Founder Associate Intern @ Deeptech Defence Venture, Dresden

Atlantic; Dresden; On-site; EUR 13,000 - 20,000; Full time

Job summary

A deep tech startup in Dresden is seeking a Founder Associate Intern to work closely with the CEO on finance, marketing, and commercial strategies. This role involves fundraising support, content creation for communication channels, and research for strategic opportunities. The ideal candidate should have a business or finance background, strong writing skills, and an interest in deep tech. This full-time internship provides significant exposure and contributions to the company’s key projects.

Qualifications

• Genuine interest in the work and ownership of problems.
• Experience in an early-stage startup or VC environment.
• Ability to communicate complex topics clearly.
• Comfortable working across multiple projects at once without losing quality or letting things slip.
• Resourceful and proactive. You figure things out rather than waiting to be told what to do.
• Interested in deep tech, robotics, defence, or autonomy. You do not need to be an expert, but genuine curiosity matters.
• Based in Dresden or willing to relocate for the duration of the internship.

Responsibilities

• Support fundraising preparation and execution.
• Develop and write content for online channels.
• Research market entry and strategic opportunities.
• Document customer use cases and breakthroughs as case studies and short explainers.
• Identify the right channels and sector-specific publications for our market.
• Help structure and improve our online presence, including website updates, SEO, and content organisation.
• Work closely with the founders and engineering team to shape how we communicate what we do.
• Develop proposals and capability documents for defence clients and government stakeholders.
• Research market entry, competitive positioning, and partnership opportunities.
• Support commercial milestones including demos, trials, and strategic meetings.
• Strong judgment in prioritising and executing across multiple workstreams.

Skills

Strong writing skills

Resourceful and proactive

Ability to operate independently

Interest in deep tech and robotics

Education

Business or finance background

Job description

At Meshmerize, we build the invisible networks that keep moving machines connected. Our software powers reliable communication between robots, drones, and autonomous vehicles and systems that need to coordinate in real time without ever losing connection.

Today, Meshmerize networks are already deployed across Europe, enabling thousands of robots in factories, warehouses, and outdoor environments. Our technology is also helping build drone swarms, fleets that can move and collaborate as one.

We’re a small, international team based in Dresden, driven by curiosity and a love for solving hard problems that make autonomy more reliable.

About the Role

We are looking for a Founder Associate Intern to work directly with our CEO on the milestones that matter most right now. The business is at a stage where finance, commercial, and marketing all need to move forward at once, and this role sits across all three.

It is varied by nature, the priorities will shift, and we need someone who is comfortable jumping between competing projects, taking initiative, and working autonomously with the right support.

This is a full-time (40 hour) internship based in Dresden.

What you'll do:

Finance, Fundraising and Investor Relations

• Support on fundraising preparation and execution, including investor outreach, follow-ups, financial models, and materials
• Help prepare contracts and financial documents for funding bodies

Marketing and Comms

• Write technical and semi-technical content for LinkedIn, our website, and newsletters, translating complex concepts into clear, accessible messages
• Document customer use cases and breakthroughs as case studies and short explainers
• Identify the right channels and sector-specific publications for our market
• Help structure and improve our online presence, including website updates, SEO, and content organisation
• Work closely with the founders and engineering team to shape how we communicate what we do

Commercial and Strategic

• Develop proposals and capability documents for defence clients and government stakeholders
• Research market entry, competitive positioning, and partnership opportunities
• Support commercial milestones including demos, trials, and strategic meetings

About You

You are genuinely interested in the work and take ownership of problems beyond what is explicitly assigned. You are trainable, curious, and comfortable in an environment where things move quickly and priorities shift.

You do not need a lot of hand-holding and can operate with independence in rapidly changing environments. We care less about where you have been and more about how you think and operate.

You might have

• First experience working in an early-stage startup, VC, or similar environment
• Business or finance background, ideally with some exposure to fundraising, investor relations, or financial modelling
• Strong writing skills, with the ability to make technical topics clear and engaging for a non-technical audience
• Comfortable working across multiple projects at once without losing quality or letting things slip
• Resourceful and proactive. You figure things out rather than waiting to be told what to do
• Interested in deep tech, robotics, defence, or autonomy. You do not need to be an expert, but genuine curiosity matters
• Based in Dresden or willing to relocate for the duration of the internship

Why Join

You will work directly with the CEO on the highest-priority problems in the company, not as an observer, but as a contributor. The work you do will be used in real fundraising processes, commercial discussions, and external communication.

This is a role with a steep learning curve. You will see how an early-stage deep tech company actually operates across finance, commercial, and marketing, and how decisions are made under pressure with incomplete information.

Over the course of the internship, you will build:

• First-hand experience in fundraising, including investor communication and materials
• Exposure to defence and industrial customers, and how deals are shaped in these sectors
• The ability to break down complex technical systems into clear, structured narratives
• Strong judgment in prioritising and executing across multiple workstreams