Founding Engineer, NLP Systems and Infrastructure

Clera
Munich, Germany
On-site

Who this role is best for

A natural match if you have experience building production NLP systems and leading engineering teams in early-stage startups.

Best fit for

  • Candidates with experience in NLP infrastructure and leading teams in early-stage startups
    — “Join an early-stage AI and dual-use technology company as its first technical hire.”
  • Individuals who have owned production architecture and cloud deployment for data-intensive systems
    — “Experience owning production architecture, observability, and cloud and on-premises deployment options.”
  • Professionals with hands-on experience in building and validating production NLP systems
    — “Build and validate the first production release hands-on, including infrastructure and security decisions.”

Things to consider

  • On-site presence is required in Munich, which may limit remote flexibility.
    — “On-site in Munich, Bavaria, Germany.”
  • The role requires a security clearance in the near future, which may involve additional steps or delays.
    — “Willingness and eligibility to obtain a security clearance in the near future.”

How to stand out

  • Highlight your experience in orchestrating data and NLP pipelines in production systems.
    — “Architect production systems spanning orchestrated data and NLP pipelines...”
  • Emphasize your track record in managing language model costs and versioning.
    — “Experience managing language model costs, versioning, and non-deterministic behavior.”
  • Showcase your ability to build clean APIs and analyst-facing interfaces with relevant tech stacks.
    — “Ability to build clean APIs and functional analyst-facing interfaces using React, Vue, or similar technologies.”
  • Demonstrate your skills in production engineering practices such as CI/CD and monitoring for model drift.
    — “Strong Python skills and production engineering practices, including automated testing, CI/CD, and monitoring for data and model drift.”
  • Mention your experience with PostgreSQL and at least one graph database or vector store.
    — “Experience with PostgreSQL and at least one graph database, vector store, or search engine...”
Pace · SteadyCollaboration · MediumAutonomy · MediumDecision Impact · Team

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

Skills & requirements

Required

PythonReact

Stack & domain

PythonPostgreSQLGraph DatabaseVector StoreSearch EngineEmbeddingsVector SearchLanguage Model IntegrationsDockerKubernetesHelmOpen-web Data AcquisitionPlatform Data AcquisitionLegal And Ethical ConsiderationsSecurity ClearanceGerman LanguageLeadershipTeam CultureProduct IterationSecurity-first MindsetIncident ResponseLog AnalysisIAMCloud SecuritySaas SecuritySOC 2ISO 27001Ai-assisted SecuritySecurity CommunicationsPhishing SimulationsTabletop ExercisesAINLPData-intensive SystemsProduction EngineeringCI/CDObservabilityCloud DeploymentOn-premises DeploymentSecurity OperationsComplianceRisk ManagementEarly-stage Startup

About the role

Original posting from Clera via Ashby

ABOUT THE ROLE

Join an early-stage AI and dual-use technology company as its first technical hire. You will turn a research-grade prototype into reliable production software for enterprise and public-sector users, with broad ownership and the opportunity to build an engineering team.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

  • Architect production systems spanning orchestrated data and NLP pipelines, AI/ML integrations, CI/CD, observability, and cloud or on-premises deployment.
  • Set and own the engineering roadmap, balancing delivery speed, quality, and security.
  • Build and validate the first production release hands-on, including infrastructure and security decisions.
  • Hire and lead an engineering team while setting technical direction, engineering standards, and a positive team culture.
  • Work closely with company leadership and users to iterate on the product.

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.
  • Strong Python skills and production engineering practices, including automated testing, CI/CD, and monitoring for data and model drift.
  • Experience with PostgreSQL and at least one graph database, vector store, or search engine, plus embeddings, vector search, and language model integrations.
  • Experience managing language model costs, versioning, and non-deterministic behavior.
  • Ability to build clean APIs and functional analyst-facing interfaces using React, Vue, or similar technologies.
  • Experience owning production architecture, observability, and cloud and on-premises deployment options. Docker, Kubernetes, or Helm experience is useful.
  • Open-web or platform data acquisition experience and awareness of related legal and ethical considerations are valued.
  • Willingness and eligibility to obtain a security clearance in the near future. German language skills and early-stage startup experience are helpful.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

Base salary: €60,000 to €120,000 annually. Visa sponsorship is available.

LOCATION

On-site in Munich, Bavaria, Germany.

Source: Clera careers (Ashby)

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