Founding Engineer (Full-Stack/AI)

About the Role

This is an early, high-ownership engineering role at a seed-stage vertical AI startup building autonomous tooling for the global freight and logistics industry. You will join a small founding team in Munich to design, build, and scale the core product, shaping technical direction from the ground up. The role combines hands-on full-stack engineering, production AI/ML work, and real product ownership.

What You'll Do

Own and personally design, build, and maintain the most critical parts of the product.

Build reliable full-stack features that make users radically more efficient.

Evaluate, benchmark, and fine-tune AI capabilities to maximize domain accuracy and context.

Continuously experiment with new model releases, frameworks, and agentic techniques in production.

Ship promising approaches quickly and iterate based on data and user feedback.

Navigate and improve large-scale, complex legacy code to add structure and scalability.

Engineer infrastructure and automation to support heavy data and AI workloads.

Collaborate closely with founders and teammates as a hands-on, high-ownership contributor.

What We're Looking For

Practical, hands-on experience with AI/ML and LLM systems: benchmarking, fine-tuning, and running experiments in production.

Strong full-stack engineering skills with fluency across backend and cloud environments.

Fluent in Python; familiarity with Go is a strong plus.

Domain knowledge in logistics or freight forwarding.

Evidence of building robust, real-world production systems.

Comfort working with complex legacy codebases and engineering for scale.

Strong CS fundamentals, intellectual humility, and exceptional self-discipline.

2 to 3 years of professional experience, or equivalent through relevant projects or a demonstrable track record.

Prior startup or entrepreneurial experience, with a results-oriented and autonomous work style.

Strong spoken English sufficient for fluid technical discussion.

Willingness to work on-site in Munich or to relocate there.

Compensation & Benefits

Salary range: 60,000 to 90,000 EUR annually . Equity participation via options (up to 1%, with top-ups possible). Visa sponsorship is not available.

Location

On-site in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. This role requires regular in-person presence; remote work is not an option.