Founding Product Engineer

### About the Role We're a fast-growing, Vienna-headquartered AI communication startup building an AI phone assistant platform for SMEs across Europe — and we're looking for a **Founding Product Engineer** to join our engineering team. This is a high-ownership, end-to-end role at the intersection of product thinking and full-stack engineering. You'll help shape the product from hypothesis to production, working closely with customers, partners, and sales to deliver features that create real, measurable business value. We're a **remote-first team** with an optional office in Vienna. You'll need meaningful overlap with Central European Time (CET). Our product is German-language-first, so **native-level German proficiency is essential**. ### What You'll Do * Own features end-to-end — from hypothesis and prototype through architecture, implementation, and production release. * Lead product discovery by designing and running rapid experiments to validate ideas before committing to large-scale builds. * Maintain close, recurring contact with customers, partners, and the sales team to surface real pain points and translate them into product decisions. * Design and implement tracking and analytics to enable data-driven iteration. * Drive architecture choices across the full stack and take responsibility through to release. * Prioritize pragmatic, scalable solutions that balance speed of validation with long-term quality. * Take radical ownership of your initiatives — move things forward without waiting for sign-offs. ### What We're Looking For **Must-haves (dealbreakers):** * 3+ years of experience in Product Engineering delivering end-to-end software features. * Strong full-stack proficiency: **Node.js, TypeScript, NestJS, and React**. * **Native-level German fluency** (Deutsch auf Muttersprache-Niveau) — essential for our German-language product and customer interactions. **Required:** * Experience integrating software with external systems (CRMs, calendar tools, databases, APIs). * Ability to gather customer feedback and convert pain points into prioritized product decisions. * Comfort identifying, tracking, and analyzing product metrics to drive data-informed choices. * Proven experience owning the full development lifecycle from architecture to production. **Nice to have:** * Experience working with AI/LLM integrations (e.g., OpenAI or similar) — this is a strong advantage. * Familiarity with GDPR compliance and EU AI Act considerations in product development. * Background working in remote-first, asynchronous environments at early-stage or high-growth startups. ### Compensation & Benefits * **Salary:** €80,000 – €120,000 annually, depending on experience. * **Equity:** Meaningful equity stake as part of a high-growth founding team environment. * Remote-first flexibility with optional office access in Vienna. _Please note: visa sponsorship is not available for this role._ ### Location Fully remote, with a preference for candidates based in **Germany** or able to work with significant CET overlap. An optional co-working office is available in Vienna, Austria. Find more [English Speaking Jobs in Germany](https://www.arbeitnow.com/english-speaking-jobs) on Arbeitnow