Vice President of Engineering (m/f/d)

Project A; Berlin; On-site; EUR 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Entrepreneurial freedom

Founding team collaboration

Competitive base + bonus

Investor & market expert collaboration

Job summary

Project A seeks an experienced Vice President of Engineering to lead and scale the engineering organization at our Berlin HQ. You’ll drive platform architecture, align technology with business goals, and guide multiple product teams toward high-impact outcomes.

You’ll champion cloud-native systems, DevOps discipline, and AI-enabled features, while mentoring leaders and shaping an inclusive culture. This is a hands-on leadership role at a fast-growing portfolio company redefining supply chain

Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering with senior leadership experience in SaaS/marketplace or platform businesses.
• Proven track record scaling platforms and leading engineering orgs.
• Strong hands-on background in software architecture, distributed systems, APIs, and data-driven platforms.
• Deep understanding of cloud infrastructure and microservices architectures.
• Excellent communication skills, with ability to connect technical decisions to business impact.

Responsibilities

• Lead, grow, and mentor a high-performing engineering organization across multiple teams and domains.
• Drive platform evolution with cloud-native, microservice-based systems and AI capabilities.
• Ensure operational excellence: reliability, security, and uptime across environments.
• Foster technical innovation and maintain high standards for maintainable, scalable software.

Skills

Leadership

Software architecture

Distributed systems

Cloud platforms

DevOps

AI/ML in prod

Communication

Tools

AWS

Kubernetes

Docker

GCP

Azure

Job description

Project A is a leading European early-stage investor with €1.2b AUM, championing ambitious tech founders from idea to scale. We provide pre-seed and seed capital to firms shaping Europe's future across key themes including Fintech, European Resilience, Global Supply Chains, and the Future of Autonomous Work. Our portfolio features category leaders such as Trade Republic, Sennder, Zepz, and Quantum Systems. In addition, our founder-led Studio actively partners with ventures like 11x, ARX Robotics, and Enapi to shape and validate bold ideas from day zero.

About the Job

We’re looking for an experienced Vice President of Engineering (m/f/d) to join and lead the Engineering team at one of our Portfolio Companies.

As the Vice President of Engineering, you’ll lead and scale the engineering organization, drive the evolution of the platform architecture, and ensure technology strategy aligns with business goals and customer outcomes.

Join the Project A portoflio: A next-generation supply chain platform, the company is redefining how one of the world’s largest industries sources, distributes, and finances materials. Engineered to unlock the full potential of global trade, it harnesses agentic AI and workflow automation to provide seamless, high-efficiency access to premium materials at scale. Since its commercial rollout, the platform has fueled exponential growth, optimizing procurement for thousands of businesses while setting new benchmarks for speed, transparency, and efficiency. Its competitive edge lies in full digitization and AI-driven supply chain management automation, eliminating inefficiencies and creating a direct, intelligent bridge between suppliers and buyers. With a team of 80+ FTEs across Europe (Berlin HQ), China, and India, the company is rapidly scaling toward profitability, driving triple-digit million GMV, and setting new industry standards in autonomous, AI-powered supply chain orchestration.

Please note that this position is based in Berlin with an immediate start date.

In this role, you’ll:

Lead and Scale the Engineering Organization

• Lead, grow, and mentor a high-performing engineering organization across multiple teams and domains
• Develop engineering leaders and managers, fostering accountability, ownership, and technical excellence
• Build a strong, inclusive engineering culture grounded in psychological safety and high standards
• Partner closely with Business and Product leadership on roadmap planning, prioritization, and trade-offs
• Represent engineering perspectives in executive and business discussions
• Align technology strategy with company goals and customer outcomes

Drive Platform Evolution

• Ensure continuous improvement, stability, and performance of the existing marketplace platform
• Lead the architectural evolution toward scalable, cloud-native, microservice-based systems
• Balance short-term delivery needs with long-term technical health and scalability
• Define and enforce principles for modern, maintainable, and scalable SaaS and marketplace architecture
• Guide the integration of AI/ML capabilities (e.g. LLMs, recommendations, intelligent workflows) into production systems
• Anticipate future technical and platform needs as the business scales

Ensure Operational Excellence and Reliability

• Own system reliability, performance, security, and uptime across all environments
• Strengthen DevOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and observability
• Drive disciplined engineering processes, metrics, and delivery predictability

Foster Technical Innovation

• Encourage experimentation and thoughtful adoption of new technologies that improve scalability, reliability, and developer productivity
• Create an environment where teams can innovate while maintaining strong operational rigor

Your Profile:

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, including senior leadership roles (Director, Head of Engineering, VP) in SaaS, marketplace, or platform businesses
• Proven experience leading teams through platform scaling, architectural transformation, or modernization initiatives
• Strong hands-on background in software architecture, distributed systems, APIs, and data-driven platforms
• Deep understanding of cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP, or Azure), microservices, and event-driven architectures
• Solid knowledge of DevOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure automation, and observability
• Experience operating in AI-enabled or AI-first product environments is a strong plus
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to connect technical decisions to business impact
• A genuine passion for building teams, scaling systems, and delivering technology that creates meaningful customer value
• We value diverse backgrounds and encourage applications even if not every requirement is met

Please note that this position is based in Berlin.

Benefits and Perks:

• Fulfil a role with entrepreneurial freedom and take a pre-validated business model to the next level
• Join an experienced founding team of serial and 2nd-time founders
• Attractive base and bonus compensation program
• Collaborate with top-tier investors and angels (incl. various unicorn founders) as well as leading market experts

Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

Project A is committed to diversity and equal opportunities for all – applicants and employees alike. We value humans – with all our glorious multifaceted backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences. Our diverse team has different ethnic and cultural origins, gender identities, sexual orientations, family arrangements, religious and political affiliations, socioeconomic statuses, age groups, and abilities.