Algorithm Engineer

SXD is a design-tech start-up from Harvard charting a radical new standard: to eliminate material waste with great design and bleeding-edge AI. Our design has won the Global Change Award considered the “Nobel Prize of Fashion” while our technology has won MIT Solve’s Global Challenge. Our dynamic team includes award-winning leaders from Instagram to Adidas, passionately committed to zero waste, obsessed with proving the impossible possible. Why We Need You SXD has an immediate opening for an experienced Algorithm Engineer to build our patent-backed, award-winning design-tech web application. You will be the critical builder behind SXD’s mission of making zero waste the new standard across fashion and automotive. You will partner closely with our Director of Technology, a computer science PhD from Adobe Research and a trailblazer in scaling the most efficient designs into digitized blueprints for manufacturing via AI. You will join a tight-knit team of mission-driven creators and work with our network of industry leaders to ensure that our product is built for the easiest adoption. If you’re excited by high-impact engineering, real-world results, and building something that will shape the future of design—this is your role. Final interview round will be in-person, with travel funded by SXD. What You’ll Do

• Develop, refine, and maintain optimization algorithms in C++ using linear algebra techniques to support zero waste design outputs.
• Explore and implement multivariate optimization methods— from simplex to gradient-based and evolutionary algorithms— tuning for performance and robustness in production.
• Design and optimize custom cost functions for machine learning models, including hyperparameter tuning and loss shaping to improve practical outputs.
• Boost computational performance through algorithmic redesign, greedy heuristics, parallelization, and profiling at a low system level.
• Write modular, scalable, and clean code across C++, Python, and at least one additional systems language (e.g., Rust or JavaScript).
• Analyze the time and space complexity of algorithms and systems, ensuring efficient performance at scale.
• Build and use internal debugging tools, visualizers, and test harnesses to speed up experimentation and improve engineering workflows.
• Collaborate with front-end engineers, 2D/3D designers, and researchers to integrate algorithmic solutions seamlessly into user-facing product features.
• Translate academic and theoretical breakthroughs into real-world, scalable solutions adopted by leading fashion and automotive partners.

We Want to Talk To You If You

• Have experience implementing, improving, and maintaining optimization algorithms in C++ using linear algebra techniques (e.g., vector and matrix manipulation).
• Are comfortable with multivariate optimization methods—from classic simplex-style solvers to modern gradient-based and evolutionary approaches—and have a track record of tuning them for speed and robustness.
• Have hands-on work experience with machine-learning algorithms that minimize or otherwise optimize cost functions, including custom loss design and hyperparameter search.
• Are good at communicating the ins and outs of thorny technical problems in simple language, allowing team members to zero in on and demolish issues and bugs.
• Are skilled in boosting ML/optimization performance through algorithmic redesign, greedy heuristics, parallelization, and low-level profiling.
• Are familiar with object-oriented and functional programming paradigms, together with rigorous analysis of time and space complexity to keep web-scale pipelines snappy.
• Are proficient in C++ and Python, and at least one additional systems language (e.g., Rust or JavaScript for WebAssembly) for bridging core solvers to the product front end.
• Are comfortable dogfooding internal tools—building quick-turn scripts, debuggers, visualizers, and test harnesses that shorten feedback loops for yourself and the wider team.
• Are collaborative and excited to partner with designers, front-end engineers, and researchers to translate algorithmic advances into intuitive product features that drive our zero waste mission.
• Are energized by turning cutting-edge research into scalable, user-ready tools, and love solving hard, technical problems that have meaningful, real-world impact.

Why SXD May NOT Be For You

• We’re working on bleeding-edge technology and breaking new ground, which also means a lot of uncertainty and constant change/re-prioritization.
• We’re a small team without many of the amenities, infrastructure, and proven practices you may be used to from working with larger, established teams.

Why SXD?

• From turning the largest music record labels’ tour merchandise zero waste to creating the first zero waste car components, you will be making outsized impact daily.
• You will get to work with the best of the best through our global team, from a world-renowned AI professor from Tokyo, to Levi’s former head of technical design from Paris.
• We know that we are changing the game in design. We have proven 10x more impact in material saving, environmental benefits, and material cost saving than any other solution today.
• Without a sales or marketing team, we have attracted the most iconic global brands across apparel and automotive industries.

Benefits

• Competitive salary and stock options
• Health benefits through Take Command
• Flexible PTO
• Stipends/bonus for exceptional project work
• Opportunity to partner with iconic brands and industry legends

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