Early-Career Machine Learning Engineer - Accelerator Programme

Location: On-site with the team in Berlin, Germany

Programme length: Up to 12 months (full-time, paid)

Start: April 2026

Cohort size: Limited (14 total across all tracks - Data Analyst, Software Engineer, ML Engineering, and Data Scientist)

Target profiles: Final-year students, recent graduates, early-career engineers (0–2 years’)

Build AI-powered products that impact millions of small businesses - at the start of your career.

At SumUp, we build fintech solutions that empower over 4 million merchants across 37 markets to run and grow their businesses. Every day, this generates rich payments and business data - and SumUp’s next-gen AI tools turn that data into practical insights and intelligent tools that create real merchant value.

The SumUp Accelerator is a two-part, up to 12-month, full-time, paid programme for early-career engineers who want to learn fast by working on real production systems.

This is not a traditional internship. From day one, you’ll learn how machine learning systems are designed, shipped, and operated in real production environments - with guidance from experienced engineers and data scientists.

👉 Curious what that actually looks like? Watch how our Accelerator participants become contributors to real-world features at SumUp.

 

Your impact and what you’ll be doing

As part of an Accelerator squad, you’ll work alongside experienced engineers, data scientists, and product managers to:

• Design, build, and deploy machine learning and LLM-powered solutions in customer-facing products, learning how models are productionized through APIs, services, and scalable backend systems
• Develop and operate ML pipelines covering data processing, model training, evaluation, and serving
• Monitor, evaluate, and improve models to ensure strong performance, reliability, and robustness in production
• Apply software engineering best practices such as version control, CI/CD, testing, and code reviews
  
  
• Experiment with prompt engineering and LLM-based workflows to build secure, reliable, API-driven AI features
• Collaborate closely with data scientists, software engineers, and product managers to integrate ML solutions into real merchant workflows

You won’t be working on toy examples. You’ll be learning how ML actually ships.

What makes this programme different

The Accelerator is designed for fast learning and real impact, preparing you with the skills and experience needed to succeed in a long-term role at SumUp.

• Primary mentor for every participant
• Weekly check-ins focused on delivery, feedback, and growth
• Hands-on learning through real production challenges, not simulations
• Work as a full contributing team member with support to grow confidently

You might be a great fit if you

• Are a recent graduate (Bachelor’s or Master’s), final year student, or early-career professional (0–2 years’ experience) in Machine Learning, Data Science, Computer Science, or a related field.
• Have good programming skills in Python, with some exposure to building APIs (e.g. FastAPI or similar)
• Understand the basics of how machine learning models are trained, evaluated, and served in production
• Have experimented with LLMs, prompt engineering, or LLM-based tools (through projects, coursework, or self-learning)
• Are familiar with core software engineering concepts such as Git, basic CI/CD, and collaborative development
• Are curious about cloud platforms and modern infrastructure (e.g. AWS, Docker, Kubernetes, PostgreSQL)
• Enjoy solving ambiguous problems and thinking analytically about systems and trade-offs

We apply a consistent technical bar focused on fundamentals - not pedigree - and welcome candidates from a wide range of backgrounds.

Why you should join SumUp

🌎 Impact with Purpose: See your impact and ship products used by millions of small businesses worldwide while building SumUp’s next-gen AI tools. This isn’t a sandbox - it’s a chance to get hands-on with the tech shaping the future of finance from our Berlin office.

🌟 Career Path: This programme is aimed at fast-tracking graduates into full-time roles with a significant salary increase.

🌈 Come as you are: Be part of a workplace that celebrates diversity and fosters an inclusion-first culture. Here, unique perspectives are respected and used to build products that truly work for everyone.

🌮 Fueled for Success: Kick off your week with a free SumUp Breakfast every Monday and enjoy subsidized lunches Tuesday through Thursday.

⚽️ Stay Active Your Way: Whether you’re into football, bouldering, or beach volleyball, we have a team for you. Plus, an in-office gym and subsidized Urban Sports Club memberships.

🎉 Social by Design: Between our gaming areas, rooftop drinks, and regular social events, you’ll find a community that works and plays together.

💰Paid Internship: 2770€ per month, and a significant increase if offered a full-time role at the end of the programme.

💖 You’ll have access to many other benefits, such as discount platforms and transport ticket/mobility options.

📈 Programme structure: 3 months (initial) + 9 months (extension). Continued participation in the 12-month program is based on performance of the first 3-month term.

About SumUp

Be empowered to build things that matter.

At SumUp, we're on a mission to empower small businesses across the globe by providing simple and affordable tools that allow them to thrive. Today, over 4 million businesses in 37 markets rely on SumUp as their financial partner to manage payments, finance and customer relationships.

Our commitment to small businesses is reflected in our diverse team of over 3,000 SumUppers from over 90 nationalities, united by global collaboration and an innovative mindset. Our core values and culture shape everything we do, fostering inclusion, learning and belonging 

SumUp is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer, committed to building a safe, respectful, and diverse workplace where everyone can thrive.

Discover more about our culture and opportunities on our careers website, and follow our journey on LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Job Application Tip

We recognise that candidates feel they need to meet 100% of the job criteria in order to apply for a job. Please note that this is only a guide. If you don’t tick every box, it’s ok too because it means you have room to learn and develop your career at SumUp.