Head of AI (m/f/d) - Photonic Computing & AI Automation

Your mission

The future of AI computing is light, not electrons.

Q.ANT is building photonic processing systems that compute with light – delivering a scalable, energy-efficient alternative to transistor-based architectures for next-generation AI and HPC applications. As our Head of AI (m/f/d) , you are the operational engine that transforms Q.ANT into an AI-native organization. You will act as a vital force multiplier that systematically leverages artificial intelligence to automate, augment, and accelerate allinternal processes.

This role is about providing maximum leverage by driving exponential efficiency gains across engineering, operations, and business functions—ensuring that AI is embedded as our core operationalbackbone, enabling the company to scale faster than traditionally possible.

Your Responsibilities 

• Strategic AI Architecture: Define and execute the company-wide AI automation strategy, building and maintaining a cutting-edge internal tool stack (LLMs, agents, workflows, and APIs) tailored to Q.ANT's scaling needs.

• High-Impact Automation: Identify, prioritize, and implement pragmatic AI solutions across all departments—ranging from sales ops, finance, HR, and reporting to engineering and code generation.

• Workflow Acceleration: Partner closely with technical teams to design and implement AI-driven development workflows, including test automation and automated documentation architecture.

• Enablement & Evangelism: Act as the internal champion for AI literacy. Educate, train, and provide playbooks to empower all employees to effectively and safely leverage AI in their daily work.

• Governance & Compliance: Establish strict best practices for prompting, tooling, and safe AI usage, ensuring data security, privacy, and full compliance across the organization.

• Impact & ROI Monitoring: Define and track concrete success metrics (e.g., process cycle times, engineering velocity, AI tool adoption rates) to ensure a strong focus on ROI and operational speed.

Your profile

• Professional Experience: You possess 5–10 years of experience building, applying, or deploying AI/ML systems or software engineering solutions in a practical, product-focused, or operations-driven environment.

• Technical & Tool Fluency: You have deep hands-on experience with modern AI tools, large language models (LLMs), AI agents, automation frameworks, and API integrations.

• Startup Mindset: You have a proven track record of executing fast in rapid, resource-constrained, or deep-tech environments, prioritizing speed over perfection and impact over elegance.

• Analytical Leadership: You are highly organized and analytical with a lean process focus, capable of translating complex business bottlenecks into agile, scalable AI solutions.

• Stakeholder Collaboration: You possess exceptional communication skills with a proven ability to align diverse technical teams and cross-functional business stakeholders.

• Communication Excellence: Fluency in written and spoken English is required; proficiency in German is a distinct advantage for local stakeholder alignment.

Why us?

• We hire for attitude and train for skills.

• We encourage self-responsibility and accelerate professional development.

• We move fast and encourage experimentation.

• You have the opportunity to be part of developing breakthrough photonic computing technology and have a lasting impact on the future of computing.

• You can be part of a passionate international, highly skilled cross-functional team.

• You will have access to the founders of the company.

About us

Who we are and what we do

Q.ANT is a deep-tech scale-up developing photonic processing solutions that compute natively with light and deliver a scalable alternative to transistor-based systems. The analog co-processors are optimised for complex computations and enable energy-efficient performance for next-generation AI and HPC applications. In collaboration with the Institute for Microelectronics Stuttgart IMS CHIPS, Q.ANT operates its own pilot line for photonic chips, based on the material system Thin-Film Lithium Niobate TFLN. Q.ANT was founded by Michael Förtsch in 2018 and is headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany.