Full-Stack Engineer (AI-Accelerated)

Company Description Black Hills Labs helps startups and established businesses design and build AI-driven automation systems they fully own and control. The team focuses on rapid proof-of-concepts, go-to-market validation, and practical tools that power sales pipelines, operations workflows, and AI development environments with minimal infrastructure cost. Clients range from fast-moving startup founders to growing businesses seeking to replace manual, spreadsheet-based processes with straightforward, maintainable systems. The company has delivered results such as significantly higher sales conversion rates, rapid enterprise contract wins, large-scale document processing, and substantial cost reductions in specialized domains like carbon credit verification. Black Hills Labs emphasizes simple, transparent solutions without vendor lock-in or high recurring SaaS fees.The roleBlack Hills Labs builds and ships production software for companies that want to own their systems, not rent them. Your first assignment: build a complete operations platform (projects, resourcing, timesheets, invoicing, live dashboards) for an established engineering consultancy in Dubai, part of a large UK construction group. Real users, real deadlines, greenfield codebase. Phase one runs on a server in the client's office with a clean dataset: functionality first, production hardening later.The platform is the first assignment, not the whole job. The client has a pipeline of initiatives behind it - 3D visualization of spatial engineering work, and document intelligence that pulls structured data out of engineering drawings, charts, and scanned documents - and this role is built to grow into them.The setup is what the industry now calls a forward-deployed engineer: embedded with the client, half engineer, half consultant, full owner. Their outcomes are your scoreboard; our standards are your floor.You will work AI-first from day one: Claude Code and similar tools are how we hit a two-person squad's delivery targets. You bring the judgment; the tools bring the speed.What you'll do·  Build features across the stack: React + TypeScript front-end, Python/FastAPI + PostgreSQL back-end.·  Own the environment end to end: stand the system up on a local server in the client's office first, then take it to Azure with Microsoft 365 / Entra sign-on as it moves to production.·  Ship weekly. We work in weekly sprints against monthly delivery targets with the client in the room.·  Use AI coding tools seriously: prompt well, review hard, and turn generated code into clean, tested, documented software.·  Build on a clean data model from day one, and help move the client off spreadsheets and a legacy SQL system when the platform goes to production.·  Work directly with the client's team so what we build actually gets adopted.How we workTwo-person squad: you and Alex, daily. Plan Monday, ship through the week, demo to the client Friday - no standup theater. Claude Code is the default way we write code; review is where the craft lives. Documentation as we go, conventional stack, no vendor lock-in.Your first 90 days·  Day 30: you've shipped production features on the platform and know the client's team by name.·  Day 60: you own a module end to end - build, deploy, document.·  Day 90: you run whole slices of the platform with Alex reviewing, not driving.What you'll needMust have·  3 to 6 years building and shipping production web software, full-stack.·  Real fluency with AI coding tools (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot or similar): you use them daily, you have opinions about where they fail, and they're how you pick up unfamiliar technology fast.·  TypeScript and Python you're not embarrassed by; solid SQL.·  Deployment is part of the job: you can stand up and run a system on a local Linux server (Docker, networking, backups) and deploy the same stack to the cloud.·  Ownership: you can take an outcome and run, not just a ticket.·  Based in Dubai with UAE work authorization for the contract phase (own visa or freelance permit); strong written and spoken English.Nice to have (genuinely optional - curiosity beats checkboxes)· React, FastAPI, PostgreSQL, Azure, Entra/M365 integration.· Document data extraction: OCR, computer vision, or LLM pipelines that pull structured data out of drawings, charts, or scanned documents.· Unity or other 3D / game-engine work, especially visualizing spatial or engineering data.· Data migration off legacy systems.· Exposure to engineering, construction, or professional-services firms.You won't enjoy this if· You want a spec handed to you.· You want a big team to disappear into.· You want to specialize in one stack for years.The pathThis is contract-to-hire, and we say so up front. You start on a 3-month contract with Black Hills Labs, embedded on the build. Do it well and the intended outcome is a permanent offer from the client: you move in-house as the owner of the platform you built, with their other initiatives (3D visualization, document intelligence) landing on your plate. If conversion isn't the right fit for either side, there's an extension option with Black Hills Labs on the next build. Either way you finish the year having shipped a real platform end to end.PackageContract phase: a straight monthly rate, paid by Black Hills Labs, set on experience (tax-free: gross = take-home). No benefits wrapper during the contract - you keep your own visa and setup. On conversion, the permanent package is negotiated directly with the client as a standard UAE employment offer (visa sponsorship, medical, gratuity, the works).How to applyEmail alex@blackhillslabs.com with your CV or LinkedIn and a short walkthrough (written or a quick screen recording) of a real task you shipped with an AI coding agent - prompts, dead ends and all. Process: a 30-minute call, then a paid 2-hour paired build with Claude Code on a real ticket, then an offer. Two weeks start to finish. Referrals very welcome.