Tech Lead

We are looking for a hands-on Tech Lead who can act as the technical anchor for our AI-first product ecosystem: ErxlebenAI, the Zukunftsschmiede learning platform, intelligent assistant workflows, API-driven B2B systems and future, real-time digital human/avatar interfaces. This person will lead architecture, guide the engineering team, make practical technology decisions and still be close enough to the code to ensure quality execution.

Responsibilities:

• Own architecture across frontend, backend, AI services, integrations and deployment environments.
• Translate ambitious product and business requirements into stable, scalable and realistic technical solutions.
• Lead hands-on delivery while mentoring mid-level and junior developers through code reviews and clear standards.
• Define engineering standards for code quality, testing, documentation, release processes and collaboration.
• Design reusable product modules instead of one-off client-specific implementations.
• Support hiring through role calibration, profile screening, technical interviews and evaluation feedback.
• Work closely with founders, product, design and AI stakeholders to turn vision into execution.
• Ensure AI features are integrated with quality, intent, traceability and a strong user experience.

Requirements:

• 5-8 years of professional software development experience, with strong full-stack ownership.
• Proven experience leading technical decisions in a product or platform environment.
• Strong command of modern frontend, backend, API and database development.
• Experience with production systems, cloud deployment, version control and structured release workflows.
• Practical exposure to AI-enabled product features, LLM APIs, intelligent assistants or automation workflows.
• Ability to explain technical trade-offs clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Strong written and spoken English for technical documentation, team leadership and cross-functional work.

Leadership expectations:

• Provide structure, clarity and direction without micromanagement.
• Create accountability and improve engineering maturity.
• Make decisions when trade-offs are required and document them clearly.
• Build a team culture of ownership, quality, curiosity and speed.

Expectations:

• The team works within a clear technical structure and coding standard.
• Product decisions are stable, scalable and well-documented.
• Delivery becomes faster without sacrificing quality.
• Mid-level and junior developers visibly improve under this person's guidance.

Core Technology Stack:

Full-stack and platform engineering:

• Frontend: React.js, Next.js, TypeScript, HTML5 CSS3 Tailwind CSS or comparable UI frameworks.
• Backend: Node.js, NestJS / Express.js, Python / FastAPI or comparable backend frameworks.
• Databases: PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis; vector databases are a strong plus.
• APIs: REST, GraphQL, WebSockets, streaming APIs, API documentation and integration design.
• Security: OAuth2 JWT, RBAC, secure sessions, authentication flows and basic application hardening.
• DevOps: Docker, CI/CD, GitHub Actions / GitLab CI, Linux servers, structured deployment workflows.
• Cloud: AWS and/or EU-based infrastructure such as Hetzner; production readiness and monitoring.

AI, LLM and intelligent systems:

• Practical LLM API integration and orchestration experience.
• RAG/retrieval workflows, semantic search and source-grounded answer generation.
• Prompt engineering fundamentals and AI workflow design.
• Session memory, context management and multi-step conversational logic.
• AI logging, auditability, traceability and quality-control thinking.
• Latency, reliability and cost-awareness in AI-driven applications.
• Experience with voice, TTS, STT, avatar, LMS, gamification or real-time interaction systems is a strong advantage.