Founding Engineer

ABOUT THE ROLE An early-stage AI startup in the freight and logistics space is looking for a Founding Engineer to help shape the product, technology, and company direction from the ground up. This is a rare opportunity to sit at the intersection of deep customer engagement and hands-on engineering — translating real operational problems in sea and air freight into scalable, production-ready AI-powered solutions. You'll be one of the first technical hires, working closely with the founding team to move from demos to a robust, globally deployed product. The company builds purpose-built AI agents that automate freight operations — think rate requests, bookings, exception handling, and operational intelligence — for top-tier freight forwarders worldwide. WHAT YOU'LL DO - Lead customer conversations and translate insights directly into product features and technical strategy. - Design, build, and ship full-stack applications across the entire product surface. - Push the AI capabilities of the product forward — working with LLMs, vector stores, and model fine-tuning. - Drive the transition from demo-mode to scalable, high-quality production systems. - Help define and shape the product roadmap, technical architecture, and company direction. WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR Dealbreakers: - 2+ years of software engineering experience. - Full-stack development proficiency with Node.js, TypeScript, and React, plus backend experience with Python. Required: - Hands-on experience with LLM design patterns, vector stores, and model fine-tuning. - Proven track record designing, building, and deploying scalable products from MVP through to production. - Demonstrated ability to lead customer conversations and translate feedback into clear product requirements. - Experience working in a startup or early-stage environment — you're comfortable with ambiguity and moving fast. LOCATION & WORK ARRANGEMENT - Location: Berlin, Germany (hybrid) - Visa sponsorship: Available WHY THIS ROLE - Founding-level ownership and influence over a product being deployed globally in a massive, underserved industry. - Work alongside a team with backgrounds at top-tier strategy consultancies and leading logistics technology companies. - Backed and operating at an early venture stage with strong industry traction.