Founding Engineer
Clera
<h3>About the Role</h3><p style="min-height:1.5em">Join a small, ambitious team building the core software platform that controls and optimises industrial battery storage assets across Europe. As a <strong>Founding Engineer</strong>, you will have outsized ownership across the full stack — from real-time optimisation algorithms and backend services to operator-facing dashboards and cloud infrastructure. Your work will directly shape both the product and the trajectory of the company at a critical early stage.</p><p style="min-height:1.5em">This is an on-site, full-time position based in <strong>Munich, Germany</strong>. Visa sponsorship is available.</p><h3>What You'll Do</h3><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Own and build the core product powering real-time optimisation and forecasting for industrial energy assets.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Develop backend services and mixed-integer optimisation algorithms to process high-frequency data in real time.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Design and scale distributed infrastructure to support thousands of battery systems in production.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Build intuitive frontend dashboards that allow battery operators to monitor, control, and analyse their assets.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Implement containerised, CI/CD-driven deployment pipelines and maintain production observability.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Collaborate directly with founders and customers to define product features and translate operational requirements into engineering solutions.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Iterate rapidly based on feedback from live deployments.</p></li></ul><h3>What We're Looking For</h3><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Required:</strong></p><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Experience with real-time data processing and optimisation or forecasting systems.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Proven ability to design and operate scalable distributed backend systems for large-scale deployments.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Solid Python backend development skills, including mixed-integer optimisation.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Frontend development proficiency with JavaScript/TypeScript and React (Next.js preferred); experience with Tailwind CSS.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Containerisation and modern deployment practices — Docker, Kubernetes, and CI/CD for production services.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Experience with observability and monitoring tooling (e.g. Prometheus, Grafana, OpenTelemetry).</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Database design and data modelling experience (e.g. PostgreSQL or MySQL).</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Cloud infrastructure experience with AWS, GCP, or Azure.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Startup experience (company under 3 years old and fewer than 50 employees qualifies).</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, or Electrical Engineering with a grade better than 2.0 (German grading scale).</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Fluency in German</strong> — the majority of customers communicate in German.</p></li></ul><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Nice to Have:</strong></p><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Background or hands-on experience in the energy industry (battery storage, renewables, grid management, or similar).</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Demonstrated track record of deploying optimisations in live production systems.</p></li></ul><h3>Compensation & Benefits</h3><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Salary:</strong> €70,000 – €100,000 per year, depending on experience.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Founding-stage equity and meaningful ownership in the company's success.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">High-impact role with direct influence over product and company direction.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Visa sponsorship available for qualified candidates.</p></li></ul><h3>Location</h3><p style="min-height:1.5em">This is a fully <strong>on-site role in Munich, Germany</strong>. You will be working day-to-day with a tight-knit founding team in the office.</p><p>Find <a href="https://www.arbeitnow.com">Jobs in Germany</a> on Arbeitnow</a>