About this role
Our Mission <p>At Circus (Xetra: CA1), headquartered in Munich, we are pioneering global developments in on-demand autonomous food production. Everything from creation to production and operation – enabled by seamlessly integrated cutting-edge robotics and transformative AI technology.</p><p>Our foundation rests in the extensive developments of groundbreaking robotics driven by artificial intelligence, previously the missing link in achieving true autonomous food automation. This is the moment for a new status quo: Just as autonomous driving will disrupt how we build cities, organize our days, and live our lives, so will we shift our whole reality around food.</p><p>Our Team is backing a paradigm shift in one of humanity's most important sectors with the sharpest minds in Robotics, AI, Engineering and Culinary, collaborating closely with industry-leading partners to revolutionize every aspect of the food service experience.</p><p>Join us as we forge ahead, crafting a future where the art of cooking and the science of technology converge to create a world that thinks differently about food than it has for thousands of years—a world where food means something new.</p> About the Role As Director of AI Products, you will own Circus’s entire AI product portfolio and lead the team building it — agentic systems, computer vision, edge AI, wearable AI, and the entire intelligence layer across our products.<br><br>This is one of the few roles in Europe where Physical AI is already in production, not on a roadmap. You’ll spot opportunities before they’re obvious, build the business case, and drive them from first prototype to revenue. You’re not here to manage a roadmap someone else defined. You see potential where others see noise, you’re willing to be wrong fast, and you know how to turn a technical edge into a commercial product.<br><br>You’ll work directly with our Management team and alongside our strategic technology partners like Meta and NVIDIA. Your Daily Business <br><ul style="margin:4px 0 4px 24px;padding:0;"><li style="margin:2px 0;padding:0;color:#1d1c1d;"><b style="font-weight:700;">Own the AI product portfolio end-to-end</b> — agentic intelligence systems, Visual Intelligence (computer vision), Operator AI (wearable/edge), and CircusOS integrations across retail, hospitality, and defence deployments</li><li style="margin:2px 0;padding:0;color:#1d1c1d;"><b style="font-weight:700;">Identify and build the business case</b> for new AI opportunities — internal tooling, external SaaS, strategic partnerships. </li><li style="margin:2px 0;padding:0;color:#1d1c1d;"><b style="font-weight:700;">Lead the AI team</b> — engineers and specialists across vision, voice, and agentic AI; set direction, run 1:1s, and keep the bar high</li><li style="margin:2px 0;padding:0;color:#1d1c1d;"><b style="font-weight:700;">Push the frontier in production</b> — deploy AI in environments where latency, reliability, and data security actually matter; this isn’t just a lab, it’s live</li><li style="margin:2px 0;padding:0;color:#1d1c1d;"><b style="font-weight:700;">Drive external AI revenue</b> — productize our Visual Intelligence and agentic AI stack as enterprise SaaS solutions; own the arc from technical proof to signed deal</li><li style="margin:2px 0;padding:0;color:#1d1c1d;"><b style="font-weight:700;">Be the filter on what gets built</b> — evaluate emerging AI tech (VLMs, multimodal models, new agentic frameworks) and turn signal into decisions</li><li style="margin:2px 0;padding:0;color:#1d1c1d;"><b style="font-weight:700;">Manage strategic technology partnerships</b> — be the day-to-day product counterpart for our key tech partners, turning early access and co-development into shipped product</li></ul> Base Qualifications <ul style="margin:4px 0 4px 24px;padding:0;"><li style="margin:2px 0;padding:0;color:#1d1c1d;">Entrepreneurial mindset — you’ve founded something, led a product from scratch, or operated with real ownership in a small team; comfortable with ambiguity and not afraid to fail</li><li style="margin:2px 0;padding:0;color:#1d1c1d;">Technical foundation — you understand how AI applications are built and can work credibly with engineers; having shipped software yourself is a plus</li><li style="margin:2px 0;padding:0;color:#1d1c1d;">Experience building AI applications — whether as a founder, engineer, or product lead — and an instinct for what’s ready for production vs. what isn’t</li><li style="margin:2px 0;padding:0;color:#1d1c1d;">The ability to spot a market opportunity, size it quickly, and build a business case that gets buy-in</li><li style="margin:2px 0;padding:0;color:#1d1c1d;">A genuine pulse on the AI landscape — LLMs, vision models, edge inference, agentic frameworks — and strong opinions on where things are going</li><li style="margin:2px 0;padding:0;color:#1d1c1d;">Fluent English; German is a plus</li></ul> Preferred Qualifications <div style="margin:0;padding:0;color:#1d1c1d;"><div style="margin:0;padding:0;color:#1d1c1d;"><div style="margin:0;padding:0;color:#1d1c1d;"><div style="margin:0;padding:0;color:#1d1c1d;"><div style="margin:0;padding:0;color:#1d1c1d;"><div style="margin:0;padding:0;color:#1d1c1d;"><div style="margin:0;padding:0;color:#1d1c1d;"><div style="margin:0;padding:0;color:#1d1c1d;"><div style="margin:0;padding:0;color:#1d1c1d;"><div style="margin:0;padding:0;color:#1d1c1d;"><div style="margin:0;padding:0;color:#1d1c1d;"><ul style="margin:4px 0 4px 24px;padding:0;"><li style="margin:2px 0;padding:0;color:#1d1c1d;">Experience at a frontier AI lab, big tech AI division, or a high-growth AI startup</li><li style="margin:2px 0;padding:0;color:#1d1c1d;">Background in computer vision, physical AI, or robotics-adjacent products</li><li style="margin:2px 0;padding:0;color:#1d1c1d;">Experience commercialising AI Solutions to enterprise buyers</li><li style="margin:2px 0;padding:0;color:#1d1c1d;">Existing relationships & network in the European or US AI ecosystem</li><li style="margin:2px 0;padding:0;color:#1d1c1d;">Exposure to dual-use or defence technology environments</li></ul></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div> Our Offer <ul><li><strong>Equity with real upside:</strong> Stock options in a publicly listed company with an active M&A strategy and international growth trajectory — structured for those who think like owners.</li><li><strong>Work-Life Balance:</strong> Regular team events, hybrid work setup, 2 months/year remote work (Worcation), unlimited vacation days, and a corporate pension plan</li><li><strong>Personal Development:</strong> Personal budget for training, in-house trainings, and growth opportunities in a fast-paced environment</li><li><strong>Mobility:</strong> Monthly budget for mobility or other expenses, and a subsidized mobility subscription for E-Bike/E-Moped</li><li><strong>Well-Being:</strong> Discounted Urban Sports Club membership and Wellhub for a variety of well-being offerings</li></ul>