Founding Engineer

**About the Role** As a **Founding Engineer** at SANOVIO, you will play a key role in building the AI-powered procurement infrastructure that tackles one of the biggest and most complex cost problems in European healthcare. This is a fast-paced, hands-on role for engineers with **high agency**, strong technical depth, and a founder mindset. We’re looking for a **full-stack generalist** with a strong **frontend affinity**. You excel at **designing user flows** and implementing them in **React and TypeScript**, while owning outcomes end-to-end across **backend, data, AI-enabled workflows, and cloud deployment**. You thrive amid **uncertainty and incomplete requirements**, move quickly, and still care deeply about **architecture, clean code, and long-term quality**. If you are a passionate builder who thrives at the intersection of full-stack development and AI, this is your opportunity to work closely with the founders, shape the product, and help us scale toward **€10M ARR in 2026**. ## Tasks * Owning **end-to-end product workflows**, from frontend UX to backend systems, data pipelines, and edge cases * Building **world-class frontend experiences** in React and TypeScript alongside **scalable, reliable backend systems** * Designing and owning **AI-enabled systems**, including embeddings, retrieval, and agents that create real operational leverage * Developing and operating **data pipelines** for large-scale unstructured data * Making **pragmatic technical decisions** on architecture, tools, and frameworks to balance speed and quality * Deploying, running, and maintaining software in **cloud environments** with a “you ship it, you run it” mindset * Writing **clean, maintainable, and well-tested code** with scalable, reusable components and APIs * Collaborating across the stack and **raising the engineering bar** through reviews, mentoring, and technical leadership ## Requirements We are looking for stellar engineers with a strong background in **full-stack software engineering and AI**, and the potential to grow and lead teams in the future. **3–5 years of experience is a plus**, but we hire for skill, ownership, and output. **General Profile** * Generalist engineer with a **frontend affinity**, capable of building across backend, data, and AI * End-to-end **product ownership**, driving ideas from concept to customer-ready production * Proactive execution in **ambiguous environments**, turning unclear requirements into shipped software * **High-speed delivery** paired with a focus on clean code and scalable architecture * Close **iteration with users and clients**, including collaboration across different cultures * Strong **problem-solving ability** and fast adoption of new technologies * Motivation to build excellent software in a **fast-paced startup environment** * Willingness to work **in-person in Munich** with a **higher intensity than a traditional 9–5 role** **Technical skillset** * Strong experience with full-stack software engineering, especially **React** and **TypeScript**, with excellent understanding of **constructing user flows** * Solid backend engineering skills, ideally with **Node.js**, and experience designing **APIs** and **data model** * Proven track record of architecting and building **production-grade** software systems * Cloud and DevOps experience with **Docker** * AI experience is a plus, especially **embeddings and retrieval**, **structured outputs and tool calling**, **evals**, and **agentic workflows** beyond prompt engineering **Leadership and communication** * You naturally take responsibility and enjoy leading * You’re one of the strongest engineers in the team and **make everyone else better** * Everyone can come to you for advice on how to fix their hardest problems * You communicate clearly and are credible with **technical stakeholders and clients** **Bonus if you** * Can share a **portfolio of projects**, shipped products, or a **GitHub** with meaningful work * Have built workflow-heavy **B2B products**, internal tools, or operations software * Have experience scaling systems from early usage to larger production workloads * You are business proficient in **Chinese** ## Benefits * Great **central office in Munich** with regular **team events and dinners** * Monthly **Wellness budget** * Access to any **AI or productivity tools** you need to do your best work * **International scope & travel** * **Flexible work setup** with **time-zone responsibility** * **Meaningful compensation package** including **cash, performance bonus, and shares**_(Actual offers and compensation are based on specific job duties, experience, performance, total rewards structure, and other considerations)._ **About the interview process** **Step 1: Intro call** Casual intro meeting with one of the founders to get to know each other and introduce SANOVIO. **Step 2: Technical interview** The technical interview consists of two parts: * A take-home exercise, including a short presentation * A system design interview For the take-home exercise, we’d provide you with a task. You’ll have 2–3 hours to complete it, focusing on a real SANOVIO workflow and user flow in React and TypeScript, with a light end-to-end angle such as API integration, data modeling, edge cases, and clean architecture. Later, you’ll present your results to us. **Step 3: Personal Fit** Meet another co-founder to get a feel for our culture and working style. **Step 4: Offer & Reference Checks** If we see a great fit, you will get an offer, including a competitive compensation package. At the same time, we’ll ask you to provide 2–3 references so we can gather additional insights into your strengths and working style. **You know someone great?** _Introduce them to_ _us_ _and get up to €10,000 in referral bonuses if we hire them!_