Founding AI Engineer

About the Role

We are an early-stage AI Video Production Startup building the next generation of AI-powered animation and motion graphics tools. We are looking for a Founding AI Engineer to join our core team in Berlin — someone who will work directly with the founders, own critical technical decisions, and help shape the product from the ground up.

This is not a typical engineering role. You will be one of the first technical hires, sitting at the intersection of cutting-edge generative AI and professional motion design. If you are excited about founding-stage startups, passionate about creative AI, and want real ownership over what you build — this role is for you.

What You'll Do

• Build and optimize AI systems that generate high-quality animations following professional motion design principles — easing, non-linear movement, and visual hierarchy.
• Develop robust evaluation frameworks to measure animation quality using both automated metrics and expert motion designer feedback.
• Collaborate with motion designers and marketers to translate professional design knowledge into AI training data and evaluation criteria.
• Design and implement fine-tuning pipelines to teach models domain-specific animation styles and brand guidelines.
• Create feedback loops between user preferences, expert input, and model performance to continuously improve animation quality.
• Research and prototype new approaches for controllable and style-consistent motion graphics generation.
• Work directly with the founders and engineering team, holding significant ownership over product and technical decisions.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience in machine learning, AI engineering, or closely related engineering roles.
• Strong hands-on experience working with AI/ML systems or generative models (diffusion models, transformers, GANs, or similar).
• Proven ability to build production-ready ML systems and pipelines — not just research prototypes.
• Experience working in fast-paced startup environments or shipping production software.
• Strong programming skills (Python preferred) and solid problem-solving fundamentals.

Nice to Have

• Experience with video generation, animation, or creative AI systems (text-to-video, motion synthesis, etc.).
• Familiarity with motion design principles, After Effects, or professional animation workflows.
• Knowledge of evaluation methodology for generative models (FID, CLIP scores, human preference modeling).
• Background in RLHF, reward modeling, or preference-based fine-tuning.
• Prior experience as an early or founding engineer.

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Who We're Looking For

Beyond technical skills, we want someone who is:

• A highly ambitious builder excited about founding-stage startups.
• Deeply passionate about generative AI and creative tools.
• Comfortable solving ambiguous technical challenges and turning open-ended research questions into working systems.
• Interested in working closely with founders — not just executing tickets, but shaping product direction.
• Motivated by ownership, impact, and building something category-defining.

What We Offer

• Base salary: $80,000 – $130,000 annually, commensurate with experience.
• Meaningful equity — this is a founding role.

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• Clear growth path: Founding Engineer → Staff AI Engineer → Head of AI.
• Remote flexibility: Berlin HQ preferred; remote from New York or San Francisco eligible.
• Relocation and visa support available for the right candidate.

How to Apply

Send us the following:

1. Your CV / resume highlighting relevant ML and generative AI experience.
2. A brief note (2–4 sentences) on what excites you about this role and why now.
3. Links to relevant projects, GitHub repos, papers, or shipped products.

We review applications on a rolling basis and move fast for the right candidate.

We are an equal opportunity employer and welcome applicants of all backgrounds, nationalities, and experience levels.