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Software Engineering Contractor (Part-Time) – AI TEA Tool Development
About the Role
Calcarea is seeking a part-time software engineering contractor to build an AI-powered
Techno-Economic Assessment (TEA) tool to help solidify our product-market fit. Calcarea currently
utilizes carbon capture economic models across multiple software platforms. To streamline our
workflow and scale our impact, we are seeking to automate the integration of these models, allowing
the team to deliver accurate estimates to customers—including shipowners, ship operators, and
coastal industrial emitters (such as power, cement, and wastewater treatment plants).
The contractor’s mission is to design the software architecture and develop a functional front-end
interface that unifies these models into a single, automated workflow. This involves writing orchestration
code to automate the data transfer between the engineering software and financial spreadsheets,
while programming the integration of industry pricing methodologies. Because the TEA is being refined
and updated by our engineering team, the candidate must remain flexible and work collaboratively to
support this ongoing consolidation effort as the math and inputs evolve.
The goal is to build a tool where anyone on the team, whether technical or not, can input key vessel or
facility design parameters and ask questions through an AI prompt to receive CAPEX and OPEX retrofit
estimates. By streamlining this process, the contractor will allow Calcarea to iterate with customers,
partner with shipyards and engineering firms, and support Series A funding efforts. Upon completion of
this project, there is potential for the contractor to expand into building our emissions data/monitoring
collection platform, and contribute to the pilot plant commissioning efforts in the Port of Los Angeles, CA.
Desired Skills
● Experience with software such as Matlab, Excel, and Python.
● Experience with databases accessible by multiple software platforms.
● Experience creating LLM-based user interfaces to make regression-based models accessible to
users from multiple backgrounds.
● Experience with economic analysis methods (e.g., net present value, cost-benefit analysis,
CAPEX and OPEX estimation, etc.).
● Experience with the chemical engineering concepts of ‘mass and energy balances’ and ‘unit
operations’.
Logistics, Compensation & Next Steps
This position is structured as an initial 3-month part-time contract role with competitive hourly
compensation. While the software engineering work offers remote flexibility, contributing to our physical
pilot deployment at AltaSea in the Port of Los Angeles is expected as a secondary responsibility;
therefore, candidates available for a hybrid arrangement in the LA area are preferred. If you are
interested in building tools that accelerate decarbonization and want to gain practical startup
experience, we encourage you to apply. Send your resume and cover letter to info@calcarea.com.