Solution Architect (Prototyping)

Orcrist is building a next generation data intelligence platform using cutting-edge technologies. We're handling petabyte-scale data with sub-second queries. Our product is a Kubernetes‑based platform delivered as B2B SaaS or as a self‑hosted on‑prem solution, including air‑gapped deployments. We enable customers across defense, law enforcement, and enterprise to turn mission-critical data into actionable intelligence.

Role

We're looking for a hands-on Solution Architect to join our GovDev team. You are the technical counterpart to our customers in the public sector, defence and intelligence space: you run the technical dialogue with incoming leads, turn their requirements into
working prototypes on our platform, and hand what survives over to Product & Engineering in a state they can build on.

This is not a pre-sales or slideware role. Roughly half of your time you build: integrating customer data sources into our platform, wiring up pipelines on our data fabric (ODFF), and shipping demo-grade frontends. The other half you spend with customers and our product teams, making sure what we promise is what the platform can do, and what the platform can't do yet lands on the roadmap.

What you'll do

• Act as technical lead on incoming opportunities: run discovery calls, qualify technical fit against the platform's current state, answer architecture, integration and security
  questions, and own the technical part of pitches, demos and workshops.
• Build prototypes yourself: ingest a customer's data (files, APIs, message exports, sensor feeds, geodata) through our ingest layer, model it into our universal record and
  entity schema, and expose it in the platform frontend or a purpose-built demo UI.
• Design integration architectures for customer environments: on-premise and air-gapped Kubernetes deployments, identity (OIDC/Keycloak, Kerberos/Ranger), connections to legacy systems and interfaces common in government and military IT.
• Lead technical deep dives with customer architects and IT security: platform architecture, data flow, lineage, classification handling, deployment options.
• Hand over won opportunities to the owning Product & Engineering team: architecture decision records, integration docs, data model, open gaps, customer context. 
• Feed platform gaps and friction found during prototyping back to the product teams as concrete tickets and RFC input.
• Represent the voice of the market to Product: cluster recurring requirements across leads and bring them into roadmap and OKR discussions.
• Maintain reusable demo assets: reference prototypes, scenario data sets, architecture diagrams, integration guides, technical FAQ.

About you

• 5+ years in software or data engineering, of which at least 1-2 in a customer-facing technical role (like solution architect, forward deployed engineer, technical consultant with delivery responsibility).
• You write production-quality code today, in Python and TypeScript or a comparable combination, and can show prototypes or systems you built end to end.
• Hands-on experience with distributed data pipelines (Spark, Kafka or equivalent) and with integrating heterogeneous data sources: files, APIs, databases, message streams.
• Experience deploying and operating software on Kubernetes, including on-premise or restricted environments.
• Comfortable leading technical discussions with customer architects, IT security and executives, in German and in English (C1+).
• Willingness to travel up to 50% (national and international) 
• Authorization to work in Germany

What we offer

• Remote-first, Germany-wide: Work from wherever you do your best work, with regular team gatherings in Berlin and other off-site locations.
• Flexibility by default: Flexible working hours help you make work fit your life.
• Your setup, your way: Get a personal home-office equipment budget to create a workspace that works for you.
• 30 days of vacation: Take the time you need to recharge and come back with fresh energy.
• Keep growing: We invest in your personal and professional development.
• Get rewarded for impact: Performance bonuses are tied to agreed objectives and key results.
• A warm welcome: Every new team member gets a welcome goodie bag.
• Good people, good times: From summer and Christmas parties to regular team gatherings, we make time to celebrate together.
• A mission that matters: Work on challenges with tangible impact on public safety and national security.