Posted 6 days ago

Founding Engineer

Clera United States, San Francisco, California
Onsite Full Time

Job description

About the Role

This is a founding-stage full-stack engineering role at an early-stage B2B SaaS cleantech startup building AI-powered software that controls and optimizes industrial and commercial battery storage assets. The platform addresses real-world energy challenges — including volatile electricity prices and underutilized battery capacity — through strategies like self-consumption optimization, peak shaving, spot market arbitrage, and dynamic tariff management.

As a Founding Engineer, you will have an outsized impact on both product and company direction. You'll own core backend systems for real-time optimization and forecasting, build operator-facing dashboards, and architect the infrastructure needed to scale across thousands of battery systems.

What You'll Do

  • Own and build the core product driving real-time optimization and forecasting for energy assets.
  • Develop backend services and mixed-integer optimization algorithms to process data in real time.
  • Create intuitive frontend dashboards for battery operators to monitor and control assets.
  • Design and scale cloud infrastructure to support thousands of battery systems.
  • Collaborate cross-functionally to define product features and requirements.
  • Deploy production-ready optimizations and iterate rapidly based on real-world feedback.

What We're Looking For

Must-haves (dealbreakers):

  • Frontend development skills with JavaScript/TypeScript and React (Next.js preferred).
  • Proven experience in a full-stack engineering role building and shipping production applications.

Required:

  • Experience with Tailwind CSS.
  • Degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, or Electrical Engineering (Bachelor's or Master's) with a strong academic record (grade better than 2.0 on the German scale).
  • Startup experience — defined as a company younger than 3 years and fewer than 50 employees.
  • Experience with cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP, or Azure).
  • Solid Python backend development experience, including mixed-integer optimization.
  • Fluency in German — required, as the majority of customers operate in German.

Nice to have:

  • Background or experience in the energy industry.
  • Experience deploying optimizations in production systems.

Compensation & Benefits

  • Salary: $70,000 – $100,000 annually
  • Visa sponsorship: Available
  • Founding-stage equity and direct impact on company trajectory

Location

This is a fully on-site role based in Munich, Germany. Candidates should be based in or willing to relocate to Munich.

Skills and functions

  • Aws
  • Azure
  • Gcp
  • Javascript
  • Python
  • React
  • Typescript