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

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. 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. As an Application Architect (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. In the first 6–12 months you will have: established a clear target architecture and documentation baseline using Arc42 clarified and communicated the core domain model using DDD principles introduced/standardized an AI-driven development process , from feature specs to production deployment strengthened engineering practices via coaching, pairing, and feedback loops (especially for junior developers) improved reliability and delivery through better CI/CD , test automation, and infrastructure hygiene Responsibilities Collaborate with the team to find strong solutions to new types of problems in an AI-first architecture Drive a DevOps-style approach across the full specification → development → delivery lifecycle (inspired by the DevOps Handbook ) Propose and implement approaches to make delivery faster and more reliable (e.g., improving flow, feedback loops, and recovery) Implement and evolve monitoring/observability across systems (metrics, logs, traces, alerting) so we can detect issues early and learn from production Coach and collaborate with junior developers on good development, design and architecture practices Collaborate with the team to develop an AI-driven development process from feature specs down to production deployment Plan & document backend architecture in the Arc42 framework Extend & communicate the domain model using DDD principles Manage and extend application infrastructure on Azure with Pulumi You are comfortable with architecture principles and practices, including: C4 modelling Arc42 framework Design patterns You are highly experienced in TDD and/or BDD You are opinionated and passionate about good design Experience with Domain Driven Design (DDD) Deep experience with Java and Spring Boot A strong DevOps mindset (the DevOps Handbook is your bible) and experience building: reliable CI/CD pipelines and release processes production-grade monitoring/observability and incident response practices continuous improvement loops (post-incident reviews, operational learning, and prioritizing reliability work) Experience leading and enabling development teams Absolute must-haves SOLID principles & clean code TDD IntelliJ power-user Claude Code (or comparable AI-assisted development workflows) Azure or AWS infrastructure-as-code (e.g., Terraform, Bicep, or CloudFormation) Hands-on ownership of a real AI product used by enterprise customers Work directly alongside the founding team from day one 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 A steep learning curve at the intersection of LLM engineering, enterprise GRC, and startup operations The chance to shape the AI team as we grow 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.