BILT Inc. Taps New CTO to Accelerate AI and 3D Instruction Tech » Dallas Innovates

Chief Technology Officer Mitch Dawson will oversee BILT’s full technology and product vision. [Composite image: DI Studio, Images, BILT]

Grapevine-based software provider BILT Inc. has hired Mitch Dawson as its new chief technology officer to oversee its tech and product vision, driving innovation from AI and spatial computing to platform architecture and user experience.

The move comes as BILT, creator of the 3D Intelligent Instructions platform, is stepping up both its commercial and government work. In March, the company was one of three Texas firms to receive a strategic funding increase from AFWERX, the U.S. Air Force’s innovation arm and its division SpaceWERX, to advance its 3D instructions technology. In June, BILT landed a $15 million STRATFI contract to help bridge the gap between prototype development and full-scale operational use of its platform for Air Force maintainers.

“This is a transformative moment for BILT,” Chairman and CEO Nate Henderson said in a statement. “Mitch brings the technical depth and leadership experience critical to accelerating our AI strategy. He will help shape the next generation of intelligent instruction, where every interaction improves performance, safety, and speed.”

The company said the CTO appointment aligns with its expansion in commercial and government operations, where heightened cybersecurity, compliance, and performance requirements are reshaping how instructions are created and delivered.

“We’re reimagining instructions as intelligent, interactive experiences that engender confidence and efficiency,” Dawson said. “Through ‘Instructions as a Service,’ our AI-driven platform transforms complex processes into scalable, compliant, and reusable digital assets—making instructions not only adaptive for end users, but also efficient to produce, maintain, and deploy across industries.”

BILT said Dawson brings nearly two decades of engineering and product leadership experience in AI, spatial computing, and 3D visualization.

Before joining BILT, he was vice president of engineering at Physna, where he led 3D search and AI teams across enterprise, defense, and industrial applications. Earlier, Dawson was director of engineering at Zillow, helping develop and scale the 3D Home platform that integrated augmented reality and machine learning for real estate visualization. He also spent more than a decade at Microsoft, where he led cross-platform engineering teams focused on OneDrive and consumer app experiences.

Fresh off being named the Series B winner at the Venture Dallas Startup Awards in early November, BILT said it plans to accelerate development of AI features and machine learning integrations aimed at customer success in manufacturing, defense, and field service, with Dawson driving AI, spatial computing, and platform architecture.

BILT is also testing its tech at the edge of immersive computing. A case study released by the company in May found that trade school students using BILT’s 3D instructions on Apple Vision Pro completed their course nearly 24% faster than those relying on traditional methods, according to the study.

Quincy Preston contributed to this report.

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