Founding Engineer (Full-Stack/AI)
Note: Visa sponsorship is not available for this role. Candidates must be authorised to work in Germany.
This role is on-site in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. We believe in the energy and speed of working together in person, especially at this stage. We're looking for candidates who are excited to be present and engaged in Munich.
Founding full-stack engineer for an early-stage AI startup in Munich, building autonomous freight forwarding tech. Requires Python and production AI/ML experience, on-site, with salary €60-80k and equity.
ABOUT THE ROLE
We're an early-stage AI startup building technology that makes global freight forwarding operations autonomous — handling everything from quoting and booking to customs and invoice reconciliation. Backed by a top-tier accelerator and experienced founders, we're looking for a Founding Engineer (Full-Stack/AI) to join our small, high-ownership team on-site in Munich.
This is a rare opportunity to be a genuine DNA hire: you'll shape the technical architecture, own critical product areas end-to-end, and push the frontier of applied AI in a complex, data-rich industry. You'll work directly alongside the founding team and have meaningful equity participation.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
- Own, design, build, and maintain the most critical parts of the core product.
- Ship reliable full-stack features that make freight forwarding teams radically more efficient.
- Evaluate, benchmark, and fine-tune AI capabilities to maximise domain accuracy and contextual understanding.
- 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, messy legacy codebases — adding structure and scalability.
- Engineer infrastructure and automation pipelines 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
Required
- Founder-level drive, adaptability, extreme ownership, and a results-oriented, autonomous work style.
- Strong full-stack engineering experience with the ability to move fluidly across backend and cloud environments.
- Fluency in Python; familiarity with Go is a strong plus.
- Practical, production experience with AI/ML systems: benchmarking, fine-tuning, integrating LLMs, and running live experiments.
- Comfort engineering for scale, automating systems, and working with complex legacy codebases.
- Strong CS fundamentals, intellectual humility, and exceptional self-discipline.
Nice to Have
- 2–3+ years of professional software engineering experience (strong personal projects or an entrepreneurial track record are equally welcome).
- Startup or entrepreneurial background.
- Domain familiarity with logistics, freight forwarding, or supply chain technology.
Note: Visa sponsorship is not available for this role. Candidates must be authorised to work in Germany.
COMPENSATION & BENEFITS
- Salary: €60,000 – €80,000 per year, depending on experience.
- Equity: Meaningful early-employee options package (up to ~1.5%).
- Direct impact on product direction and company trajectory from day one.
LOCATION
This role is on-site in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. We believe in the energy and speed of working together in person, especially at this stage. We're looking for candidates who are excited to be present and engaged in Munich.