Founding Engineering Team Lead

About the Company and Role

A recently funded cybersecurity startup based in Berlin, founded by veterans from Israeli intelligence units, is seeking a Founding Engineering Team Lead. This hands-on leadership role involves building from the ground up the core security, identity, and enforcement systems for an AI-driven next-generation cyber risk management platform. The startup focuses on delivering clear, data-driven risk insights related to identity for enterprise CISOs and CTOs using cloud-native technologies and AI for automated enforcement.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead a small, high-performing engineering team while actively participating in coding and architectural design.
• Develop, review, and maintain backend and platform production code, dedicating about 70% of time coding in GoLang.
• Manage the engineering roadmap focusing on delivery speed, quality, and security.
• Define architectural direction and uphold engineering standards as the technical leader.
• Take ownership of critical platform features, integrations, and foundations.
• Implement streamlined engineering processes for efficient execution with minimal bureaucracy.
• Mentor team members through code reviews, pairing sessions, and technical guidance.
• Resolve delivery blockers across backend, frontend, data, and DevOps.
• Collaborate directly with the CEO, CPTO, and product leaders on technical and execution strategies.
• Drive hiring, onboarding, and assess technical capabilities of new engineers.
• Establish a culture emphasizing ownership, pragmatism, and humility.
• Design and build the security platform infrastructure from scratch, partnering with backend and AI teams.
• Troubleshoot and fix complex production issues across various layers including infrastructure and networking.
• Create proofs-of-concept to validate architectural and security designs in an early startup phase.
• Support compliance efforts by enabling necessary logging, controls, and evidence collection aligned with security frameworks.
• Continuously optimize platform reliability, cost efficiency, and operational maturity.
• Report directly to the CEO and CPTO.

Required Qualifications

• At least 10 years of professional experience in software engineering.
• Minimum 3 years leading engineering teams while maintaining hands-on involvement.
• At least 3 years programming experience in GoLang.
• 3 or more years of working with AWS production environments.
• Proven strong coding quality and experience conducting architecture reviews.
• Ability to alternate effectively between technical challenges and people leadership.
• High execution capability, comfortable with uncertainty and fast-moving environments.
• Strong inclinations for hands-on coding and building secure architecture from scratch.
• Experience with Docker, Kubernetes (especially EKS), and containerized applications.
• Familiarity with CI/CD systems like GitHub Actions or equivalents.
• Knowledge of monitoring and observability tools such as Grafana, OpenTelemetry, and Prometheus.
• Usage of AI-powered coding assistants (e.g., GitHub Copilot, AWS CodeWhisperer, Claude Code).
• Experience maintaining production SaaS platforms.
• Start-up mentality with high ownership and willingness to move swiftly.
• Strong communication skills in English.

Preferred Skills

• Prior experience as an early-stage or founding engineering manager.
• Background in cybersecurity, identity management, or enterprise SaaS.
• Experience related to DevOps, Site Reliability Engineering, or data engineering disciplines.
• Capability to scale teams and systems simultaneously.
• Knowledge of security architecture, identity security, or related security engineering.
• Familiarity with compliance standards such as NIS2, DORA, ISO 27001, SOC 2.
• Understanding of identity and authorization protocols including OAuth/OIDC, API tokens, SSO, RBAC/ABAC, SCIM.
• Hands-on familiarity with cloud identity/security services like IAM, CloudTrail, Azure Active Directory/Entra ID.
• Experience with SIEM tools (e.g., Splunk, Microsoft Sentinel, IBM QRadar).
• Expertise designing permission models, identity graphs, or access control frameworks.
• Knowledge of tokenization, Zero Trust architecture, least privilege, and continuous verification principles.
• Insight into security for AI and large language model systems, AI agent governance, or a strong willingness to learn rapidly.
• Familiarity with AI agent behavior, sandboxing, and LLM security.
• Background in cybersecurity or identity-focused startups.
• Personal interest in rock or metal music.
• Proficiency in German is advantageous.

Benefits and Perks

• Equity stakes as a founding team member in a cybersecurity startup.
• Competitive salaries aligned with market standards with flexibility in early-stage compensation.
• Influence company-building from inception and steer key technical choices.
• Stable funding providing immediate runway for development and growth.
• Opportunity to contribute to cutting-edge security architecture covering identity and AI agent enforcement.
• High degree of autonomy with minimal corporate bureaucracy.
• Close collaboration with a technical CEO and CPTO for rapid iteration and focused execution.
• Work in an advanced domain with identity security, SaaS access control, and AI governance.
• Extensive learning opportunities in cybersecurity, identity, and AI technologies.
• Clear career progression with potential leadership growth as the team expands.
• Based in Berlin, offering a prime tech ecosystem with strengths in cybersecurity and AI.
• Your technical design and code will form the foundation for the entire platform.
• Access to top-of-the-line equipment and modern tools from day one.
• Regular team offsite events to foster connection and alignment.