Staff Forward Deployed AI Engineer (m/f/d)

Company Description

We’re the world’s leading sports technology company, at the intersection between sports, media, and betting. More than 1,700 sports federations, media outlets, betting operators, and consumer platforms across 120 countries rely on our know-how and technology to boost their business.

Job Description

ABOUT US

Sportradar is a sports data and technology company. As Staff Forward Deployed AI Engineer, you work like an internal consultant: you are placed in other departments and business units, talk with the business, find the real problems, cut through complexity, simplify processes and then build the AI solution. You work independently with little supervision, navigate organisational complexity and competing priorities to get things done, own the technical strategy for your use cases, and lead delivery of LLM and agentic systems from discovery to production.

THE CHALLENGE

• Meet with department leads and teams to understand how work is done today, identify problems and frame them clearly.
• Break down unclear, cluttered situations into defined problems, scope, success criteria and a delivery plan.
• Streamline and simplify business processes, and decide where AI helps and where it does not.
• Navigate stakeholders, approvals and competing priorities pragmatically to keep work moving.
• Own technical strategy and architecture for your internal engagements.
• Design and deliver production agentic and LLM systems, including retrieval (RAG), tool use, context and prompt design, guardrails and observability.
• Define and run evaluations (test sets, regression suites, monitoring) that guide design and model choices.
• Mentor colleagues, review designs and share reusable patterns.

ABOUT YOU

• Typically 8+ years of software engineering experience, including senior work with business stakeholders.
• Strong communication with business and technical audiences, including senior stakeholders.
• Self-motivated and able to work independently with little supervision on ambiguous work.
• Ability to navigate organisational complexity and competing priorities to get things done.
• Strong problem-finding and analytical skills; experience simplifying complex processes or systems.
• Experience building and operating production systems; strong system design.
• Hands-on experience with LLMs and agents (prompting, tool use, RAG, evaluation).
• Strong Python; experience with data pipelines and a major cloud platform (AWS, Azure or GCP).

Nice to have

• Consulting or internal-consulting experience.

Working model

Based in Leipzig. Some travel between Sportradar offices may be required; the extent will be confirmed by the hiring team.

OUR OFFER

• A collaborative environment with colleagues from all over the world (Engineering offices in Europe, Asia and the US) including various social events and teambuilding.
• Ability to shape your own workday and career via a clearly defined professional and personal development plan.
• Opportunity to develop yourself within an inspiring and fast-growing company with our Career framework possibilities.
• Vibrant and inclusive community, including Women in Tech and Pride groups which welcome all participants.
• Global Employee Assistance Programme.
• Calm and Reulay app (managing stress, maintaining focus, improving sleep, building resilience).
• Online training videos.
• Flexible working hours.

While we appreciate the flexibility and benefits of working from home, we strongly believe that coming together in person fosters stronger connections, encourages collaboration, and drives innovation—both as individuals and as a company. The energy, shared ideas, and team support we experience in the office strengthen the foundation of our success and culture. For this reason, we are an office-first business operating on a fully on-site model, with team members working in the office five days a week to build relationships, exchange ideas, and grow together. Certain exemptions may apply depending on location — your local point of contact can provide further details.

OUR RECRUITMENT PROCESS

• Initial Screening: A quick chat with our Talent Acquisition Partner to understand your background and expectations.
• Technical Assessment: A short (home) task to showcase your technical skills.
• Two Technical Interviews: Meet with the Technical team and later with the Hiring Manager to dive into your solution, and also discuss team fit.
• Final Step: Receive feedback and, if successful, an offer!

Additional Information

At Sportradar, we celebrate our diverse group of hardworking employees. Sportradar is committed to ensuring equal access to its programs, facilities, and employment opportunities. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran. We encourage you to apply even if you only meet most of the requirements (but not 100% of the listed criteria) – we believe skills evolve over time. If you’re willing to learn and grow with us, we invite you to join our team!