Founding Engineering Team Lead (HandsOn)

<p style=";"><strong><span style="color: #121317">Berlin • Cybersecurity &amp; AI Startup • Recently Funded</span></strong></p><p style=";"><span style="color: #121317">A newly funded cybersecurity startup in Berlin is looking for a </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">Engineering Team Lead</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> to join as a founding team member and help design the core security, identity, and enforcement foundations of a next-generation AI-powered risk management platform.</span></p><p style=";"><span style="color: #121317">We are an early-stage startup founded by experienced cybersecurity leaders with backgrounds in Israeli intelligence units.<br />We are looking for a hands-on </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">Founding Engineering Team Lead</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> for a hybrid role based in central Berlin. If you are passionate about cybersecurity and AI, thrive in fast-paced startup environments, and enjoy building complex platforms from the ground up, this is an opportunity to make a real impact.</span></p><p><span style="color: #121317">They’re building a next-generation cyber risk platform that helps enterprises understand, measure, and reduce identity risk at scale. Their goal is to turn complex identity and security data into clear, actionable risk insights that CISOs and CTOs can trust. You will work from scratch on core platform components from day one, shaping how modern enterprises manage and reason about risk using cloud-native systems, AI-driven analysis, and automated enforcement through AI agents.<br /></span></p><h3><span style="color: #121317">Key Responsibilities:</span></h3><ul><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Lead and grow a small, high-performing engineering team while remaining </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">hands-on</span></strong></p></li><li><p><strong><span style="color: #121317">Design, build, and review</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> production backend and platform code alongside the team</span></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Own delivery of the </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">engineering roadmap</span></strong><span style="color: #121317">, balancing speed, quality, and security</span></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Act as a </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">technical leader</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> by setting architecture direction and enforcing engineering standards</span></p></li><li><p><strong><span style="color: #121317">Contribute</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> directly to critical features, integrations, and platform foundations</span></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Establish lightweight </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">engineering processes</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> that enable fast execution without bureaucracy</span></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Mentor engineers through </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">code reviews</span></strong><span style="color: #121317">, pairing, and technical guidance</span></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Contribute </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">hands-on</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> in design and build architecture, configure systems, code 70% of the time in GoLang.</span></p></li><li><p><strong><span style="color: #121317">Remove blockers</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> and unblock delivery across backend, frontend, data, and DevOps</span></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Collaborate closely with </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">CEO, CPTO, and product leadership</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> on technical and execution decisions</span></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Support </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">hiring</span></strong><span style="color: #121317">, onboarding, and technical evaluation of engineers</span></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Foster a culture of </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">ownership, pragmatism, and low ego</span></strong></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Build whole Security platform setup </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">from scratch</span></strong></p></li><li><p><strong><span style="color: #121317">Partner closely with backend and AI engineers</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> to design secure service boundaries and deployment models</span></p></li><li><p><strong><span style="color: #121317">Troubleshoot</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> and resolve complex production incidents across infrastructure, networking, and application layers</span></p></li><li><p><strong><span style="color: #121317">Build PoCs</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> and validate infrastructure and security design decisions in an early-stage environment</span></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Support </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">compliance readiness</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> by enabling controls, logging, and evidence collection for security frameworks</span></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Continuously improve </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">platform cost efficiency</span></strong><span style="color: #121317">, reliability, and operational maturity</span></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">This role reports directly to </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">CEO &amp; CPTO</span></strong></p></li></ul><br /><br /><p style=";"><strong><span style="color: #121317">Must have skills</span></strong></p><ul><li><p><strong><span style="color: #121317">10+ years</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> of professional software engineering experience</span></p></li><li><p><strong><span style="color: #121317">3+ years</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> of experience leading engineering teams </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">while remaining hands-on</span></strong></p></li><li><p><strong><span style="color: #121317">3+ years </span></strong><span style="color: #121317">of</span><strong><span style="color: #121317"> GoLang </span></strong><span style="color: #121317">experience</span></p></li><li><p><strong><span style="color: #121317">3+ years </span></strong><span style="color: #121317">experience with </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">AWS</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> in production environments</span></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Strong </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">code quality</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> bar and experience with architectural reviews</span></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Ability to context-switch between technical </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">topics and people leadership</span></strong></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Strong execution mindset and comfort operating under </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">ambiguity</span></strong></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Hands-on coding mentality; </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">can build things from scratch </span></strong><span style="color: #121317">including security architecture yourself</span></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Hands-on experience with </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">Docker, Kubernetes</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> (EKS) and containerized workloads</span></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Experience with </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">CI/CD pipelines</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> (GitHub Actions or similar)</span></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Experience with </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">monitoring, logging, observability</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> (Grafana, OpenTelemetry, Prometheus)</span></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Experience with </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">Coding CoPilots </span></strong><span style="color: #121317">(Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, AWS CodeWhisperer, Codex, etc.)</span></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Knowledge of Experience supporting </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">production SaaS platforms</span></strong></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">High ownership mentality, startup mindset, and ability to </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">move quickly</span></strong></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Experience in </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">startup or scale-up environments</span></strong></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Low ego, high commitment, and a </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">true tech startup mentality</span></strong></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Excellent </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">English</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> communication skills</span></p></li></ul><p style=";;"></p><p style=";"><strong><span style="color: #121317">Nice-to-have requirements</span></strong></p><ul><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Previous experience as a founding or </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">early-stage</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> Engineering Manager</span></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Experience in </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">cybersecurity</span></strong><span style="color: #121317">, identity, or enterprise SaaS platforms</span></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Exposure to </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">DevOps, SRE, or data engineering</span></strong></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Experience </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">scaling teams</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> and systems simultaneously</span></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Experience with security architecture, identity security, or </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">security engineering</span></strong></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Familiarity with </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">compliance frameworks</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> (NIS2, DORA, ISO 27001, SOC 2)</span></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Understanding of </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">OAuth/OIDC, API tokens, IdP, scopes, SSO, SCIM, roles, RBAC/ABAC, service accounts</span></strong></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Familiarity with cloud identity and security controls (e.g. </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">IAM, CloudTrail, Azure Active Directory / Entra ID</span></strong><span style="color: #121317">)</span></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Hands-on with SIEM platforms such as </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">Splunk, Microsoft Sentinel, or IBM QRadar</span></strong></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Experience designing </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">permission models, identity graphs, or access control frameworks</span></strong></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Knowledge of tokenization, </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">Zero Trust principles</span></strong><span style="color: #121317">, least privilege, and continuous verification</span></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Experience with Security related to </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">AI/LLM systems, agent logic, or willingness to learn fast</span></strong></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Familiarity with </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">AI agent behavior</span></strong><span style="color: #121317">, LLM security, or agent sandboxing</span></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Previous experience in </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">cybersecurity</span></strong><span style="color: #121317">, identity startups</span></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">You are a fan of </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">rock or metal</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> music</span></p></li><li><p><span style="color: #121317">Excellent </span><strong><span style="color: #121317">German</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> communication skills</span></p></li></ul><p style=";;"></p><p style=";"><strong><span style="color: #121317">Benefits</span></strong></p><ul><li><p><strong><span style="color: #121317">Founding Team Member Equity</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> — ESOPs in a well funded cybersecurity company.</span></p></li><li><p><strong><span style="color: #121317">Competitive Compensation</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> — salary aligned with market, flexible early-stage arrangements possible.</span></p></li><li><p><strong><span style="color: #121317">Founding Team Member Status</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> — shape the company from day one and own critical security technical decisions.</span></p></li><li><p><strong><span style="color: #121317">Fresh Funding Secured</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> — immediate runway to build, hire, and execute fast.</span></p></li><li><p><strong><span style="color: #121317">Security Contribution</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> — contribute to security tech architecture across identity, AI agents, and enforcement.</span></p></li><li><p><strong><span style="color: #121317">High Autonomy</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> — freedom to design and build without corporate overhead.</span></p></li><li><p><strong><span style="color: #121317">Work with a Technical CEO and CPTO</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> — fast iteration, strong alignment, clear direction.</span></p></li><li><p><strong><span style="color: #121317">Cutting-Edge Domain</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> — identity security, SaaS-to-SaaS access, AI agent governance.</span></p></li><li><p><strong><span style="color: #121317">Massive Learning Curve</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> — quickly gain depth in cybersecurity, identity, and AI systems.</span></p></li><li><p><strong><span style="color: #121317">Fast Career Path</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> — opportunity evolve into higher leadership as we scale the engineering team</span></p></li><li><p><strong><span style="color: #121317">Berlin Location</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> — top-tier tech environment with strong cybersecurity and AI ecosystems.</span></p></li><li><p><strong><span style="color: #121317">Direct Impact</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> — your architecture and code become the foundation of the entire platform.</span></p></li><li><p><strong><span style="color: #121317">Best Equipment and Tools</span></strong><span style="color: #121317"> - High quality equipment and modern tools to help you do your best work from day one.</span></p></li><li><p><strong><span style="color: #121317">Team Offsites - </span></strong><span style="color: #121317">Regular team offsites designed to build strong connections, alignment, and shared momentum.</span></p></li></ul><p style=";"></p><p>Find more <a href="https://www.arbeitnow.com/english-speaking-jobs">English Speaking Jobs in Germany</a> on Arbeitnow</a>