Application Architect - AI Native Startup

About Auxilius AI Startup

Join a pioneering, early-stage AI-native startup delivering innovative AI solutions for Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) globally. Our products cater to auditors, risk managers, and compliance teams, emphasizing rigorous evaluation, auditability, and compliance with the EU AI Act as core requirements.

Role Overview and First Year Goals

As an Application Architect, you will be among the first senior full-time engineers working closely with the Co-Founder and CTO. Your primary responsibility is overseeing backend architecture and enhancing both development quality and delivery velocity. In your first 6 to 12 months, you will:

• Define and document a clear target architecture framework based on Arc42
• Clarify and articulate the central domain model applying Domain-Driven Design (DDD) concepts
• Develop and institutionalize an AI-enhanced development pipeline from requirements specification to deployment
• Elevate engineering standards by coaching, collaborative coding sessions, and establishing feedback mechanisms, particularly supporting junior developers
• Boost system reliability and deployment efficiency through improved CI/CD processes, automated testing, and maintenance of infrastructure integrity

Key Responsibilities

• Collaborate with the team to devise robust solutions within an AI-centered software architecture
• Champion a DevOps-inspired development lifecycle spanning specification, implementation, to delivery, enhancing speed and stability
• Implement monitoring and observability strategies (metrics, logging, tracing, alerting) to proactively identify and respond to system issues, and facilitate operational learning
• Guide and mentor junior software developers to foster strong development, design, and architectural capabilities
• Develop and refine backend architecture documentation leveraging the Arc42 framework
• Extend and communicate the domain model applying Domain-Driven Design principles
• Manage and enhance cloud infrastructure primarily on Microsoft Azure using Pulumi for infrastructure as code

Required Qualifications and Experience

• Demonstrated proficiency with software architecture principles and frameworks, including C4 modeling, Arc42, and established design patterns
• Extensive experience applying Test-Driven Development (TDD) and/or Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) approaches
• Strong passion for well-structured, clean code adhering to SOLID principles
• Proficient with Domain-Driven Design (DDD) methodologies
• Advanced expertise in Java and Spring Boot development
• Deep understanding and hands-on experience with DevOps concepts, including:
• Building robust CI/CD pipelines and deployment workflows
• Implementing production-level monitoring, observability, and incident management systems
• Conducting continuous improvement practices like post-incident analysis and prioritizing reliability enhancements
• Proven leadership experience enabling developer teams
• Specific must-have skills include:
• Expertise in IntelliJ IDEA as a power user
• Experience with AI-assisted coding tools such as Claude Code or similar
• Hands-on experience with cloud infrastructure as code, particularly Azure or AWS using tools like Terraform, Bicep, or CloudFormation

Benefits and Work Model

• Direct ownership and hands-on involvement with a genuine AI product utilized by enterprise customers
• Close collaboration with the founding team from day one
• Hybrid working arrangement requiring presence in Munich office at least one day weekly, with flexibility otherwise; onboarding must be onsite
• Opportunities for rapid development at the interface of large language model engineering, enterprise GRC, and startup innovation
• Influential role in shaping and expanding the AI engineering team as the company scales