Application Architect - AI Native Startup (m/f/d)

<p>You'll join an early-stage, AI-native startup with a product that has already proven market fit. We build cutting-edge AI solutions for Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) for enterprises around the world.</p><br><p>Our customers are auditors, risk managers, and compliance teams, which means evaluation rigor, auditability, and EU AI Act readiness aren't afterthoughts for us. They're product requirements.</p><br>Tasks<br><p>As an <strong>Application Architect</strong> (m/f/d), you will be one of the first full-time senior engineers and collaborate closely with our Co-Founder and CTO. You will own the backend architecture and help the team scale quality and delivery speed.</p><br><p>In the first 6–12 months you will have:</p><br><ul><br><li>established a clear target architecture and documentation baseline using <strong>Arc42</strong></li><br><li>clarified and communicated the core domain model using <strong>DDD</strong> principles</li><br><li>introduced/standardized an <strong>AI-driven development process</strong>, from feature specs to production deployment</li><br><li>strengthened engineering practices via coaching, pairing, and feedback loops (especially for junior developers)</li><br><li>improved reliability and delivery through better <strong>CI/CD</strong>, test automation, and infrastructure hygiene</li><br></ul><br><p><strong>Responsibilities</strong></p><br><ul><br><li>Collaborate with the team to find strong solutions to new types of problems in an <strong>AI-first architecture</strong></li><br><li>Drive a DevOps-style approach across the full specification → development → delivery lifecycle (inspired by the <em>DevOps Handbook</em>)</li><br><li>Propose and implement approaches to make delivery <strong>faster and more reliable</strong> (e.g., improving flow, feedback loops, and recovery)</li><br><li>Implement and evolve monitoring/observability across systems (metrics, logs, traces, alerting) so we can detect issues early and learn from production</li><br><li>Coach and collaborate with junior developers on good development, design and architecture practices</li><br><li>Collaborate with the team to develop an <strong>AI-driven development process</strong> from feature specs down to production deployment</li><br><li>Plan & document backend architecture in the <strong>Arc42 framework</strong></li><br><li>Extend & communicate the domain model using <strong>DDD principles</strong></li><br><li>Manage and extend application infrastructure on <strong>Azure</strong> with <strong>Pulumi</strong></li><br></ul><br>Requirements<br><ul><br><li><br><p>You are comfortable with architecture principles and practices, including:</p><br></li><br><li><br><p><strong>C4 modelling</strong></p><br></li><br><li><br><p><strong>Arc42 framework</strong></p><br></li><br><li><br><p><strong>Design patterns</strong></p><br></li><br><li><br><p>You are highly experienced in <strong>TDD</strong> and/or <strong>BDD</strong></p><br></li><br><li><br><p>You are opinionated and passionate about good design</p><br></li><br><li><br><p>Experience with <strong>Domain Driven Design (DDD)</strong></p><br></li><br><li><br><p>Deep experience with <strong>Java</strong> and <strong>Spring Boot</strong></p><br></li><br><li><br><p>A strong DevOps mindset (the <em>DevOps Handbook</em> is your bible) and experience building:</p><br></li><br><li><br><p>reliable CI/CD pipelines and release processes</p><br></li><br><li><br><p>production-grade monitoring/observability and incident response practices</p><br></li><br><li><br><p>continuous improvement loops (post-incident reviews, operational learning, and prioritizing reliability work)</p><br></li><br><li><br><p>Experience leading and enabling development teams</p><br></li><br></ul><br><p><strong>Absolute must-haves</strong></p><br><ul><br><li><strong>SOLID principles</strong> & clean code</li><br><li><strong>TDD</strong></li><br><li>IntelliJ power-user</li><br><li>Claude Code (or comparable AI-assisted development workflows)</li><br><li>Azure or AWS infrastructure-as-code (e.g., Terraform, Bicep, or CloudFormation)</li><br></ul><br>Benefits<br><ul><br><li>Hands-on ownership of a real AI product used by enterprise customers</li><br><li>Work directly alongside the founding team from day one</li><br><li>Hybrid work model: Munich North, minimum one day per week in the office, otherwise flexible (open to strong candidates elsewhere in the EU for the right fit); onboarding will take in-office</li><br><li>A steep learning curve at the intersection of LLM engineering, enterprise GRC, and startup operations</li><br><li>The chance to shape the AI team as we grow</li><br></ul><br><p>Auxilius .ai is building AI-powered GRC solutions for enterprises. We're early-stage, fast-growing, and backed by real customers. Our tech stack includes Java & Spring Boot, Angular, Kubernetes on Azure, and OpenAI & Anthropic LLMs.</p>