Founding Engineer, NLP Systems & Infrastructure
Clera · Munich · €60,000–€120,000 (stated in the posting)
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.