STARK is a new kind of defence technology company revolutionising the way autonomous systems are deployed across multiple domains. We design, develop, and manufacture high-performance unmanned systems that are software-defined, mass-scalable, and cost-effective — providing operators with a decisive edge in contested environments.

We are focused on delivering deployable, high-performance systems — not future promises. In a time of rising threats, STARK is bolstering the technological edge of NATO Allies and their Partners to deter aggression and defend Europe, today.

• Define and own STARK's AI strategy across product and internal domains, setting a direction that Technical Leads can execute against

• Lead AI stack decisions, model selection, frameworks, MLOps infrastructure, evaluation, and tooling, in partnership with the CTO and Technical Leads, with final technical accountability sitting with you
• Act as connective tissue across teams: identify and resolve cross-team AI dependencies, shared infrastructure gaps, and redundant workstreams that individual leads cannot see from inside their own domain
• Drive internal AI adoption across STARK, developer productivity tooling, agent and automation infrastructure, and responsible-use frameworks across engineering and operations
• Provide technical oversight and challenge across all AI workstreams, asking hard questions on methodology, adversarial robustness, distribution shift, and performance under real operational conditions, without taking over delivery
• Monitor the academic and commercial AI landscape and translate relevant advances into concrete strategic inputs for the CTO and programme leadership
• Keep AI strategy grounded in operational reality by partnering with programme and product leadership so that what we build maps to real mission requirements, not research for its own sake

• Raise the AI bar at STARK: contribute to senior technical hiring, define the AI engineering standard, and build STARK's standing in the European defence-AI community

• Represent STARK externally, speak at defence, robotics, and AI venues, publish or present where it serves the mission, and act as a credible signal of the company's technical ambition

What success looks like in the first 12 months:

• A single, written, widely-understood AI strategy that Chief Engineers and Technical Leads actively use to make decisions

• Internal AI tooling in production use, measurably changing how engineering and operations work day-to-day, not as a pilot
• At least one product-side AI capability moved meaningfully forward on your direction

• STARK visibly more attractive to senior AI talent than when you joined, with at least one strong hire personally pulled into the pipeline

• Degree in machine learning, computer vision, robotics, or a closely related field, or demonstrably equivalent depth through industry research and an open publication or open-source record
• Proven experience setting AI technical strategy at a senior level, across multiple domains simultaneously, not within a single team or project
• Deep technical fluency in at least one of: perception and sensor fusion, autonomy and motion planning, SLAM/localisation, or multi-agent coordination (C2), with enough breadth to engage credibly across all of them
• Strong track record of influencing technical decisions without direct line authority, working through and alongside Technical Leads, not over them
• Experience in defence, aerospace, or another safety-critical domain where AI system failure carries real-world consequence; direct UAS or ground-robotics experience strongly preferred
• Fluent English; working German is a practical advantage in Berlin or Munich
• Eligibility for the required security clearance

• An existing network within the European defence AI community
• Prior experience in a staff- or principal-level AI role inside a scaling deep-tech or defence company
• A public profile, talks, papers, or open-source work, that already signals technical credibility
• Comfort operating in a high-autonomy, low-overhead role: setting direction and shaping outcomes without a large dedicated team