(Intern) AI Automation Engineer

WHO WE ARE Proxima Fusion is Europe’s fastest-growing fusion company and the continent’s best-funded fusion player, as well as the first spin-out from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP). Backed by over €650M and powered by a growing team across Munich, Zurich, and Oxford, we are developing the hardware and infrastructure needed to deliver the world’s first commercial stellarator fusion power plant. Our concept advances the most mature fusion technology out there, the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator, through two next-generation machines: Alpha and Stellaris. Our work combines stellarator optimization, advanced computation, machine learning, and high-temperature superconducting magnets to unlock higher-performance designs that were previously out of reach. Turning these designs into a functioning fusion power plant requires excellence and ownership across every discipline, from physics and engineering to software, manufacturing, law, and business functions. WHY JOIN PROXIMA FUSION * You will get to work on some of the most complex tech challenges to bring abundant, safe, clean energy to the world. * You'll get to join and learn from an exceptional selection of accomplished and driven individuals. * Do your life’s best work and enjoy the journey. * Get to show that big things are possible in Europe when you assemble the best talent. YOUR IMPACT * You will join Proxima’s Enterprise AI team and be embedded into one of our workstreams. * Your home is the AI team – that’s where you get technical mentorship, work on Proxima’s AI stack, and grow alongside other AI builders. * Your day-to-day is inside the host workstream – that’s where you find the real problems worth solving and ship the solutions that change how the team operates.Your prototypes will go into production. * Your work will directly accelerate cross-functional AI adoption across the company.   WHAT YOU WILL DO * Use Case Discovery: Shadow your host workstream, learn how the team actually works, and identify the high-leverage opportunities where AI can replace, accelerate, or augment real workflows. * Prototyping & Shipping: Build lightweight AI solutions – agents, MCP-connected tools, focused LLM workflows, and automations – in Python, with technical guidance from the Enterprise AI team. * Integration: Plug your tools into Proxima’s AI stack (Claude, Cowork, Cursor, our internal Information Hubs and MCP endpoints) and the host workstream’s own systems. * Iteration with Users: Measure impact, refine prompts and tools, and roll solutions out to the rest of the host team. AI value is created at the point of use, not in the prototype. * Knowledge Sharing: Document what you build, present at AI team reviews and company-wide Show & Tell sessions, and contribute to internal “how-to” guides so your work compounds across Proxima. WHO YOU ARE * High-Agency Builder: You don’t wait for a manual. You see a problem, explore potential AI solutions, and start prototyping immediately. * Technically Proficient: You have a solid foundation in Python and a deep interest in the GenAI ecosystem (LLMs, agents, prompt engineering, MCP, and automation tools). You’ve built or seriously used something with Claude / ChatGPT / Cursor / Copilot or LLM APIs. * Curious About How Teams Work: You’re willing to sit in different work environments, learn their language, and find the problems worth solving. The best AI use cases come from people who understand the work. * Bias to Ship: You’d rather get a v0.1 in front of a user this week than design the perfect system for three months. * Collaborative Communicator: You enjoy working with people from different backgrounds (physicists, engineers, ops) and can translate technical workflows into clear documentation. * Startup-Ready: You thrive in high-paced environments and are excited by the “all hands on deck” culture of an early-stage fusion startup. LOGISTICS * Hybrid or remote if outside of Munich. Minimum of 4–6 months full-time as an intern. Start: as soon as possible. INTERVIEW PROCESS * Recruiter Interview (30-60 min) * Technical Screening (30 min) * Technical Panel (3x60 min) * CEO call (30 min) *This role sits at "insert level" of our framework, please inquire during the recruitment process for further information. At Proxima Fusion, our mission is bold: making limitless clean energy a reality. To get there, we need a high-performing, diverse team that brings different perspectives, challenges assumptions, and builds together with purpose. We know that diversity of thought and experience leads to better ideas, stronger execution, and a more resilient team. We don’t look at how you identify, what you look like, who you choose to worship or what ethnicity you are. We care about what you can bring to the table.

YOUR IMPACT As an intern at Tacto, you'll have real impact and real ownership. It's important for us to give motivated, ambitious students a steep learning curve and an honest look at what it takes to build one of Europe's fastest-growing startups. We hold interns to the same bar as full-time hires, which means we only bring on people who we trust to lead projects independently and who we'd genuinely want to work with long-term. The Builder in Residence track is for people who want to build the product itself - the platform, the agents, the integrations, the data layer that procurement teams across Europe rely on. You'll join one of our technical teams - Product, Design, Engineering, or Data Automation – based on where your skills and our needs align. By the end of the program you'll have shipped things to our customers, built alongside strong role models, and walked away with a network that lasts. WHERE YOU MIGHT WORK Depending on the match, you could join one of these teams: * Product – Define what we build and why. Talk to customers, prototype, prioritize, and ship features that move procurement teams from spreadsheets to AI-native operations * Design – Own how Tacto looks and feels. Design the patterns for how procurement professionals supervise AI agents - challenges no one has solved before * Engineering – Build the platform, the agentic systems, and the infrastructure powering autonomous procurement. Modern stack, high ownership, fast feedback loops HOW IT WORKS 1. You apply once - this application covers all our technical internship positions 2. Tell us your preferences - rank the areas you're most interested in (we ask in the application form) 3. First call - we'll come prepared with a clear proposal on which team we think fits best and why. We discuss your skills, our needs, and where you can have the most impact 4. Case study - if we move forward, you'll work on a technical case with the team lead from your proposed department 5. We match and place you - you join a specific team & are all set to ship from day 1 Once you're in, you'll work primarily in your team. Depending on interest and capacity, there are usually opportunities to contribute to cross-functional projects as well to broaden your horizon. We also host regular events with top-tier founders and speakers from the startup ecosystem — e.g. Andreas Klinger at Lunch & Learn, 2-day AI Hackathon in our office, Basti Schuon at Lunch & Learn - so you get exposure to the full picture of building a startup, not just your corner of it. WHAT YOU NEED TO WORK AT TACTO * Experience in a fast-paced environment (startup, scale-up, strong technical project, whatever pushed you) * AI native - you live in Cursor, Claude, ChatGPT, v0, Lovable or whatever ships next. You build agents, automate your own workflows, and treat new models as tools to test the day they drop. If your default for a hard problem isn't "let me see what I can do with AI", this isn't the role * Self-driven + Naturally curious - you don't need hand-holding * A real builder mindset: you've shipped side projects, contributed to OSS, hacked on AI tools, or built something people use * Strong communication skills in German and English * You care about the problem we are solving & are mission-aligned - helping the European Industry to stay competitive in the long-term * For Design: a portfolio or shipped work that shows taste, systems thinking, and ability to simplify complexity * For Engineering: comfort with a modern stack (TypeScript, Python, or similar), shipped projects, and an instinct for clean, fast iteration WHERE OUR PREVIOUS INTERNS WORK NOW After Tacto, over 10 former interns have founded their own companies, with e.g. 3 already going through Y Combinator. Others have joined programs like CDTM (5+ acceptances), moved into top tech firms, or joined early-stage startups and VCs. The common thread: they all got a real understanding of what it takes to build and scale a company. OUR BACKGROUND Tacto is building the intelligence layer that connects AI to the physical world of manufacturing, starting with procurement. AI is transforming every industry, but it stops at the factory gate. The knowledge that holds manufacturing together - part costs, suppliers, materials - is scattered across systems and people. Over 50% of a product's cost originates from suppliers, making procurement the single largest cost lever in manufacturing and the missing connection between the digital and the physical world. Yet it still runs on Excel and legacy systems. We're changing that with our Procurement Intelligence Platform, trusted by hundreds of companies running billions of Euros of material. Based in Munich, we are 100+ passionate builders who are in-office, with high expectations, fast growth, and a lot of fun. We are supported by >€50m from Sequoia, Index, and Europe's leading tech entrepreneurs and industry veterans. WHY IT MATTERS Manufacturing forms Europe's economic backbone, driving a fourth of Europe's GDP and providing over 30% of jobs. These hidden champions and global market leaders manufacture the physical world around us, from the machines that build our cities to the medical devices that save lives. But the world is changing. The US dominates the digital world of bits. China is scaling the world of atoms, manufacturing at unprecedented speed and scale. Geopolitics are more uncertain than ever. Europe's strength lies in its deep industrial knowledge through generations of engineering. Manufacturing worldwide runs on European machines and software. But that heritage is only an advantage if we leverage it in the age of AI. Tacto builds the AI that connects Atoms and Bits, empowering our Industrial Base to Stay Stronger and building a lighthouse for European tech. WHAT WE OFFER The people at Tacto are passionate about building the organization, growing themselves, and our product while having fun and being real. We have high expectations, great talent density, and a culture where your ambition, performance, and agency are what count - not where you come from or how big your ego is. You'll grow at the forefront of AI, have real ownership and impact, and be surrounded by the best people in their field who challenge you and make you better every day. That is demanding and rewarding, but that's where we thrive. Besides that you have: * Money: Competitive salary & equity in the company with real upside, so you are invested in our success * Workplace: A vibrant in-office culture (> 4 days/week) in a beautiful office in central Munich * Development: A development budget and regular exposure to exceptional people, e.g., Lunch & Learns, peer mentoring, external speakers * Time off: 26 + 4 vacation days per year (4 fixed “company rest days”) as well as regular off-sites and team events * Health: Wellpass membership, of course, a fruit basket (!), and access to Jobrad, for your health * Family & Social Security: Voluntary pension contribution, voluntary KITA subsidy for your children Tacto is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, or gender identity. 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