Technical Co-Founder

<h3>About the Role</h3><p style="min-height:1.5em">A Berlin-based pre-seed AI SaaS startup is looking for a <strong>Technical Co-Founder</strong> to join as the third member of the founding team. The company is building an AI-powered platform that automates the end-to-end lifecycle of public procurement participation — from tender discovery and requirements analysis through to compliant concept and proposal generation — targeting the DACH region. This role carries full technical ownership and a direct impact on product direction, architecture, and go-to-market traction.</p><p style="min-height:1.5em">The platform is built on LLMs, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), and NLP, and must be fully GDPR-compliant, hosted in EU cloud environments. Incorporation is in preparation and a public funding application is currently in progress.</p><h3>What You'll Do</h3><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Design and own the overall system architecture, with a focus on GDPR-compliant EU cloud infrastructure (e.g., AWS Bedrock, Vertex AI — Frankfurt region).</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Build the core AI engine that generates complete, compelling proposal concepts from structured company data.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Develop and maintain a reference database for past projects, certificates, and CVs, and integrate them dynamically into generated concepts.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Implement entity resolution, reliability scoring, and confidence quantification across data pipelines.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Work deeply in AI/ML (LLMs, RAG, NLP) and/or broadly across full-stack product engineering — depending on your strengths.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Set technical priorities collaboratively within a small founding team.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Contribute to business strategy during the pre-seed phase alongside the other co-founders.</p></li></ul><h3>What We're Looking For</h3><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Must-haves (dealbreakers):</strong></p><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">5+ years of experience in product/engineering roles delivering AI-powered software with LLM, NLP, and/or RAG capabilities.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Hands-on experience with GDPR-compliant architecture in EU cloud environments (data handling for NLP/LLM workloads).</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Prior experience as a technical founder or technical lead who has built an AI-first product from zero with end-to-end ownership.</p></li></ul><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Required:</strong></p><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Strong, production-grade full-stack development skills for AI-enabled products.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Practical experience integrating LLMs, RAG pipelines, and NLP into real products.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Genuine founder mentality — you want to help build a company, not just work through tickets.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Willingness to join as a technical co-founder with equity as the primary compensation during the pre-seed phase.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">German language proficiency (the product operates in the DACH regulatory context: VgV, HOAI, etc.).</p></li></ul><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Strongly preferred:</strong></p><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Experience with enterprise data pipelines and secure data handling in EU cloud environments (DSGVO/GDPR context).</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Familiarity with German public procurement law or the architectural/planning office domain.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Pragmatic, ship-first working style — you iterate quickly and avoid over-engineering.</p></li></ul><h3>Compensation &amp; Equity</h3><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Equity:</strong> 15–20% co-founder equity stake.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Vesting:</strong> Standard four-year vesting schedule with a one-year cliff.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Salary:</strong> Compensation is heavily equity-weighted during the pre-seed phase; cash salary to be discussed based on funding progress.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Visa sponsorship:</strong> Not available.</p></li></ul><h3>Location</h3><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Preferred: Berlin-based (on-site / hybrid).</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Remote within the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) may be considered for the right candidate.</p></li></ul><p>Find <a href="https://www.arbeitnow.com">Jobs in Germany</a> on Arbeitnow</a>