Forward Deployed Engineer
About the Role
This is a customer-embedded engineering role at an early-stage AI startup building purpose-built automation tools for the sea and air freight industry. You'll sit at the intersection of logistics operations and product engineering - translating deep customer workflow challenges into production-grade software alongside a small founding team. The work is high-ownership, high-impact, and directly shapes how the product evolves.
What You'll Do
Partner directly with logistics teams to understand operational workflows and translate their needs into system design.
Build AI-powered tools across the full stack using Node.js and TypeScript.
Integrate with enterprise ecosystems - ERP, TMS, SFTP, event queues - and build reliable data pipelines for messy, real-world data.
Shape product direction and technical decisions alongside the founding team.
Travel regularly to key customer accounts across Europe and Asia to maintain close relationships.
Own outcomes end-to-end, from design through deployment, writing clean, production-ready code throughout.
What We're Looking For
3+ years building full-stack applications or backend systems in production environments.
Strong proficiency in TypeScript and Node.js for backend development.
Proven experience designing and integrating with enterprise systems (ERP, TMS, APIs, data pipelines).
Hands-on experience with cloud infrastructure tools such as Docker, Terraform, GCP, or AWS.
Experience building and maintaining backend infrastructure at scale.
Track record of shipping to production quickly and iterating based on real user feedback.
Comfort working directly with end-users or customers to gather requirements and validate solutions.
Willingness and ability to travel regularly to customer sites.
Nice to have: React or modern frontend framework experience; familiarity with GenAI/LLM architectures (RAG, evals, orchestration); background in logistics, supply chain, or operations; early-stage startup experience.
Location
Berlin, Germany - hybrid. Regular travel to customer sites across Europe and Asia is an integral part of the role. Visa sponsorship is not available.