Senior Software Developer

acemate is building an AI learning & teaching platform for higher and further education institutions. We have strong traction, secured funding and are entering an exciting growth phase. We're looking for a passionate Senior Software Engineer / Developer to drive our product forward and help us scale.

About acemate

Founded in 2024, acemate has quickly become the leading AI learning platform for higher and further education, trusted by top-tier institutions across four countries, including University of Cologne, WHU and the German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (IHKs).

• Our Mission: Democratizing access to personalized learning. We don’t believe that AI will replace educators. Instead, we empower them to design and deliver personalized learning experiences at scale.
• Our Growth: We've raised pre-seed funding and are growing rapidly. While we focus on higher and further education in the DACH area today, we're already expanding into new regions and markets.
• Our Culture: We’re a young, driven team passionate about tackling the toughest challenges in education. We embrace builder culture and minimize scheduled meetings for ad-hoc discussions and maximized focus on coding and creating.

Tasks

What You'll Work On

As a Software Engineer joining our founding team, you'll have a direct impact on our technical direction and overall architecture. You'll be fully responsible for the backend systems behind our applications, managing the entire lifecycle from early database schemas to API development and operational dashboards.

• Own your work from start to finish: You will drive the development of your features from inception to production. That means handling database modeling, API design, deployment, and ongoing monitoring. Alongside feature work, you'll refine our architecture to keep the Effect & TypeScript codebase clean, strictly type-safe, and easy to maintain.
• Solve complex engineering challenges: Your core focus will be the heavy-lifting backend logic that drives the product. Rather than just wiring up simple CRUD endpoints, you'll be architecting asynchronous workflows, sophisticated AI pipelines, and deep authorization models that address actual user needs.

Recent projects we've shipped:

• Developing a complex authorization engine merging ABAC and ReBac models to support the intricate permission structures required by various institutions

• Designing advanced AI pipelines capable of pulling text and images out of documents, using multiple orchestrated models to map concepts directly into knowledge graphs

• Driving the migration away from an aging fullstack monolith toward a completely type-safe API ecosystem built on Effect

Tech Stack:

• Backend: Effect.ts, Hono, oRPC, Bun, Typescript
• Database: PostgreSQL (via Supabase)
• Infrastructure: Cloudflare (Workers, Workflows, R2, KV, Hyperdrive), Google Cloud (Gemini, Cloud Run)
• Tooling: Axiom, Sentry, PostHog, Langfuse, Stripe
• AI: Vercel AI SDK

Don't worry if you haven't mastered every tool on this list yet. We value your capacity to learn on the job and get up to speed with new frameworks quickly.

Requirements

What We're Looking For

• 2+ years of software engineering experience with strong TypeScript skills
• Startup experience: You’re comfortable in fast-paced, evolving environments
• Balanced AI approach: You knew how to code before Cursor and Claude Code, but understand how to leverage them effectively
• Product passion: High identification with our mission to transform education
• Bonus: Experience with authz systems, infra/devops, AI, or frontend work (Next.js/React)

Benefits

Benefits

• Competitive salary package with equity component

• Fully covered Deutschlandticket

• BusinessBike (bike or e-bike via leasing, also for private use )

• Working in a small but driven team built around performance and learning

• Flexible environment with high degree of autonomy

• Frequent team events and acemate parties! 🥳