Founding Deployment Strategist

About the Role A Y Combinator–backed enterprise AI startup is hiring a Founding Deployment Strategist to lead its European expansion from Munich. This is a founding-level, high-ownership role sitting at the intersection of hands-on AI engineering, enterprise customer success, and team building. You will work directly with the CEO to turn large enterprises into AI-native operators — diagnosing high-leverage automation opportunities, building and deploying production AI agents, and coaching C-suite stakeholders through end-to-end AI transformation. As the first on-the-ground hire in Europe, you will also hire and shape the regional team as the company scales. The company builds an agentic operating system for enterprises, enabling business users to orchestrate AI agents that autonomously execute complex workflows — without requiring engineering expertise. The platform integrates with 200+ business tools, supports leading AI models, and maintains human-in-the-loop governance for critical actions. What You'll Do Lead the European market rollout from Munich, partnering closely with the CEO on strategy and execution. Diagnose high-leverage AI opportunities within enterprise customers and prioritize the highest-value use cases. Build initial agents and automated workflows to prove value quickly, then scale adoption organisation-wide. Run AI agent hackathons and coach C-suite stakeholders on rollout strategy and transformation roadmaps. Navigate complex enterprise politics — find internal champions, remove blockers, and build relationships across all levels. Represent customer needs to product and engineering; advocate for features and integration requirements. Hire, mentor, and shape the growing European team. Continuously automate your own workflows using the platform's agent capabilities. Own outcomes end-to-end and proactively take on work beyond the formal job description. What We're Looking For Required: Deep, hands-on experience shipping AI agents, automated workflows, or production ML/AI features in enterprise settings. Strong understanding of model selection and routing, evaluation design, data residency requirements, and integration architecture for enterprise AI deployments. Demonstrated experience building and leading cross-functional deployment teams, including hiring and mentoring. Proven ability to drive adoption inside large, complex organisations and manage renewals and expansion commercially. Strong stakeholder management skills across executive and operational levels. Native-level German proficiency — this is a firm requirement. Based in Munich or willing to relocate. Nice to Have: Background at a high-calibre consulting firm (e.g. strategy or management consulting) combined with technical AI experience. Prior experience in a founding or first-hire capacity at a startup. Familiarity with agentic AI frameworks, MCP servers, or orchestration tooling. Track record influencing revenue outcomes (expansion, upsell, renewal) in enterprise SaaS. You are: high-ownership, high-agency, low-ego — with a strong bias for action, rapid prioritisation, and a builder's mindset. Location Primary location: Munich, Bavaria, Germany (on-site) This is an on-site role; candidates must be Munich-based or prepared to relocate. Visa sponsorship: Not available — candidates must have existing authorisation to work in Germany.