Staff/Principal Backend Engineer (Python) - Early stage | E2E impact | AI Native | Distributed Systems - Up to ~141K EUR base + solid equity % - Amsterdam (Hybrid)

We're looking for a Staff or Principal level Engineer to build an AI product with massive impact.This is a AI start-up in Amsterdam that builds a solution to a problem space that anyone can relate to. For this critical Staff level role we're looking for an engineer who naturally switch between high-level system design and low-level implementation details to solve problems in the simplest possible, most impactful way. The team works at lightning speed; AI-assisted engineering is part of the team's day-to-day workflow from day one.This is probably for you ifYou naturally think in systems/platforms and care about architecture, not frameworks You are great at technical reasoning, setting the technical direction and getting the team alignedYou have strong opinions on API design, concurrency, database modelling, testing strategies and operational excellence and you can defend those opinions technicallyPython is the core of your experienceTechPython • Distributed Systems • Modern frameworks • Async Processing • Platform • Cloud • Docker • CI/CD • Observability • AI-assisted engineeringPackageComp is up to ~141K EUR gross per year as base depending on experience. The equity % for the role is very solid for Dutch standards and we'll discuss this in the first call. VISA sponsorship & 30% ruling for Internationals is possible. Other benefits like top-notch hardware, travel allowance, etc. apply ofc.Why this role is differentThis isn't a company bolting AI onto an existing SaaS productAI is embedded throughout the engineering organisation. Engineers use AI extensively to design, build, test and iterate faster whilst engineering judgement remains the competitive advantageYou'll work with exceptionally smart engineersNo endless management layers but quick decision making and a lot of ownership/impactJust difficult engineering problems, genuine ownership and the opportunity to influence the technical direction of a company from an early stage