Pax: Breaking Into a 200-Year-Old Industry with AI 🔧

Pax is disrupting the centuries-old import-export industry by bringing modern technology to solve age-old problems in international trade.

The Problem 💸

Each year, 80% of eligible import tax refunds—equivalent to $11B—go unclaimed. This represents a significant loss for retailers and manufacturers, especially those under $50M in revenue.

Our Solution 🤖

We're leveraging AI to automate and optimize the duty drawback process:

• First AI-powered broker in the industry
• Algorithms that generate 15% more refunds than the industry leader
• 99% reduction in processing time by eliminating manual work

Join Our Mission 🌟

Founded by technical experts from MIT, Brex and top tech companies, we're seeking passionate innovators to help transform international trade finance.

Be part of the team that's bringing AI to a 200-year-old industry and making a real impact on businesses worldwide.

Pax is building the AI-powered financial infrastructure that turns lost tariffs into profits

Every year, U.S. companies overpay more than $10 billion in tariffs they’re legally entitled to recover - and 95% of them never claim a cent. That’s hundreds of millions of dollars just left on the table by retailers, manufacturers, and logistics providers because the refund process is archaic, opaque, and manual.

Pax is building the AI-powered duty-drawback platform that changes that. We ingest import/export, customs, and ERP data to automatically identify refund eligibility, file claims, and recover cash - often 7 and 8-figure sums per company with zero friction. Think of us as “Stripe for tariff refunds”: an intelligent financial infrastructure layer that makes something once painful, slow, and complicated feel like a single API call.

💡 Why Now

• Tariffs have exploded: with many companies seeing rates rise from 25% to 145% since 2018, yet the refund infrastructure hasn’t evolved in decades.
• Global trade is massive and growing: $5 trillion in U.S. imports annually, with ~$200 billion of that eligible for drawback.
• Policy tailwinds: Recent trade policy shifts and supply-chain realignment are increasing both the scale and urgency of reclaiming tariffs.

This is one of those rare fintech opportunities hiding in plain sight: a sleepy corner of the market suddenly turning into a multi-billion-dollar category as technology unlocks it.

🧠 The Tech & Product Challenge

• Build AI agents that can autonomously deploy, learn and streamline end to end flows.
• Build high-throughput pipelines to ingest and reconcile massive amounts of messy trade, customs, and ERP data.
• Use machine learning to detect eligibility patterns and automate claim preparation.
• Design the compliance layer and audit-proof workflows that let Fortune 500s trust our system with millions of dollars.

This is a chance to work on deep automation, data infrastructure, and financial systems that directly drive real-world outcomes for customers.

👤 Who We Are

Pax was founded by Chris and Penny, repeat fintech entrepreneurs who previously built and scaled companies like Brex, Flexport, and Amazon. Our team brings experience from MIT, Brex, Flexport, and Google, blending deep trade expertise with world-class product and engineering DNA.

We’re well-funded by top-tier investors and are now hiring a Founding Engineer to own core product and platform decisions from day one. You’ll shape not just the codebase, but the company itself, with significant equity upside as we define a new financial infrastructure category from the ground up.

Our Technology Stack

• Frontend: Next.js
• Backend: Python
• AI: LLMs (GPT, Claude, etc)

Technical Challenges We're Tackling

1. Intelligent Document Processing: Developing AI models to accurately extract and interpret complex customs documentation.

2. Regulatory Compliance at Scale: Building systems that adapt to ever-changing international trade regulations across multiple jurisdictions.

3. Secure Data Handling and Ledger Keeping: Implementing robust security measures to protect and track sensitive financial and trade data.

4. AI-Powered Decision Making: Utilizing LLMs to automate intricate decision-making processes in duty drawback claims.

5. Seamless Integration: Developing APIs to integrate smoothly with various ERP systems and customs databases.

Join us in solving these exciting challenges and transforming a centuries-old industry with modern technology!