Investment Associate / Engineer (f/m/d)
HPI Ventures backs outstanding European pre-seed and seed-stage B2B tech founders in Enterprise Tech, Data & AI, Cyber-security and Digital Health, leveraging the unique Hasso-Plattner-Institute ecosystem to accelerate them into category leaders. Our next chapter is to evolve into a deeply tech-augmented VC, combining our ecosystem-based sourcing efforts with a robust data stack and machine-learning models that surface, evaluate and support the best founders and startup teams before anyone else.
Role Overview
We are looking for an analytically minded Analyst/Associate who combines hands-on sourcing and dealflow hustle with a software engineering and data science mindset. You will co-own the top-of-funnel (data tooling, screening, outbound outreach, first founder calls) and drive deep-dive due diligence on technical and commercial aspects of potential investments. Your tech background lets you communicate effectively and empathic with tech founders, while your prior VC and/or high growth startup experience means you understand the pace and ambiguity of early-stage venture.
Your Mission
Deal Sourcing & Screening
• Evaluate pre-screened opportunities
• Own first founder interactions: Lead intro calls, rapidly qualify opportunities
• Lead market, competitive, and TAM analyses; build bottoms-up financial & exit scenarios
• Map and attend high-signal founder communities, events & accelerators
Platform Engineering
• Drive the development of our deal sourcing and evaluation automation as well as portfolio platform
• Co-Design and maintain ETL pipelines that ingest startup data from multiple data sources
• Co-develop AI-based scoring models to prioritise outreach and accelerate decision processes
• Experiment with new data sources and data extraction methods
Due Diligence & Investment Preparation
• Coordinate and lead industry expert and reference calls and turn findings into concise IC memos
• Evaluate financial modelling and cap-table scenarios
• Conduct technical reviews
Ideal Profile
Education: B.Sc./M.Sc. in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Data Science, Business Informatics or similar.
Experience: 1-2 years in venture capital, startup, or tech-focused consulting/banking; exposure to pre-seed/seed deals preferred.
Technical Chops: Hands-on with data engineering, ETL pipelines, LLM observability tools, automation tools, and SQL/Python proficiency. Experience in graph theory and frameworks is a plus
Mind-set: Curious, founder-empathic, low-ego team player who enjoys structuring ambiguity with data and who isn’t afraid to pick up the phone.
Languages: Fluent English; German is a plus but not mandatory.
What we offer
Responsibility Day 1: Run your own sourcing projects, co-develop our dealflow and productivity platform, lead founder calls
Learning Curve: Green-field of a new ambitious early stage VC with a strong software engineering DNA striving towards a Quantitative VC
Network: Direct exposure to Europe’s top CS talent and a strong network in VC and industry
Culture & Impact: Small, ambitious team with a mission to shape Europe’s digital future through technology that improves lives.
Application Process
Send us (1) your LinkedIn Slug + pot. GitHub/Colab, (2) a short note on a “non-obvious quantitative signal” you believe predicts startup success, and (3) a short note on one emerging Enterprise Tech / AI theme or startup you believe we should invest in to contact@hpiventures.com.