Senior Permitting & Plan Review Expert

About the Role We are hiring a Senior Permitting & Plan Review Expert to serve as a full-time domain expert for our engineering, product, design, data, and go-to-market teams. This is not a traditional production review role where your main job is to clear a queue of permits. Instead, you will help Brain Co. understand how real permit reviewers make decisions, interpret building codes, evaluate applications, and handle edge cases across jurisdictions.

The role is roughly: 80% permitting, plan review, code interpretation, and application review 20% product, project management, documentation, and GTM support What You'll Do - Answer nuanced permitting and code interpretation questions from engineering, product, and design teams - Review permit applications, plan sets, submittals, and AI outputs to identify what is correct, incorrect, missing, or ambiguous - Help define what a real reviewer would approve, reject, or send back for revisions - Label applications and review examples to help train and evaluate our ML systems - Synthesize jurisdiction-specific requirements, local amendments, and reviewer practices into clear internal guidance - Speak with other SMEs, reviewers, or jurisdiction contacts when needed to understand local practices - Help create internal review rubrics, checklists, documentation, and benchmark examples - Occasionally support customer conversations, product discovery, onboarding, or GTM work as a domain expert Who You Are - ICC Certified Plans Examiner (CPE) credential is required - 5+ years of hands-on plan review, plans examination, code consulting, private provider, building official, or permitting experience across multiple jurisdictions - Experience reviewing across multiple jurisdictions, states, municipalities, or private provider environments; candidates with experience limited to a single city or jurisdiction are unlikely to be a fit for this role - Working fluency in the IBC, IRC, and at least one state building code overlay; Florida Building Code experience is a plus - Ability to independently read full plan sets, including architectural, civil, and structural drawings, and identify what is missing, why it is missing, and what a reviewer would likely flag - Ability to articulate code logic in a structured way, including check name, threshold or trigger, code citation, local amendment, and review outcome - Strong understanding of how building codes are applied in real-world permitting and plan review workflows - Experience reviewing permit applications, construction documents, plan sets, and submittal packages - Understanding of both sides of the desk: what architects, builders, and applicants submit during feasibility or intake, and what reviewers look for when determining completeness, compliance, and approval readiness - Ability to explain technical code and permitting issues clearly to engineers, product managers, designers, and non-experts - Strong judgment about what matters in a real review and what typically triggers comments, revisions, rejection, or escalation - Comfort reviewing AI/software-generated outputs and giving direct, specific feedback - Strong written communication and documentation skills Bonus Points For: - Experience in California, Florida, Texas, or other high-volume permitting markets - Experience reviewing residential, commercial, tenant improvement, solar, EV charger, MEP, accessibility, zoning, or structural permits - Experience managing reviewers, creating SOPs, or supporting permitting process improvement - PE, RA, CASp, or similar professional credentials - Experience supporting product, software, data labeling, AI evaluation, or workflow automation efforts Join Us If you're excited about helping modernize government and bringing frontier AI into the public sector, we'd love to hear from you.