The Opportunity We are building the operating system for global fresh produce trading — a platform that connects growers, packhouses, logistics providers, and retailers onto a single screen, replacing fragmented spreadsheets, emails, and phone calls with real-time data, rules-based automation, and intelligent agents. CropFlo is powered by Good Produce, a leading grower-importer of table grapes supplying major UK and EU retailers. With deep roots in the global supply chain — from vineyards in Namibia, South Africa, Italy, Egypt, and Brazil through to retail shelves in the UK and Europe — the team behind CropFlo has lived the inefficiencies this platform is designed to solve. This is not a tech company guessing at an industry problem; it is an industry operator building the tool the sector has been waiting for. The platform covers 33 core processes across four pillars: Supply Commitment, Demand Commitment, Allocation Engine, and Compliance, Risk & Settlement. It is designed to handle everything from crop planning and quality monitoring through to multi-leg logistics, pack-to-stock decisions, and automated settlement. We are in active conversations with major UK and EU retailers who have confirmed that this is the platform they expected to have to build themselves. We are now looking for a Founding System Architect to take the functional architecture and turn it into a working product. What You Will Do In the first 6 months, you will: • Translate the existing functional requirements document (33 processes, 4 pillars, modular access model) into a technical architecture and data model. • Make the core technology decisions: stack, infrastructure, database design, real-time data layer, and API structure. • Build the beta from Process 19 onwards — the core trading and allocation engine that sits at the heart of the platform. During the 12-month beta, the earlier processes (1–18) covering supply commitment, crop planning, and quality monitoring will be formally architected and written up ready for development. • Design and implement the modular access system where each process functions as a self- contained module assignable to any user with configurable input and visibility permissions. Beyond the first 6 months, you will: • Architect the multi-leg logistics layer (5 legs per shipment, configurable responsibility matrix, haulier/carrier booking facilitation). • Build the settlement and cash position engine with automated reconciliation. • Design and deploy AI agents for quality triage, demand-supply matching, waste prediction, and temporary specification facilitation. • Own the technical roadmap and make build-vs-buy decisions across the platform. What We Are Looking For Essential Experience • You have built a multi-sided platform — a system where different user types (e.g. suppliers, buyers, logistics providers) interact with shared data through different views and permissions. Marketplaces, supply chain platforms, logistics systems, or commodity trading platforms all count. • You are a full-stack builder who is comfortable working across frontend (React or equivalent), backend (Node.js or Python), relational databases (PostgreSQL or similar), and cloud infrastructure (AWS or GCP). • You understand real-time data: websockets, event-driven architecture, live dashboards. The platform’s quality alerts, pack rates, and logistics tracking all update in real time. • You can design a clean data model for complex relational structures — programmes, contracts, allocations, container assignments, multi-party logistics, and settlement flows. Fresh produce is an industry full of “ifs” and “buts” — exceptions, conditional logic, and edge cases at every step — and the data model needs to govern all of it. • You can set technical standards, define coding conventions, and establish the engineering practices that a future team will follow. Strongly Preferred • Experience in agri-tech, food supply chain, logistics technology, or commodity trading platforms. You understand perishable goods, time-sensitive supply chains, and multi-party commercial workflows. • Familiarity with AI/ML integration at the application layer — not necessarily building models from scratch, but using APIs (like Anthropic’s) to build intelligent features into a product. • Experience designing modular, permission-based systems where functionality can be assigned and configured per user or role.