engineering
Posted Mar 26Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE)
at Mercura
Munich, GermanyOn-site
Requirements
- ABOUT THE ROLE As a Forward Deployed Engineer, you will be the technical face of Mercura - the person who turns a signed deal into a live, working AI deployment.
- You'll spend most of your time deep in technical work: integrating our software into complex enterprise systems, structuring customer data for AI, and adapting models to fit real-world workflows.
- WHAT YOU WILL BE WORKING ON - Customer Implementation: Own the full technical implementation of our software after the sales handoff - from first kickoff to go-live.
- - AI Adaptation: Configure and finetune Mercura's AI for customer specific use cases - including prompt engineering and model behavior adjustments to match their domain and processes.
- Experience: - Full-Stack Engineering: You are comfortable across frontend, backend, and data pipelines (Python, React, Typescript, SQL, APIs) - System Integrations:
- Experience connecting software to ERP systems, REST/GraphQL APIs, webhooks or B2B SaaS implementations is a plus - Data Wrangling: Ability to make sense of messy, inconsistent real-world data and build reliable structure around it fast - AI & LLMs: Practical
- experience with LLMs, agents, and prompt engineering — you know how to adapt model behavior to fit a specific domain and workflow Commitment & Mindset: - Customer obsession: You thrive at the intersection of engineering, product, and real customer environments, and find it genuinely satisfying to solve customer problems end-to-end - not just hand it off - High agency & ownership: You don't wait to be told what to do.
- You find a way - You want to work in-person in Munich with a higher intensity than in a 9-5 job WHY MERCURA - Join an ambitious and caring team: Your future colleagues are experienced operators, ex-founders, Science Olympiad medallists, and top graduates from places such as Google, Bain, MIT, TUM, Harvard, CDTM, and Cambridge.
- We care, trust, and support one another, and we make sure that fun is at the heart of everything we do. - Work with the latest tech: AI is at the core of our product, and use the latest tech across our product and processes to tackle meaningful challenges and shape how users interact with AI. - Thrive in a high-growth, high-commitment environment: We’re growing extremely fast because we always put our work and our customers first.
- If you excel in fast-paced settings and want to grow as part of something big from day one, Mercura is for you. - Build something with real-world impact: We ship code that directly helps a massive, yet overlooked manual industry run more efficiently and sustainably.
- With us, you can work on AI that contributes to economic growth and stability on a huge scale. - Build a company: As an early team member, you will have a direct, lasting impact on our culture, processes, technology, and product.
- experience building a company from the ground up.
- Engineering at SaaS startups Luminovo & Fides) Your mentors will be - Rohan Ramanath https://www.linkedin.com/in/rohanramanath/ (General Manager AI Product at Nubank, prev.
- You’ll have a 3 hours to design and implement a small application end-to-end including the frontend, backend, and any supporting components you consider necessary.
- This should give you a realistic sense of the kinds of systems we build and how we approach product development.
- With his background as a Data Scientist at Allianz and at Google in Silicon Valley, he brings extensive expertise in data and AI.
- Lukas’ family has been active in the construction industry for over 100 years, giving him a deep understanding and passion for the sector's specific needs.
- As a top 0.01% physicist, Sean earned a Silver medal for Germany at the International Physics Olympiad (IPhO), began researching with the Max Planck Institute at the age of 16, and has since published at leading machine learning conferences.
- experience at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard Business School to develop innovative solutions for the industry.
Benefits
- We started with one of their biggest bottlenecks - turning messy technical requests into accurate quotes - and grew to $2M ARR in our first year.
- With a team of 16, we're now targeting $10M by the end of 2026 as well as our expansion into the US.
- Step 5: Offer & Reference Checks If we see a great fit, you will get an offer, including a competitive compensation package with equity participation.
Contact
- - An ambitious and caring team that sees their work as more than just a job - An ambitious team that feels like family and sees their work as more than just a job - Real shares in our company with the most favorable tax treatment - no VSOP/ESOP - Free team dinner (up to 4x/week) - UrbanSportsClub membership and access to a company bike - join our team workouts 3x/week - Easy relocation to Munich - our office is located in the Werk1 Startup Incubator https://en.werk1.com/coliving-apartments-munich/, where
- Our track record speaks for itself - over five Mercura alumni have gone on to found their own companies and raise millions after their time with us. YOUR TEAM & MENTORS You will work with - Sean https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-sdahl/ (Co-Founder & CTO; Silver Medallist at the International Physics Olympiad (IPhO)) - Kolya https://www.linkedin.com/in/kolya-krafeld/ (prev.
- SWE at SF-based startup Etleap) - Ben https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-beinke/ (prev.
- AI Engineer at Aleph Alpha) - Gabriel https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriel-hauss/ (built Maastricht University's course selection system; Oxford graduate) - Admir https://www.linkedin.com/in/azatega/ (Bronze Medallist at the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI)) - Mark https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-jacobsen-413749220/ (prev.
- SWE at Capital One, Cambridge Graduate) - Nico https://www.linkedin.com/in/nico-stabla/ (prev.
- co-founder Hyperplane) - Daniel Ribeiro Silva https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielribeirosilva/ (Senior Director of ML at Nubank, prev.
- Beyond Mercura, we actively support initiatives that promote diversity and gender equity and commit a portion of our personal income each year to organizations expanding opportunity for others. [https://app.ashbyhq.com/api/images/user-content/aea8071f-e224-4680-b825-9d15c5a9df28/8836b971-88e3-4b84-bebc-66dc92a82ee7/founders-1-2%20(1).jpg] OUR COMPANY VALUES Customer first.
Additional details
- Mercura (YC W25) helps the companies that build the real world move at software speed, automating the back-office work that runs the $12 trillion industry behind every hospital, school, and power plant.
- But you'll also engage directly with users and senior stakeholders daily - debugging their problems, understanding their processes, and walking C-level stakeholders through a prototype you built overnight.
- If you're a builder who gets energy from talking to customers and solving hard technical problems in messy, real-world environments - this role is for you.
- You translate their pain into engineering decisions - and back again. - Feedback Loop: Be the voice of the customer inside Mercura.
- Surface patterns, edge cases, and product gaps to the core engineering team with enough context to move fast.
- WHAT WE OFFER - Learn to build a company: Over five Mercura alumni have gone on to found their own companies and raise millions after their time with us. At Mercura, you’ll take on real responsibility and gain the hands-on
- experience only possible in a high-growth startup.
- When something is broken or missing, you fix it - Communication: You can explain technical features to engineer, users and a CFO - and know which mode you're in - Mission-driven: Your job is part of how you define yourself.
- You treat your work as a top priority, and you're fully committed to achieving ambitious goals amid uncertainty - Scrappiness: You're comfortable with ambiguity, imperfect data, and legacy systems.
- We bring extraordinary people together and deeply invest in your growth as your mentors, teammates and friends.