About Peripath & this role
Peripath is building an evidence‑based AI companion app for women navigating perimenopause in the German‑speaking market. The product combines an always‑on AI chat, a curated knowledge library, symptom and health tracking, and future wearable integrations into one long‑term companion – not another cycle tracker or generic wellness app.
Founded by Judith Serrano (CEO, product and science partnerships, lived experience) and Christian Hillemeyer (CMO, 20+ years in brand and communications for digital consumer products including Babbel), Peripath is pre‑seed and a completed business plan and an MVP targeted for December 2026.
We are looking for a third co‑founder: a hands‑on Founding CTPO who owns technology and product execution end to end. You will build first, lead as we scale, and become the senior technical and product voice in the founding team, with real equity, decision rights and full ownership of the technical foundation.
What you will own
- End‑to‑end technical architecture: mobile app, backend, AI layer, data infrastructure, integrations, security and observability.
- The AI core of Peripath: production‑grade LLM/RAG systems, retrieval quality, evaluation, monitoring, guardrails, memory/personalization and cost‑aware model orchestration.
- A mobile‑first consumer product: iOS and Android, likely via React Native or an equivalent cross‑platform approach, designed for clarity, trust and emotional safety.
- Sensitive data and privacy architecture: consent flows, data minimization, encryption, retention/deletion logic, auditability and GDPR‑aligned handling of health‑related data.
- Product execution: discovery, prioritization, roadmap, analytics, onboarding, retention loops, subscription conversion and continuous learning from real users.
- Health‑context safeguards: working with medical and legal advisors to keep Peripath clearly positioned as an evidence‑based lifestyle companion, not a diagnostic or treatment product.
- Team building after seed: hiring, leading and mentoring the first engineers, product talent and technical freelancers as the company scales.
- Founder‑level decisions: partnering with Judith and Christian on product strategy, fundraising readiness, company building and long‑term defensibility.
What success looks like in the first 6 months
- A robust MVP architecture is defined, documented and actively built.
- The first app‑store‑ready product version is on track for launch, with clear technical trade‑offs and release milestones.
- The AI system has a working RAG pipeline, source governance, evaluation approach, monitoring and guardrail logic suitable for a sensitive health context.
- Secure user data flows are designed from the start, including consent, deletion, encryption and data minimization principles.
- Key analytics for activation, retention, conversion, quality and AI cost are instrumented early enough to support product decisions and seed due diligence.
- The technical roadmap is credible for investors: clear build‑vs‑buy decisions, vendor strategy, cost assumptions, risk register and hiring plan.
Must have
- 7+ years of senior software engineering, tech lead or founding engineer experience, ideally including 0‑to‑1 product builds.
- Hands‑on ability to build: you can write, review and ship production code yourself.
- Practical LLM/RAG experience: retrieval systems, embeddings/vector databases, prompt and context design, evaluation, monitoring, hallucination‑risk management and model/provider trade‑offs.
- Mobile consumer product experience: React Native, native iOS/Android or equivalent, plus a strong sense for simple UX and consumer‑grade polish.
- Backend and data competence: APIs, authentication, databases, data modeling, observability and secure infrastructure choices.
- Product judgment: you understand that users do not buy features; they buy clarity, relief, trust and progress. You can turn research into roadmap decisions.
- Privacy and security mindset: you know that sensitive health‑related data requires careful architecture from day one.
- Founder mentality: ownership, speed, pragmatism, low ego, high standards and comfort with ambiguity.
- Genuine empathy for women's health and alignment with an evidence‑based, non‑judgmental product ethos.
- EU‑based, with Berlin/DACH strongly preferred, and able to meet in person regularly during the early build phase.
Strong plus
- Experience in regulated, privacy‑sensitive or trust‑sensitive domains such as health, fintech, insurance, compliance or mental health.
- Experience with AI safety, red‑teaming, content review workflows, medical or expert‑reviewed knowledge bases.
- Wearable, Apple Health, Google Fit, Oura, smart scale and nutrition‑tracking integrations.
- Subscription app experience, including onboarding, paywalls, app analytics, App Store / Google Play release processes and A/B testing.
- Startup fundraising or technical due diligence experience.
- A network in health tech, femtech, AI or the Berlin startup ecosystem.
Founder setup, decision rights and commitment
You will join as a true member of the founding team. You will own the technical and product architecture, make core build‑vs‑buy decisions, define the early engineering culture and shape the product roadmap together with Judith and Christian.
We expect full‑time exclusive commitment from the agreed start date. During a transparent transition period, limited non‑competing commitments can be discussed. Once onboarded as co‑founder, there must be no competing ventures, consulting engagements or side projects that conflict with Peripath's time commitment, IP, data or strategic interests. Final terms will be defined in the founder and shareholder agreements.
Compensation and equity
This is a pre‑seed co‑founder role, so the package is designed around founder equity plus modest cash compensation
Cash compensation: approximately EUR 5,000 gross per month during the pre‑seed phase.
- Post‑seed compensation: approximately EUR 10,000 gross per month following the seed round, targeted for mid‑2027.
- Founder equity: intended range of 10‑15%, reflecting a true founding CTPO role before MVP/seed, subject to final cap table, contribution, vesting and founder agreement.
- Vesting: standard founder vesting structure to be agreed, typically including a 4‑year vesting schedule and 1‑year cliff.