curious about building with LLMs, eager to learn fast
• Understands tradeoffs, knows when to move fast vs. polish
• Comfortable with ambiguity and thrives in early-stage environments
• Doesn’t need permission to start something but knows when to ask for input
• Wants to own real outcomes, not just code
• Hands-on experience with frameworks like React, Next.js, FastAPI, SQLModel, Postgres, etc.

About Pax

Pax was started by people who lived this problem. Penny Chen (CEO) holds a PhD from MIT and built optimization algorithms at Flexport and Amazon’s supply-chain last-mile team. Chris Le is a repeat founder (previously at Brex, TikTok, and Amazon) who worked on supply-chain optimization. We’re well-capitalized, have real enterprise customers, and are transforming a $10B+ industry.

Logistics

• Location: San Francisco (in-person only, no remote)
• Visa: We support TN visas or transfers but will not sponsor new H1-Bs