Forward Deployed Engineer

About the Role

This is a customer-embedded engineering role at an early-stage AI startup building purpose-built automation tools for the sea and air freight industry. You'll sit at the intersection of logistics operations and product engineering — translating real customer pain points into shipped software alongside a small, high-ownership founding team.

What You'll Do

• Partner directly with logistics teams to understand their workflows and translate operational needs into system design.

• Build AI-powered tools across the full stack using Node.js and TypeScript.

• Integrate with enterprise ecosystems (ERP, TMS, SFTP, event queues) and construct reliable data pipelines for messy, real-world data.

• Shape product direction and technical decisions alongside the founding team.

• Travel regularly to key customer accounts across Europe and Asia to maintain close relationships.

• Own outcomes end-to-end, from design through deployment, shipping clean, production-ready code.

What We're Looking For

• 3+ years building full-stack applications or backend systems in production environments.

• Strong proficiency in TypeScript and Node.js; React or modern frontend framework experience is a plus.

• Proven experience designing and integrating with enterprise systems (ERP, TMS, APIs, data pipelines).

• Hands-on experience with cloud infrastructure tools such as Docker, Terraform, GCP, or AWS.

• Experience building and maintaining backend infrastructure at scale.

• Demonstrated ability to ship to production quickly and iterate based on direct user feedback.

• Comfort working directly with end-users or customers to gather requirements and validate solutions.

• Clear, effective communication with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

• Willingness to travel regularly and work across time zones.

• Familiarity with GenAI/LLM architectures (RAG, evals, orchestration) is a bonus.

• Background in logistics, supply chain, or operations domains is a plus.

• Thrives in early-stage, high-autonomy environments.

Location

Berlin-based with hybrid flexibility. Regular travel to customer sites across Europe and Asia, plus an annual team offsite. Visa sponsorship is not available.