Founders Associate

ABOUT THE ROLE

This is a core operator role working directly with the founders of an early-stage AI company serving the sea and air freight industry. You will own high-leverage workstreams end-to-end, helping scale both product and operations in a small, fast-moving team. It is a rare opportunity to grow into senior operating or founding responsibility with direct founder mentorship.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Own and run cross-functional projects spanning finance, operations, compliance, and people.
• Build and manage internal systems, tooling, and automations that enable the company to scale.
• Lead recruiting efforts end-to-end, including sourcing, interviewing, and onboarding new team members.
• Support go-to-market initiatives and help bring AI agent products to enterprise customers.
• Step into whatever challenge moves the company forward, from board preparation to vendor management.
• Work shoulder-to-shoulder with founders on the highest-priority problems at any given moment.

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

• 2+ years of experience in generalist, operating, consulting, or founding roles, ideally in early-stage or high-agency environments.
• Proven ability to build internal systems, tooling, and automations hands-on, not just direct others to do so.
• Technical background or strong intuition for AI, software architecture, and automation, with the ability to evaluate technical feasibility.
• Fluency in both German and English, with clear communication across technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Experience running cross-functional projects end-to-end across business functions including finance and operations.
• Experience supporting B2B go-to-market initiatives and enterprise customer engagement.
• Comfort owning outcomes with minimal supervision and managing ambiguous, high-priority workstreams.
• Ability to shift fluidly between big-picture thinking and detailed execution within the same day.
• Familiarity with logistics, supply chain, or enterprise operations is a plus.
• Background in consulting or strategy with exposure to process optimization is a plus.
• Aspiration to build something meaningful and potentially start your own company one day.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

Competitive salary plus meaningful equity participation. Visa sponsorship is not available; local work authorization is required.

LOCATION

Berlin, Germany. On-site, with in-person work strongly preferred.