Lead AI Software Architect/Engineer (m/f/d)

In Germany - Berlin | Bonn | Cologne | Frankfurt/Main | Hamburg | MunichWe are seeking an experienced Lead AI Architect/ Engineer to contribute to designing and building scalable SaaS products within our AI Lab. In this role, you’ll combine deep technical expertise with strategic vision to build AI-powered products that will help transform our clients’ business models and enable their growth.Simon-Kucher is at the forefront of innovation in driving commercial excellence, revamping business models, developing solutions and methodologies for unlocking better growth of our clients. Within AI Lab, we are developing cutting-edge large scale AI products to deliver sustained top-line impact for our clients.Are you interested in working in a team of AI evangelists with a can-do attitude?

Want to experience the dynamics of agile processes in open-minded teams? How about getting creative in a startup atmosphere with a steep development curve and flat hierarchies? And most importantly, do you want to make a difference?

Then you've come to the right place.What Makes Us SpecialAdvance your career with exciting professional opportunities in our thriving company with a startup feelInnovate by transforming ideas into cutting-edge AI products, championing AI and Generative AI through creative experimentation to push boundaries and deliver transformative solutions.Voice your unique ideas in a culture defined by our entrepreneurial spirit, openness, and integrityFeel at home working with our helpful, enthusiastic colleagues who have great team spiritBroaden your perspective with our extensive training curriculum and learning programs (e.g. LinkedIn Learning)Speak your mind in our holistic feedback and development processes (e.g. 360-degree feedback)Satisfy your need for adventure with our opportunities to live and work abroad in one of our many international officesEnjoy our benefits, such as hybrid working, daycare allowance, corporate discounts, and wellbeing support (e.g. Headspace)Unwind in our break areas where you can help yourself to the healthy snacks and beverages providedSee another side of your coworkers at our frequent employee events, World Meetings and Holiday PartiesHow You Will Create An ImpactDesign scalable SaaS architectures for AI/GenAI products.Evaluate, select, and integrate third-party libraries and open-source frameworks.

Set up databases and LLM frameworks Work with cloud platform (AWS) to deploy and manage services securely.xDesign and lead development of AI products for business-specific use cases that will be offered to our clients as SaaSMentor and guide junior team members, setting clear technical directions and providing architectural oversight. Lead development of RAG and/or fine-tuning for LLMs and data pipelines for internal and external data sources (e.g., pricing databases, market benchmarks, CRM exports).Set engineering standards and code quality guidelines Work with MLOps engineers to deploy and maintain models.Optimize performance, latency, and cost of AI/GenAI solutions.Working closely with leadership, engineering product team and business stakeholders, helping to translate strategy into technical direction.xRapidly prototype new ideas and iterate based on user feedback (consultants or clients).Lead technical PoCs and MVP development and evaluate build-vs-buy decisions for GenAI components.Stay ahead of AI/GenAI developments and assess new models/tools for adoption.About YouProven experience with designing, developing and operating customer-facing SaaS products used by real users at scaleYou owned SaaS products beyond initial launch, maintaining, evolving and operating them over timeYou are business-oriented data-centric, passionate about building products that deliver tangible value to our clientsExcellent communication skills, with the ability to convey technical concepts clearly to diverse audiences.Very strong communication and collaboration skills - supporting other engineers, async collaboration, explaining technical decisions to non-technical audiences, writing documentation, showing initiative.High standards around reliability, security and long-term maintainabilityProven leadership in managing teams through complex infrastructure and data-centric projects, encouraging collaboration and innovation.Proven experience in designing and building applications using GenAI models, including open-source and commercial LLMs (code and general-purpose), including deployment/integration experience.Technical SkillsSaaS multi-tenant architecturesStrong requirement for distributed systems and production API design (latency, caching, backpressure, resiliency patterns).Experience designing event-driven architectures and data pipelines (Kafka/Kinesis) if your products need ingestion + near real-time refresh.Working experience with cloud platforms; deep expertise in AWS Strong Python skills and experience with AI frameworks like Hugging Face Transformers, LangChain, and PyTorch.Beyond “RAG/fine-tuning”: require experience with RAG architecture patterns (chunking, hybrid search, reranking, citations, source attribution); Evaluation frameworks (e.g., automated retrieval eval, hallucination checks, regression testing); Safety/guardrails (prompt injection defenses, content filtering, PII redaction)Experience with high-performance inference (vLLM/TensorRT-LLM where applicable), batching, quantization, and GPU cost/perf tradeoffs.Designing multi-model routing and cost controls (fallbacks, caching, budget ceilings).Require competence in: data modeling, data quality checks, schema evolution, and governance.Vector DB + embedding ops: index management, re-embedding strategies, retrieval tuning.CI/CD for ML, model registry, feature stores, monitoring (drift + performance).Ability to define engineering standards (linting, type checking, testing strategy, code review norms) and enforce via CI.Threat modeling for GenAI (prompt injection, data exfiltration), privacy-by-design, retention policies, and auditability.Have we sparked your interest? Simply click the 'Apply now' button to submit your application.

Please note that, for data protection reasons, we cannot accept applications via email.Would you like to learn more about us and our company culture? Click here to watch our recruitment video.About Simon-KucherSimon-Kucher is a global consultancy with more than 2,000 employees in 30+ countries.Our sole focus is on unlocking better growth that drives measurable revenue and profit for our clients. We achieve this by optimizing every lever of their commercial strategy – product, price, innovation, marketing, and sales – based on deep insights into what customers want and value.

With 40 years of experience in monetization topics of all kinds, we are regarded as the world’s leading pricing and growth specialist. simon-kucher.comWe believe in building a culture that embraces diversity, equity, and inclusion, creating an environment in which our people feel valued, are able to be themselves and feel their contribution matters. If we get that right, remarkable things will happen; people will grow faster, innovate, feel valued, and create better outcomes for everyone – our people, our clients and, of course, our business.Your Personal ContactMaria Weiningerrecruitment.germany(at)simon-kucher.comPlease submit your application exclusively via the “Apply now” button!Better growth starts here. With you.