Staff Forward Deployed AI Engineer (m/f/d)

Sportrada; Leipzig; On-site; EUR 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Global teams

Career development plan

Diversity groups (Women in Tech, Pride

Employee assistance program

Wellness and mindfulness apps

Job summary

Sportradar is seeking an experienced Staff Forward Deployed AI Engineer based in Leipzig. You will operate like an internal consultant, partnering with business units to identify problems, design AI-driven solutions, and lead the delivery of LLM and agentic systems from discovery to production.

You will own the technical strategy for use cases, work with stakeholders, and mentor teams while navigating organisational complexity and competing priorities.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of software engineering experience with business stakeholders.
• Strong Python and data pipelines experience.
• Hands-on experience with LLMs and agents (prompting, tool use, RAG, evaluation).
• Experience building and operating production systems; strong system design.

Responsibilities

• Meet with department leads to understand current work and define problems.
• Break down scenarios into defined problems, scope, success criteria and delivery plan.
• Streamline processes and decide where AI adds value.
• Own technical strategy and architecture for internal engagements.
• Design and deliver production agentic and LLM systems, including retrieval (RAG), tool use, context and prompts, guardrails and observability.
• Define and run evaluations and monitoring to guide design choices.
• Mentor colleagues and share reusable patterns.

Skills

Python

LLMs & agents

Communication

Independent work

Problem solving

Data pipelines

Cloud platforms

Production systems

Tools

AWS

Azure

GCP

Job description

• Full-time

Company Description

We’re the world’s leading sports technology company, at the intersection between sports, media, and betting. More than 1,700 sports federations, media outlets, betting operators, and consumer platforms across 120 countries rely on our know-how and technology to boost their business.

Job Description

ABOUT US:

Sportradar is a sports data and technology company. As Staff Forward Deployed AI Engineer, you work like an internal consultant: you are placed in other departments and business units, talk with the business, find the real problems, cut through complexity, simplify processes and then build the AI solution. You work independently with little supervision, navigate organisational complexity and competing priorities to get things done, own the technical strategy for your use cases, and lead delivery of LLM and agentic systems from discovery to production.

THE CHALLENGE:

• Meet with department leads and teams to understand how work is done today, identify problems and frame them clearly.
• Break down unclear, cluttered situations into defined problems, scope, success criteria and a delivery plan.
• Streamline and simplify business processes, and decide where AI helps and where it does not.
• Navigate stakeholders, approvals and competing priorities pragmatically to keep work moving.
• Own technical strategy and architecture for your internal engagements.
• Design and deliver production agentic and LLM systems, including retrieval (RAG), tool use, context and prompt design, guardrails and observability.
• Define and run evaluations (test sets, regression suites, monitoring) that guide design and model choices.
• Mentor colleagues, review designs and share reusable patterns.

ABOUT YOU:

• Typically 8+ years of software engineering experience, including senior work with business stakeholders.
• Strong communication with business and technical audiences, including senior stakeholders.
• Self-motivated and able to work independently with little supervision on ambiguous work.
• Ability to navigate organisational complexity and competing priorities to get things done.
• Strong problem-finding and analytical skills; experience simplifying complex processes or systems.
• Experience building and operating production systems; strong system design.
• Hands-on experience with LLMs and agents (prompting, tool use, RAG, evaluation).
• Strong Python; experience with data pipelines and a major cloud platform (AWS, Azure or GCP).

Nice to have

• Consulting or internal-consulting experience.

Working model

Based in Leipzig. Some travel between Sportradar offices may be required; the extent will be confirmed by the hiring team.

OUR OFFER:

• A collaborative environment with colleagues from all over the world (Engineering offices in Europe, Asia and the US) including various social events and teambuilding.
• Ability to shape your own workday and career via a clearly defined professional and personal development plan.
• Opportunity to develop yourself within an inspiring and fast-growing company with our Career framework possibilities.
• Vibrant and inclusive community, including Women in Tech and Pride groups which welcome all participants.
• Global Employee Assistance Programme.
• Calm and Reulay app (managing stress, maintaining focus, improving sleep, building resilience).

While we appreciate the flexibility and benefits of working from home, we strongly believe that coming together in person fosters stronger connections, encourages collaboration, and drives innovation—both as individuals and as a company. The energy, shared ideas, and team support we experience in the office strengthen the foundation of our success and culture. For this reason, we are an office-first business operating on a fully on-site model, with team members working in the office five days a week to build relationships, exchange ideas, and grow together. Certain exemptions may apply depending on location — your local point of contact can provide further details.

OURRECRUITMENTPROCESS:

• Initial Screening: A quick chat with our Talent Acquisition Partner to understand your background and expectations.
• Technical Assessment: A short (home) task to showcase your technical skills.
• Two Technical Interviews: Meet with the Technical team and later with the Hiring Manager to dive into your solution, andalso discuss team fit.
• FinalStep: Receive feedback and, if successful, an offer!

Additional Information

At Sportradar, we celebrate our diverse group of hardworking employees. Sportradar is committed to ensuring equal access to its programs, facilities, and employment opportunities. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran. We encourage you to apply even if you only meet most of the requirements (but not 100% of the listed criteria) – we believe skills evolve over time. If you’re willing to learn and grow with us, we invite you to join our team!