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 NLP prototype into a reliable production system. You will shape the architecture and engineering roadmap, contribute hands-on, and build and lead the engineering team as it grows. The product helps organizations understand complex information environments and respond to emerging risks. WHAT YOU'LL DO - Design and own production architecture for data and NLP pipelines, AI/ML integrations, CI/CD, observability, and cloud or on-premises deployments. - Build and validate the first production-ready product slice, including infrastructure and security decisions. - Set the engineering roadmap while balancing delivery speed, quality, and security. - Establish technical direction, engineering standards, and a constructive team culture. - Hire and manage an engineering team as the organization grows, while working closely with founders and users. 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 architecture experience across deployment options, including cloud and on-premises. - Experience with PostgreSQL and at least one graph database, vector store, or search engine. - Practical experience with embeddings, vector search, and language model integration, including cost, versioning, and non-determinism considerations. - Ability to build clean APIs and analyst-facing interfaces using React, Vue, or similar technologies. - Willingness and eligibility to obtain a security clearance in the near future. - Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, or Helm, large-scale open-web data collection, and its legal and ethical constraints is beneficial. German proficiency is also beneficial. COMPENSATION & BENEFITS Salary: €60,000 to €120,000 annually. Visa sponsorship is available. LOCATION On-site in Munich, Bavaria, Germany.