Freelance Automation Developer Jobs in California

ABOUT SINGLE GRAIN

Single Grain is a Revenue Marketing agency. We build pipeline-focused systems that compound — not campaigns that expire. We've helped 500+ companies, from venture-backed startups to the Fortune 500, drive measurable growth, influencing billions in revenue with a 3.2x average ROI.

Our portfolio includes:

• Single Grain Agency — enterprise digital marketing services across SEO, paid media, creative, CRO, and AI-driven growth strategy.

• ClickFlow — our AI-powered content optimization platform that helps companies unlock hidden growth from their existing content by identifying high-impact SEO opportunities and improving rankings with AI insights.

• Karrot — a LinkedIn advertising and landing page platform built specifically for B2B companies running demand generation programs.

• Single Brain — the complete client operating layer: one agent interface for the human, one agent fleet commander for execution, an agent fleet of worker operators, and vertical specialists that handle the actual work.

We are evolving into a tech-enabled services (TES) company, where software, automation, and services combine to create leverage. Our CEO Eric Siu hosts the Leveling Up podcast and co-hosts Marketing School with Neil Patel, reaching millions of marketers and founders every month — a brand ecosystem most agencies don't have.

We are fully remote, and we operate as an AI-native team: every role at Single Grain is expected to use AI to increase speed, quality, and leverage.

ABOUT THE ROLE

Growth at Single Grain has to come from systems, not linear headcount.

We're hiring an AI Automation Engineer to find inefficiencies across the company and eliminate them — by designing, building, and deploying AI-powered systems that free up capacity, compress production timelines, and increase Revenue Per Employee.

You'll shadow every major department, map workflows, identify the highest-ROI bottlenecks, and ship production automations fast. You'll also contribute to our client-facing revenue agent, shipping real code to production early.

Primary KPI: Increase Revenue Per Employee by 100% within 12 months and generate $250k+ in annualized efficiency value.

This is not a research role. Not a prompt-writing role. Not a strategy role. It's a build-and-deploy leverage role.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Diagnose before you build. Shadow departments, map workflows, and quantify inefficiencies in time and dollars before touching code. Identify the top automation opportunities ranked by ROI.

• Ship production AI systems. Design and deploy AI agents and automations integrating LLMs (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini), APIs, and workflow tools (Zapier, Make, custom scripts). Rapid prototyping and iteration are the norm.

• Contribute to client revenue agents. Within the first 30 days, make production code contributions to our live revenue agent and execute a real deployment.

• Document everything. Every shipped automation gets an SOP and a Loom walkthrough (Camcorder Method) so teams can operate it without you.

• Drive adoption. Train users clearly, gather feedback, iterate, and track usage. Target: 70%+ adoption rate within 30 days of each deployment.

• Build the intake system. Establish an automation request and prioritization framework so the team can surface and rank opportunities on an ongoing basis.

• Report leverage quarterly. Track and present recurring efficiency value, cycle time reductions, and RPE impact to leadership.

YOU MAY BE A GOOD FIT IF

• You've already built something that saved real time or money — and you can tell us exactly how much. Side projects, internal tools, freelance automations, or class projects all count. Show us the receipts.

• You operate at AI Power User level. You've orchestrated multiple AI tools together, designed prompt systems, connected APIs, and built automations that actually ran in production (or close to it).

• You think in leverage, not tasks. Your instinct when you see a repetitive workflow is "how do I make this disappear?" — not "how do I do this faster?"

• You quantify everything. Time saved, headcount avoided, cycle time reduced. You'd rather have a rough number than no number.

• You communicate clearly and drive adoption without authority. You can interview a skeptical stakeholder, translate their problem into a technical solution, and train them to use what you built.

• A degree in CS, engineering, data, business, or a related field is welcome — or equivalent hands-on experience. We care more about what you've built than where you studied.

• Bonus: experience in agency, operations, or client services environments; building tools that scaled across multiple teams; strong product instincts.

WHAT THIS ROLE IS NOT

• Not a research or "explore AI" role. We're not hiring someone to evaluate tools or write internal AI strategy docs. We're hiring someone who ships.

• Not a ticket-taker. If you need to be assigned what to build, this role won't be a good fit. The expectation is that you find the leverage opportunities yourself.

• Not a pure technical role. If you ship elegant automations but can't drive adoption or train people to use them, the work won't compound.

• Not a success if you measure yourself in tools deployed. Success is measured in recurring efficiency value created and Revenue Per Employee improved — not in the number of automations shipped.

To Apply: Please complete the beat claude challenge linked below and submit with your application.
https://github.com/ericosiu/beat-claude/tree/main/challenges/engineer-004

Compensation: This is a full time contractor role. Pay os $25 per hour.