Reimagine the Future of Building Design
At StructureCraft, we’re not just engineers and builders: we're innovators in the built environment. As an award-winning structural engineering, manufacturing, and construction company specializing in timber structures, our mission is to improve the built environment by demonstrating how an integrated Engineer-Build model produces better, more beautiful, and more efficient structures than the typical fragmented construction process.
At Branch, a startup within StructureCraft, we're taking this mission further by changing how the world approaches structural design, blending precise real-time analysis with powerful digital fabrication techniques into one cohesive tool. We're creating a smart, modern, end-to-end design tool that blends real-time structural analysis with fabrication, seamlessly integrating design and construction in one cohesive platform.
The Challenge
You know what it’s like to face problems that others don’t even know exist: building design isn’t just about good software; it’s about bridging creativity and execution. At Branch, we’re tackling issues like high-performance data structures, real-time collaboration across the design-to-fabrication pipeline, and making this experience seamless for every user, from architects to engineers to builders.
We're taking on the complexities of real-time modeling and structural analysis, working at the intersection of design and performance, all while keeping it elegant. Our platform has already been used on over 1,000,000 square feet of built timber construction, and we're pushing the envelope further.
What Is Our Product
Branch is a next-generation software platform for building structural design, cutting across traditional boundaries between design and manufacturing in the AEC (Architecture, Engineering, and Construction) industry.
Our goal is to let all stakeholders—from owners and architects to engineers and fabrication experts—collaborate in a unified design space. This not only facilitates a smoother workflow but also enables real-time cost and carbon feedback on design changes, dramatically speeding up decision-making and enhancing accuracy. Users can explore high-level design concepts, like building massing, and instantly understand detailed impacts, including shop drawings, bills of materials, and CNC files.
Branch is highly interactive and extensible, allowing designers to explore options without limitations. We believe that integrating data from all aspects of the process allows for faster exploration and holistic, elegant designs.
What You'll Do
As the Director of Software Development, you'll be at the forefront of leading our engineering team and shaping our technical strategy. You will:
- Lead and Mentor the Engineering Team: Manage, mentor, and grow our talented team of developers. Help individuals develop professionally, provide feedback on technical design via code reviews and design documents, and foster a culture of technical excellence.
- Architect and Build: Take ownership of our technology strategy and the design of our technical architecture. Design and implement solutions for new features and re-architect existing code to maintain high performance and a seamless user experience as we add new design modes (concept design, structural analysis, detailed fabrication).
- Optimize for Performance and Flexibility: Balance the flexibility of tools like Rhino - on whose 3D geometry kernel Branch is currently based - and Grasshopper - the industry-leading visual programming language in AEC - with performance and development speed. Harness Grasshopper’s power to make our platform hackable, extensible, and user-friendly.
- Create Infrastructure Strategy: Develop and execute our strategy for DevOps and technical infrastructure. Decide between on-premises CI/CD systems versus cloud infrastructure, and adjust our deployments to handle progress on multiple fronts.
- Own the technical roadmap: Design data storage solutions for better interoperability and to summarize data across projects. Integrate tools like Speckle and other cloud services into our roadmap.
- Testing and Deployment: Establish a balanced approach to automated and manual testing to ensure high quality without excessive maintenance overhead.
- Team Growth and Recruitment: Assess gaps in the team and help recruit new talent across North America, Europe, and beyond. Decide on team structure and whether to expand into different time zones.
Our Tech Stack and Technical Challenges
Our Technology Stack Includes:
- Languages: C# and Python are at the core of our development, and we're leveraging web technologies for a modern UX.
- Tools: We leverage Rhino, Grasshopper, Visual Studio, Github and our own automated build and testing infrastructure to build our platform.
- Architecture: Our architecture takes advantage of spatial acceleration data structures and graph-based structural analysis, and exposes scripting APIs for extreme customization.
The Technical Challenges You'll Tackle Include:
- High-Performance Computing: Developing spatial acceleration data structures for blazing-fast performance while handling 3D models with millions of elements.
- Real-Time Analysis and Feedback: Implementing graph-based and finite element structural analysis for real-time performance and feedback.
- Extensible and Hackable Platform: Creating a platform that is naturally scriptable and extensible, allowing users to define custom logic using visual programming tools like Grasshopper.
- Integrating Manual and Parametric Workflows: Solving the challenge of allowing manual edits within parametric workflows to accommodate special cases without losing the benefits of automation.
- User Experience Design: Crafting a modern, intuitive, and beautiful user interface that enables users to concisely express 3D design intent.
- Relationship-First Modeling: Developing a relationship-first modeling approach to allow easy access to context and facilitate complex modeling tasks.
- Query Languages and Scripting Interfaces: Building query languages for building models, and scripting interfaces for handling even the most complex projects
What Excites Us About You
- Seasoned Software Leader: You have 10+ years of software development experience, with at least 3+ years in a leadership role. You have experience working on and leading software products through multiple lifecycle phases.
- Technical Expertise: You're a technical expert who understands complex data structures and high-performance software. While you might not code as much as you used to, you're willing to dive into the details when necessary. Experience with CAD, gaming, or AEC software is a plus.
- Problem Solver and Innovator: You often think, "There must be a better way," and you search until you find one. You have a portfolio demonstrating your ability to solve conceptually challenging problems.
- User-Focused Visionary: You're excited by the challenge of making intricate systems intuitive for users, knowing that great software is about more than just code. You're passionate about improving user experiences and enabling users to design buildings better, faster, and more intelligently than ever before.
- Team Leader and Mentor: You're ready to grow a team, set a vision, and guide us as we redefine an industry. You believe in clear, honest communication, value feedback, and are all about finding the best solutions together.
- Built-Environment Enthusiast: You're excited to be part of an industry that makes physical things—buildings! You appreciate that good buildings are both beautiful and efficient, and you want to help make more of them.
- Mission-Driven: You're unhappy with the status quo in building design, and you're excited to have a chance to build something better. You're agile and adaptable, comfortable working in a lean startup environment.
Why Branch?
We’re not your typical startup. Backed by StructureCraft’s expertise and resources, we have a long-term vision and the freedom to innovate without the short-term pressures of VC funding. You’ll be stepping into a key leadership role, helping shape the future of how buildings are designed, with the opportunity to make a meaningful impact on an entire industry.
What Sets Us Apart
- Great People: We have a team of software experts who also understand and care about the building industry. You'll work alongside professionals passionate about making a real change.
- Solid Product Foundations: In our industry, getting the details right is essential. Branch has already been used to detail and produce fabrication data for more than 1,000,000 square feet of mass timber construction.
- Access to Users and Expertise: Our position within StructureCraft means we work closely with industry-leading SME’s in the domain of designing, engineering, detailing, fabricating, and constructing low-carbon buildings. As StructureCraft is bootstrapping the software internally through executing real-world projects, we are able to move faster than a startup with only external clients. Our software engineering team works directly with the software end users, in the same company - from structural engineers to fabrication detailers, computational designers, CAM/CNC technicians, construction project managers, and skilled carpenters. This facilitates rapid feedback and development cycles.
- Long-Term Vision: We’re tackling a hard problem and we’re in it for the long haul. Without the short-term focus of VC funding, we have the freedom to innovate and the stability to execute our vision.
Where You'll Be
This is a permanent, full-time position. While we have offices in Vancouver, and Seattle, our software development team is distributed, and we're flexible for the right person. We prefer candidates near (or willing to relocate to) our Vancouver or Seattle offices, but for the right person, we’re open to remote work—as long as you're willing to work in Pacific Time and join our daily stand-ups.