Head of Artificial Intelligence

Lead AI Engineer | AI-Native Startup | Berlin

• Location: Berlin - On-site
• Employment: Full-time
• Package: Competitive salary + Equity

AI Futures has been exclusively retained to identify a Lead AI Engineer for a well-funded, early-stage AI startup in Berlin.

We're looking for a genuine 0→1 builder – someone who has built production AI products, thrives in early-stage environments and wants significant ownership over what gets built and how.

You'll work directly with the founding team, taking ownership of the core AI architecture while remaining deeply hands-on with the product.

The Role

• Build and scale production LLM and Agentic AI systems.
• Own key AI architecture and technical decisions.
• Design sophisticated agent workflows, orchestration and tool use.
• Build systems around evaluation, reliability and AI performance.
• Solve problems around model quality, latency and cost.
• Rapidly test new approaches and iterate based on real-world feedback.
• Work directly with founders on product and technical strategy.
• Establish engineering standards as the company scales.
• Mentor engineers and help shape the future technical team.

What We're Looking For

• Strong AI Engineering / Software Engineering background.
• Experience shipping LLM, GenAI or Agentic AI products into production.
• Strong software engineering and architecture fundamentals.
• Genuine 0→1 product-building experience.
• Comfortable making architectural decisions without an established playbook.
• Product-minded and commercially aware – focused on what customers actually need.
• High ownership and comfortable operating with ambiguity.
• Experience leading or mentoring other engineers is highly desirable.
• Founding Engineer / early technical hire experience is particularly attractive.
• Previous pre-seed, seed or Series A startup experience strongly preferred.
• Based in Berlin or willing to relocate and work predominantly on-site.

Why Join?

• Take ownership of the core AI technology at an early-stage startup.
• Work directly with the founders.
• Build the product 0→1, rather than inherit an established platform.
• Significant influence over architecture, product and technical direction.
• Stay deeply hands-on while developing broader technical leadership.
• Help build the future engineering organisation.
• Meaningful equity and long-term upside.

We're particularly interested in engineers who have already experienced the pace, ambiguity and ownership of an early-stage startup and want an even bigger role in building the next one.