Founding Product Engineer (m/f/x)

About us

We’re Cortea , a Berlin startup transforming audits with AI . Manual, document-heavy audits waste expert time while demand keeps rising. Our AI-powered software and specialized AI agents remove the repetitive work so auditors can focus on judgment.

Backed by top-tier VCs with >15m funding, with a working product and paying customers, we’re rapidly scaling.

We value first-principles thinking, speed, trust, and kindness . We build side by side in our Berlin office .

Your Role

As our Founding Product Engineer , you’ll ship user-facing features end to end. You’ll focus on the frontend while comfortably building APIs and shaping database models. You’ll collaborate daily with product design and founders to turn complex audit flows into fast, elegant product experiences.

What you’ll do

• Own features across the stack: UI → API → data model → tests → rollout

• Work closely with design to turn ideas into high-quality interfaces

• Raise code quality with reviews, tests, and pragmatic performance work

• Help evolve our architecture, tooling, and developer experience

Qualifications

• 6+ years engineering experience

• Strong product mindset and ownership

Frontend

• React 18+ : Proficiency with modern React, hooks and concurrent features

• TypeScript : Strong typing skills, generic patterns, and complex type manipulations

Backend

• APIs : Experience building production-level APIs

• SQL : Experience modeling relational databases and implementing them

Bonus

• PostgreSQL : Strong SQL skills, specifically with PostgreSQL. Understanding of multi-tenant architectures, indexing strategies, and migration management

No one checks every box. If you’re strong on the frontend and comfortable going down-stack, we want to talk.

What We Offer

• High impact & growth: Front-row seat to scaling an AI startup with real ownership from day one

• Mission-driven culture: First-principles thinking, bold ideas, and a supportive team

• Attractive compensation: competitive salary + meaningful equity

• Personal development: Learning budget for courses and conferences

• True Berlin startup environment: Central Berlin office, team lunches, retreats, flexible vacation

Interview process

• First Call — Intro to Cortea with our Founders Associate Liza

• Second Call — Technical interview with our Member of Technical Staff Jendrik

• Third Call — Deep dive into our culture with our Co-Founder Philipp

• On-site Half-Day (Berlin) — Meet the team and work on a real problem together