Venture Leader, Technical (Propel People)

About Us

Propel People is an AI-powered construction recruiting platform transforming how skilled trades are hired.

We help small and mid-sized trade contractors fill roles faster by automating job distribution, scoring resumes, and streamlining candidate communication. Our mission is simple: give hiring managers tools that actually save time and help them connect with qualified tradespeople, fast.

We’re growing fast, backed by 1848 Ventures, and on a mission to build the future of hiring in the trades. If you’re excited about construction tech, workforce innovation, and being part of a high-energy startup team—let’s talk.

The Opportunity

Propel People is seeking a driven, results-oriented Venture Leader, Technical to join our fast-growing team.

In this role, you’ll lead both the technical strategy and product roadmap, translating our vision into a scalable platform that transforms hiring for the skilled trades. You’ll work side by side with the Venture Leader (CEO) to drive product development, manage technical execution, and build a solution that delivers real-world value to subcontractors and trade professionals. 

This is a hands-on leadership role where you’ll shape the product, hire the team, and execute the roadmap — all while navigating the unique needs of our construction and HR tech users.

If you’re passionate about building from scratch, solving high-impact problems with AI and data, and want to lead a venture with real industry relevance and mission, we’d love to hear from you.

Responsibilities

• Partner with the Venture Leader to bring this new build to life as you each complement each other in skill sets
• Accountable for the success of the venture through leadership and execution of the venture’s technical needs aligned to enabling launch and growth strategy
• Leadership and execution of the activities required for the venture’s success including:
• Technical team leadership
• Product development process management
• Infrastructure
• Software engineering
• Data science experimentation and deployment
• Own product roadmap management — from defining product strategy to sprint-level execution
• Align product development with customer needs, market feedback, and usage data to inform prioritization
• Works with the venture leadership team and 1848 Ventures’ leadership to translate high-level technical strategy and vision into annual and quarterly objectives and key results with a focus on:
• Top-line growth of the venture
• Improvement in accuracy of key data science models
• Financially responsible scaling of required tech infrastructure
• Foster a high-performance culture, providing coaching, development, and leadership that aligns with 1848 Ventures' values.
• Monitor and optimize key metrics, including model accuracy, app traffic, uptime, and development velocity.
• Act as the primary technical liaison, ensuring alignment between stakeholders, execution teams, advisors, end users, and vendors.
• Communicate technical strategy clearly to business stakeholders, investors, and partners.
• Foster a collaborative, accountable culture aligned with Propel People’s’ values
• Ensure compliance with data privacy, security, and industry regulations.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional experience, ideally in SaaS and startup environments.
• Led technical teams in early-stage SaaS startups, driving growth from early traction to $1M+ ARR and product-market fit.
• Co-founded or partnered with a commercial leader in zero-to-one execution.
• Built and scaled technical strategies using Python or Node.js, iterating based on market insights.
• Developed and executed AI/ML-powered solutions with a strong DevOps, data science, and backend/full-stack engineering foundation.
• Hired and led flexible, high-growth teams in digital, data-driven businesses.
• Proven ability to align technical strategy with business goals, partnering with product and business leaders to drive results.
• Experience navigating emerging tech trends, such as AI-driven products or evolving customer needs.
• Data-driven leader, setting and tracking OKRs to measure success.
• Strong people leadership—coaching, developing, and fostering high-performance teams.
• Effective communicator across teams, leadership, investors, and external stakeholders.

Travel

This role is remote. While flexibility is key, we also value in-person connections from time to time. Travel may be needed for customer discovery, team building, strategy sessions and/or networking.

Compensation & Benefits

We offer a competitive salary, incentive program, pension, and a comprehensive benefits package.