Clera is a talent-matching platform that replaces traditional job applications by connecting candidates and hiring teams through curated introductions.
ABOUT THE ROLE A fast-growing pre-seed cleantech startup in Munich is hiring its first engineering hire — a Founding Engineer who will work directly alongside the CTO to build and operate live systems that steer industrial energy assets and trade on short-term electricity markets. This is a highly cross-functional, end-to-end role sitting at the intersection of cloud infrastructure, electricity market integrations, and machine learning. You will be central to delivering reliable 24/7 operations for customers in the industrial electrification space — helping heavy industry transition away from fossil fuels by leveraging AI-driven Power-to-Heat optimization and smart electricity market participation. The company operates in the industrial energy / cleantech sector and uses proprietary AI algorithms to forecast revenue opportunities and automate cross-market trading strategies for Power-to-Heat assets, reducing both costs and CO₂ emissions for industrial clients. WHAT YOU'LL DO - Operate and maintain a reliable cloud infrastructure enabling 24/7 asset steering and high-frequency trading with high availability, fault tolerance, and scalability. - Develop and improve interfaces to electricity markets (Day-ahead, Intraday, Control power) and hardware steering systems. - Expand and maintain a backtesting environment to support customer configurations, new trading algorithms, and new asset types. - Train, deploy, and monitor electricity trading models in production. - Within your first quarter: build a new asset type into the backtesting environment and design the cloud architecture for live operations. - Rapidly internalize customer needs and translate them into robust, production-grade technical solutions. WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR Required: - Strong fundamentals in computer science, mathematics, or physics — ideally from a top university background. - Proven track record shipping production code; hands-on experience with cloud infrastructure (ideally AWS) and Python. - Experience designing and operating cloud systems for 24/7 live operations. - Hands-on experience building or maintaining backtesting environments for trading algorithms and varied asset types. - Familiarity with electricity markets and the ability to design reliable market interfaces. - Ability to own workstreams end-to-end, deliver high-quality results independently, and escalate issues early. - Fluent in English; based in Munich or willing to work on-site in Munich most of the time. Nice to Have: - Optimization and data-science experience: MILP, stochastic methods, RNNs, Reinforcement Learning. - Time-series forecasting in production environments. - Energy / climate-tech domain knowledge. - Fluent German. The right mindset is valued over ticking every box — we encourage you to apply even if you don't meet every listed qualification. LOCATION - On-site in Munich, Germany (most of the time). - Visa sponsorship is not available — candidates must have the right to work in Germany. COMPENSATION & BENEFITS - Salary: $70,000 – $95,000 per year (USD equivalent). - Founding team equity participation typical of a pre-seed engineering hire. - High-impact role with direct influence over technical architecture and product direction from day one. - Work on meaningful problems at the frontier of industrial decarbonization and energy markets.