Staff Engineer
About this role
Mercura is hiring a Founding Staff Engineer to be the technical backbone of a small, fast-moving engineering organization, owning high-leverage systems across multiple products. This hands-on role combines deep technical ownership, cross-product architecture, and mentorship to raise the bar on quality, reliability, and AI capabilities.
What you'll do
- Serve as the technical backbone across multiple products and development streams.
- Own the most complex, highest-leverage engineering work: core systems, shared frameworks, and critical infrastructure.
- Define and evolve architecture decisions that prevent long-term dead-ends across products.
- Spend the majority of time writing and shipping production code, leading by example.
- Eliminate technical debt by refactoring abstractions and raising reliability and engineering standards.
- Mentor engineers through code review, pairing, and direct feedback to improve team output and reduce hidden risk.
- Contribute to the architecture and implementation of Mercura's AI capabilities, including LLM pipelines and data infrastructure.
What Mercura is looking for
- 8+ years of software engineering experience with a track record of solving genuinely hard technical problems in production.
- Deep full-stack expertise with strong backend, API, and infrastructure skills; comfortable on the frontend when needed (Python, React, TypeScript).
- Proven experience designing and evolving systems across multiple products and teams.
- Demonstrated ability to improve system performance, reliability, and scalability at scale.
- Cloud and DevOps fluency: containerization (Docker), cloud platforms (Azure/AWS/GCP), and infrastructure as code (Terraform).
- Experience building or integrating AI systems, LLMs, or large-scale data pipelines is a strong plus.
- Deep technical ownership and a tendency to notice and fix slipping quality without prompting.
- A leader who leads through doing, mentors by example, and multiplies team effectiveness.
- Mission-driven, pragmatic, and decisive under uncertainty, willing to work in-person in Munich with intensity beyond a typical 9–5.
Company at a glance
Mercura builds AI software for essential enterprises that keep the economy running. Based in Munich, YC-backed (W25) with a round at one of the cohort’s highest valuations, it surpassed $1M ARR within a year and targets $10M ARR by 2026.
Top Benefits
- Equity/ownership opportunity for employees.
- Referral bonuses up to €10,000 for successful hires.
- Growth is emphasized; the company invests in employees’ development through mentorship and close teamwork.
What happens next
Skip the application pile. I get you in front of the people who decide.
Confirm the fit
A few questions to make sure this role is the right shape for you. Two minutes.
I pitch you to the company
I write the intro, send it to the founder, and handle the back-and-forth.
A meeting lands on your calendar
When the company wants to meet, I get the call on your calendar. You just show up.
Culture & values
The team culture feels like family, with care, trust, and mutual support.
Hiring is based on ability, mindset, and values.
Active commitment to diversity and gender equity.
Founders personally commit part of their income to organizations expanding opportunity.
The team is small and fully in-person, based in Munich.
Joy and collaboration are at the heart of the work.
Growth is emphasized; the company invests in employees’ development through mentorship and close teamwork.
The environment is high-growth and high-commitment, with a focus on hard work and customer value.
There is a meritocratic culture where the best ideas win.
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