Founding Engineer, NLP Systems & Infrastructure

ABOUT THE ROLE Join an early-stage AI and deep-tech team as its first technical hire, turning a research-grade prototype into reliable production software for enterprise and public-sector use. You will lead architecture and delivery hands-on, then build and manage the engineering team. WHAT YOU'LL DO - Design and own production architecture for orchestrated data and NLP pipelines, AI/ML integrations, CI/CD, observability, and cloud or on-premises deployment. - Set the engineering roadmap while balancing delivery speed, quality, and security. - Build the initial production system hands-on and validate infrastructure and security decisions. - Hire and manage an engineering team, setting technical direction, standards, and a constructive team culture. - Work closely with founders and users to iterate on the product. WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR - At least 5 years building and operating production data-intensive or NLP systems, including ingestion, deduplication, entity resolution, queues, and orchestrated pipelines. - Python as your primary language, with experience in automated testing, CI/CD, and observability, including data and model drift monitoring. - Production experience with PostgreSQL and at least one graph database, vector store, or search engine. - Experience with embeddings, vector search, and language model integrations, including managing cost, versioning, and non-determinism. - Ability to build clean APIs and functional analyst-facing interfaces using React, Vue, or similar technologies. - Experience architecting production systems with cloud and on-premises deployment options. Docker, Kubernetes, or Helm experience is helpful. - Willingness and eligibility to obtain German security clearance. Eligibility is subject to German clearance requirements. - Experience with open-web or platform data acquisition, early-stage startups, or German-language work is beneficial. COMPENSATION & BENEFITS Base salary: €60,000 to €120,000 annually. Visa sponsorship is available. LOCATION On-site in Munich, Bavaria, Germany.