Founding Product Engineer
About the Role
A fast-growing, pre-seed-funded energy tech startup based in Munich is looking for a Founding Product Engineer to join its early team. The company builds an enterprise-grade, AI-powered SaaS platform that helps industrial companies strategically manage their energy procurement - covering everything from consumption forecasting and flexible procurement to flexibility monetisation.
As one of the first engineers on the team, you will have a decisive say in how the product is built, what the tech stack looks like, and how customers experience the platform. This is a high-ownership, high-impact role for a generalist engineer who thrives at the intersection of product, engineering, and customer collaboration.
No visa sponsorship is available for this position.
What You'll Do
Own the full product lifecycle - from design and scoping through to deployment and iteration.
Translate product objectives into clear, actionable requirements in close collaboration with customers.
Design simple, iterative solutions to complex energy procurement and optimisation problems.
Develop performant backend services for a data-intensive application.
Build intuitive, elegant user interfaces for a complex decision-support system.
Train time-series forecasting models for power consumption and renewables production.
Develop linear optimisation algorithms aimed at reducing customer energy costs.
Help choose and evolve the core tech stack (currently centred on PostgreSQL, TypeScript, React, and Python).
What We're Looking For
Must-haves:
2+ years of software engineering experience delivering scalable web applications in an early-stage startup environment.
Proven track record of delivering full product features independently, in direct collaboration with customers.
Strong software engineering fundamentals - you build things that are robust, maintainable, and scalable.
Hands-on experience building backend services for data-intensive applications.
Experience building frontend UIs for complex decision-support or analytical tools.
A product mindset: you think about user impact, not just code quality.
Comfort with ambiguity and a genuine appetite for fast-paced, early-stage environments.
Strongly preferred:
Hands-on experience with time-series forecasting and/or linear optimisation.
Familiarity with PostgreSQL, TypeScript, React, and/or Python.
Previous experience as a founding engineer, CTO, or technical co-founder at a startup.
Nice to have:
Experience with FastAPI and/or Supabase.
Interest in or knowledge of energy markets and energy-intensive industrial operations.
Corporate engineering background is acceptable if paired with a demonstrated startup mindset and grit.
Compensation & Benefits
Salary: 85,000 - 140,000 per year, depending on experience.
Meaningful early-stage equity participation (details shared during the process).
Direct influence over product direction, tech stack, and team culture from day one.
Work alongside an experienced founding team in a well-backed, mission-driven company.
Location
This is a hybrid role based in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. You are expected to work on-site in Munich the majority of the week, with flexibility for occasional remote days. Fully remote candidates are not suitable for this position.
