Founding Engineer
Clera
Apply to this jobAbout the Role
This is a founding engineering role at an early-stage enterprise AI startup based in Munich, Germany. The company builds AI-powered automation that learns from real human workflows — studying repetitive, screen-based processes and creating AI solutions that take them over, freeing teams to focus on higher-value work. Customers span professional services, insurance, financial services, and customer support, including PE-backed portfolio companies.
As a Founding Engineer, you will be a core contributor shaping both the product and the technical foundation from the ground up. You will work directly with customers, own significant technical decisions, and have meaningful equity in the company. This is a high-ownership, high-intensity role suited to someone who thrives in very small, fast-moving teams.
Visa sponsorship is available for this role.
What You'll Do
Build product features and customer-facing technical tooling end-to-end
Design and implement data pipelines to convert and aggregate large volumes of video (1,000+ hours) and other unstructured data into a structured, queryable data lake
Integrate Large Language Model (LLM) and Vision-Language Model (VLM) pipelines into core product workflows
Develop full-stack components using Python and FastAPI
Collaborate directly with enterprise customers to map processes and identify automation opportunities
Support a land-and-expand go-to-market strategy by enabling scalable integrations across customer tech stacks
What We're Looking For
Required
3+ years of full-stack engineering experience
Strong proficiency in Python; hands-on experience building production-ready RESTful APIs with FastAPI in scalable systems
Deep experience designing and implementing video processing data pipelines and related video analytics workflows
Experience building data pipelines to convert large volumes of unstructured video data into structured, queryable formats
Hands-on experience integrating, fine-tuning, and deploying LLMs and VLMs in production pipelines
Familiarity with cloud infrastructure and deployment practices
Early-stage startup experience — comfortable with ambiguity, high ownership, and shaping product direction
Strong written and verbal communication skills; proven ability to collaborate across small, cross-functional teams
Experience working directly with enterprise customers to understand and solve real business problems
Nice to Have
Background in business process automation, enterprise SaaS, or AI/ML tooling
Experience working with PE portfolio companies or professional services clients
Comfort with a founder-level contributor mindset — willing to wear multiple hats
Compensation & Benefits
Base salary: €80,000 – €120,000 per year
Significant equity as a founding team member
Direct impact on product, architecture, and company direction from day one
Location
Munich, Germany — on-site
This is a full-time, in-person role; remote work is not available
Visa sponsorship is available
Summary
Build AI-powered automation, develop data pipelines, integrate LLMs and VLMs, collaborate with customers.
Job title
Founding Engineer
Experience level
3+ years
Minimum experience
3+ years exp
Industry
software
Location requirements
Munich, on-site; no remote work allowed
Salary
$80k–$120k
Management role
No
Required skills
Preferred skills
Specializations
Structured locations inferred from the posting.
Munich, Germany