Head of Applied AI (m/w/d) - #2696125

a Head of Applied AI to lead our AI business and own the results. Whether you prefer hybrid or mostly on-site work, we've got you covered! We have 50 software engineers, real clients and ten years of track record to get you started.

We do software engineering for automotive and travel. Our clients are Audi, Volkswagen, CARIAD and Lufthansa; our engineers sit in Hamburg and our two Tech-Hubs in Romania. We sold voya to Volkswagen in 2020, bought it back in 2024, 100% founder-owned since.

The models are good enough. What companies lack are the infrastructure and processes to put them to work, and we believe this gets built in the next two or three years. The IT giants serve the corporations, startups build their own, and the mid-market has nobody credible to call. So we are opening a second arm: AI engineering for the European mid-market, with the first clients signed and the pipeline ahead of our capacity.

By 2028 we want to be the first call for AI engineering in the European automotive and travel mid-market. That is the arm you would be running.

- Run discovery with executive teams, define the use cases worth starting with, and own the proposal and the meeting where it is decided.
- Own the revenue of the arm, and back yourself to reach about €1 million in year one.
- Ship production software with our engineering pods, into the client's systems and not into a pilot, and stay accountable until the numbers are proven.
- Shape the business with us: positioning, pricing, what we productise, who we hire.

- 3 to 7 years in top-tier consulting or fast-growing software, and a master's degree.
- Projects and client conversations owned end to end at board level, in German and English.
- Hands-on work with generative AI, and the curiosity to take a subject fully apart.
- You size a business case yourself and defend the number in front of the people who pay it.
- You follow an engineer into the detail rather than nodding along, and you care about software, auto or travel.

- a competitive base plus direct participation in the success of the business. If you are weighing your own venture against simply not doing it, this is a third option: you build it, we carry the risk.
- Startup culture: Small (~50 people) and highly collaborative team.
- Full flexibility: Hybrid work from Hamburg, part-time negotiable.
- Start: Earliest start November 2026.

We are building the future of mobility
We're a dynamic software company, seated in Hamburg and Romania. Working with Audi, Volkswagen, CARIAD and Lufthansa, our team is fueled by a passion for pushing boundaries and creating impactful products in the mobility universe.

With a strong emphasis on user-centricity and ten years of expertise as a team working together, we build great digital products for the automotive industry. Additionally, we nurture our own platform, driving innovation and contributing to the advancement of the industry.

The models have become good enough to change how software gets built, and what most companies still lack is the infrastructure and the processes to put them to work. We use AI in our own engineering every day, and we have opened a second arm for AI engineering in the European mid-market. The bulk of our work remains what it has always been: production software for the automotive industry.

Join the voya team
Collaboration is at the heart of our culture, fostering an environment where diverse talents come together to shape the future of mobility. Join us and be part of a team that combines software development expertise with a deep understanding of the automotive industry!

Become part of our team where everybody really cares about each other and about moving forward
Grow with us – we value ideas, emotional safety and flexible arrangements to make sure you're able to do your best work
Build with AI in your daily work, in real client projects and not in a side experiment

Check out our open positions: https://voya.jobs.personio.de

For legal notice: https://www.voya.ai/de/datenschutz/
For imprint: https://www.voya.ai/impressum/