Nipun Dave
Head of Engineering at TruckSmarter
Leading engineering at TruckSmarter to eliminate inefficiencies in the freight industry through automation and AI-driven dispatch tools.
Intro
I'm Nipun Dave, currently the Head of Engineering at TruckSmarter. My career has been defined by a passion for building mission-critical infrastructure, from scaling the backend at LinkedIn and Affirm to leading engineering at Typeface and Flexmoney. I hold an MS from Stanford with a focus on AI, and I’ve always been drawn to solving complex real-world problems—whether that’s improving mobile banking guidelines or building AI assistants that save truck drivers hours of work every week. I’m deeply interested in Agentic AI and the evolution of the 'AI Product Engineer.' At TruckSmarter, I’m focused on eliminating inefficiencies in the freight industry. I’m always looking to connect with curious, humble, and brilliant engineers and designers who want to build products that users simply cannot live without. Onwards!
Networking
What I can offer
- ›Expertise in scaling engineering organizations
- ›Insights on fintech and logistics infrastructure
- ›Guidance on integrating LLMs into engineering workflows
What I'm looking for
- ›Smart, passionate, curious, and humble engineers
- ›AI Product Engineers
- ›Senior Brand Designers
- ›Professional exchange on the evolution of engineering roles
Best fit for
Focus
Current interests
Core competencies
Background
Career
Started as a co-founder and researcher, spent five years scaling infrastructure at LinkedIn, held leadership roles at Affirm and Flexmoney, and served as Senior Director at Typeface before joining TruckSmarter.
Education
MS in Electrical Engineering (Major in AI) from Stanford University; Dual Degree in Electrical Engineering from IIT Bombay.
Achievements
- ›Developed TruckSmarter Dispatch assistant saving drivers 3 hours/week
- ›Won 4 out of 6 internal hackdays at LinkedIn
- ›Developed 'Dasher' app integrated into BMW M6 production cars
- ›Co-founded MoFirst, influencing RBI mobile banking guidelines
- ›Improved sensor resolution from 4 µm to 0.2 µm at EPFL
Opinions
- I am working only when I am not having fun.
- Only work on products where users can't imagine going back to a life where it doesn't exist.
- AI Product Engineers are more valuable than traditional Fullstack Engineers.
- Direct customer conversations are necessary to avoid 'hallucinating' conclusions from dashboards.
Personality
Communication style
Professional, encouraging, and mission-driven with a balance of technical depth and human-centric leadership.
Formality — 7/10
Vocabulary