Head of Engineering

  • Indefinite
  • Full time
  • 10243, Berlin, Berlin, Germany

We are Hortiya

What if you could ChatGPT with plants?

At the intersection of machine learning and plant science lies a great untapped opportunity to fundamentally change the way we grow food: more sustainable, climate resilient and accessible for everyone. We at Hortiya are working together with our partners from plant research and commercial greenhouse growers, on making plant behavior and performance predictable and thus controllable. Our goal is to build for plants what ChatGPT is for text and use that key AI technology to give crops the right level of light, climate and nutrition only when they are ready to use it. Join our experienced team and redefine how we as humans interact with plants.

How it all actually works

The Hortiya technology works at the intersection of the latest advancements in machine learning and plant science. Our proprietary sensor technology measures the photosynthesis activity of the plant and feeds the data into our AI to determine the best, next control action. The sensor technology is designed to serve multiple use cases and is easy to install. As a grower you can then book different services from our platform that will help you to automate tasks that were previously done manually and prone to error.

Your Role

We are looking for a Head of Engineering to lead our software engineering team and help us deliver on our vision. In this role you are an essential part of the leadership team and wear multiple hats: engineering management, system architecture, recruiting and also hands-on coding. Being a plant nerd is a huge plus!

What You’ll Do

  • Working closely with the leadership team, you will own and define the software engineering roadmap and lead the engineering team towards priorities
  • Lead software and architecture design and make decisions that strike the right balance between operational, scaling and business needs
  • Implement a software development culture of continuous integration, testing and deployment, and code reviews to ensure high code quality and system stability
  • Recruit, onboard, and mentor talented engineers
  • Contribute to shaping Hortiya’s products and make the company a meaningful place to work

What You’ll Need

  • Combine technical expertise with creativity and business acumen
  • You have grown and managed talented engineering teams, and have mentored your team members to become the best versions of themselves
  • Have experience in designing and implementing robust, scalable, and easily extensible backend systems in a cloud environment
  • Extensive experience building and maintaining backend systems developed primarily in Python or a similar programming language
  • Track record of shipping software products in a startup
  • Passion for data, plants and the planet

What We Promise

  • Become an essential part in building one of the most relevant key technologies to master climate change adaptation
  • Competitive compensation in salary and equity (VSOP)
  • Flexibility: Hybrid working model with a cosy office in Berlin, Friedrichshain. Part-time (min. 70%) possible
  • 25 vacation days, plus company vacation between Christmas and New Year
  • Ongoing career development, training, and coaching
  • Various grants (mobility, fitness, solidarity farming)
  • Unlimited snacks, drinks, fresh fruit and basil at the office 😊

Curious?

If you like to work with a purpose-driven team at the intersection of cutting-edge technologies and quantitative plant science – this might just be the place! We’d love to hear from you. Apply or send your CV to hireme@hortiya.com.

And don’t worry if your CV isn’t perfectly polished up – send it anyway and we’ll discuss it together. And if you have a particular affinity for plants and nature, please tell us about it!

Everyone is Welcome

At Hortiya, we celebrate difference. Whatever your background, what you look like, where you come from or where you're going – we’d be glad to have you along for the journey. We have only one planet and it’s for all of us. So if you want to help us build for the future, apply or get in touch and let’s talk.

We know some of the role requirements might sound daunting! You shouldn’t be intimidated and we encourage you to apply regardless of whether you check every box. Motivation, passion and love for nature and our world are the important factors – the rest can be learned.