Founding Engineer (m/w/d)

Founding Engineer (m/w/d), with a path to Founding CTO

Axonid is building an evidence layer for industrial product data. Manufacturers have supplier PDFs, certificates, spreadsheets and system exports, but often cannot reliably answer which evidence is current, missing or contradictory, or trace every accepted statement back to its source.

We are deliberately starting with one narrow workflow: for one released product or bill of materials and up to 100 documents, create a reviewed Gap Report and Evidence Pack with source references, confidence and visible human review states.

The honest stage is early. Product positioning, requirements, architecture and ontology concepts, a UI demo and customer outreach exist. A production-ready backend, secure deployment baseline and paid pilot are not yet proven. Your first job is to help change that.

What you will own in the first six weeks

• Scope and build one clean end-to-end vertical slice.
• Ingest PDFs, Excel files, certificates and a controlled system export.
• Extract product, component, supplier and claim data.
• Preserve source, provenance, confidence and review status for every accepted value.
• Flag missing, expired or contradictory evidence for human review.
• Produce a usable Gap Report and Evidence Pack.
• Document architecture decisions, tests, deployment and the initial security baseline.
• Make deliberate decisions about what not to build yet.

The technology stack is not fixed for appearance. We care about a defensible architecture, maintainable code and a working result. Experience with backend systems, data pipelines, document extraction, LLM-assisted workflows, APIs, testing and secure deployment is highly relevant.

How the collaboration works

The first phase is a six-week paid build with a written scope, deliverables and compensation agreed before work starts. There is no unpaid trial work. The exact contract model will be chosen to match how the collaboration is actually structured.

All new work is created in an Axonid-controlled repository with written IP assignment, documented access and a clean commit history.

If the technical and personal fit is strong, and you want to commit full time, the next step can be a Founding CTO role. The indicative, non-binding equity range is 10 to 15 percent, normally with four-year vesting and a one-year cliff. Any equity is subject to the final company structure, shareholder approval and legally and tax-compliant documentation. It is not granted based on a CV or one conversation.

What we are looking for

• You have shipped real backend or product systems and can show what you personally owned.
• You can turn an ambiguous product problem into a narrow technical delivery plan.
• You understand that LLM output needs provenance, validation, review states and repeatable tests.
• You are comfortable working directly with the founder and challenging product assumptions.
• You communicate clearly in English. German is helpful but not required.
• You can commit reliably to the six-week build and are genuinely open to a later full-time founder role.

How to apply

Please include:

• One relevant product, repository or technical system you personally built.
• A short outline of how you would approach this six-week vertical slice and what you would deliberately leave out.
• Your weekly availability, earliest possible start and preferred working location.

A long cover letter is not required. Substance matters more than presentation.

Axonid welcomes applications regardless of gender, gender identity, origin, disability, age, religion, sexual orientation or family status.