AI Engineering Lead

AI Engineering Lead

Munich (on-site) | up to €300K + equity

This is not your typical AI engineering job. It’s a chance to become a founding engineering leader at an early-stage, high-growth AI startup that has already proven massive traction in record time.

The bar is high: this role demands intensity, commitment, and a builder’s mindset. Expect long hours (many of the team work 9–9, 6 days a week), but also the opportunity to create something extraordinary, with a direct stake in the company’s success. If you’ve ever wanted to be part of a rocket ship from the ground up – this is that moment.

Why this opportunity is unique

• The business has scaled from zero to seven figures ARR within months of launch,
• Backed by top-tier investors, they rank in the top 5% of YC start ups and were oversubscribed by 800% in initial funding round.
• You’ll join as one of the very first engineers, shaping architecture, culture, and product direction.
• Equity is structured as real ownership – not watered-down options.
• You’ll work shoulder-to-shoulder with exceptional founders and colleagues from world-class tech and academic backgrounds.
• The problems you’ll tackle are deep, technical, and impactful – automating a massive, overlooked industry with cutting-edge AI.

What you’ll do

• Own the architecture and design of AI systems
• Leading and collaborating with other expert engineers across the full stack
• End-to-end building, deployment and optimization of AI agents
• Work with embeddings and fine-tuning LLMs for classification and reranking
• Optimize algorithms for product search
• Apply RLHF & DPO to align LLMs with human feedback
• Build data pipelines to process large-scale unstructured data efficiently
• Make our backend scalable, stable and efficient

What we’re looking for

• Strong expertise in NLP, LLMs, embeddings, and building AI-powered applications.
• Proven experience architecting and deploying complex, production-grade AI systems.
• Full-stack engineering skills (React, Typescript, Python) with solid software fundamentals.
• Cloud & DevOps proficiency: Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, and Azure/AWS/GCP.
• Demonstrated leadership as senior/staff/lead engineer, mentoring and guiding teams.
• High agency & initiative: You develop new ideas and drive them in execution under minimal guidance
• Deep product mindset with ability to solve problems end-to-end and think from a user/product perspective.
• High ownership, initiative, and drive to deliver in a fast-paced, in-person startup setting (Munich).
• Mission-driven, long-term commitment with potential to grow into a founding engineer role.

What’s on offer

• Total package €100K–€300K (cash + bonus + equity).
• Significant equity with favourable tax treatment.
• Relocation support + access to subsidised housing near the office.
• Team culture that combines high performance with strong support – from shared dinners to group workouts.
• Access to the latest AI and productivity tools.

The challenge

This is not a 9–5 role. It’s a chance to be a builder, an owner, and a core part of something that will scale fast. If you want comfort, this isn’t for you. If you want career-defining impact and the thrill of building at speed, this could be the most rewarding move you ever make.