Founding AI Engineer

We’re offering a unique opportunity to join our startup as a Founding AI Engineer. If you are excited to work at the forefront of generative AI and be part of building a successful company from the very beginning, we have the perfect position for you 😎

As one of our first team members, you’ll play a key role in developing a truly innovative AI product leveraging an agentic AI workflow including custom LLMs and RAG. The position comes with a competitive salary and an attractive equity share (VSOP), giving you a stake in the success of the startup.

About Zapdeck

Consultants worldwide spend millions of hours every day creating presentations. Zapdeck is set to revolutionize this task with powerful AI software that empowers users to create professionally designed presentations in minutes.

At the heart of Zapdeck is an innovative agentic AI technology—the first capable of converting text directly into professional slide designs. Our product features an intuitive editor that enables seamless collaboration, helps users craft cohesive storylines, and transforms them into polished slides ready for export.

The presentation creation industry is a multi-billion-dollar market undergoing significant disruption due to advancements in generative AI. Zapdeck has secured substantial pre-seed funding and is building partnerships with leading companies in the industry. We are now on track to becoming one of Germany's leading AI start-ups.

You will be part of a team with extensive experience. Our co-founder / CEO Frederik is a former consultant at BCG and our co-founder / CTO Riccardo is the former technical CPO of InsurTech startup INZMO.

Tasks

• Develop AI features: Develop our agentic AI workflow including fine-tuning open source LLMs and implementing RAG.
• Evolve backend: Develop our AI backend based on Python following clean code practices and enterprise-level architectural design patterns.
• Manage data and models: Collect and preprocess data, set up RLHF, oversee model version control and performance monitoring.
• Drive innovation: Stay up to date with the latest advancements in AI and contribute to our AI and product strategy to maintain the competitive edge.

Requirements

Professional requirements

• 2–4 years of experience in AI/ML development, with hands-on expertise in training and fine-tuning ML models, including LLMs.
• Solid experience with machine learning libraries and frameworks like TensorFlow, PyTorch, or Hugging Face, and strong skills in Python.
• Experience in collecting, preprocessing, and managing data pipelines for training, with knowledge of tools like pandas or NumPy and REST APIs.
• Bonus: Familiarity with versioning, deployment, and monitoring of ML models in production environments, incl. managing AI related cloud infrastructure.
• Bonus: Experience with Gen AI applications in media and design, with AI-powered enterprise software, or agentic AI solutions.

Other requirements

• Residency and valid work authorization in Germany, preferably Berlin.
• Fluency in English, our main business language
• Availability to start within a short time frame (e.g., within 1 month)

Benefits

• Attractive package of a monthly salary and VSOP shares in a fast-growing AI startup that could be worth several million in a few years.
• Opportunity to work independently and creatively in a young and ambitious team team and see the direct impact of your work.
• Hybrid working model with the option to work from home or from our office in Berlin Mitte, and flexible working hours.
• Possibility to build your own team and take on more responsibility in a managerial role in a short space of time.
• Regular team events as well as free snacks and drinks in our office Berlin Mitte :)

Join us to create a disruptive AI product and shape a globally successful company 🚀