Founder's Associate (m/f/d)

At mika, we are redefining how SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) handle their finances. We automate taxes and bookkeeping so that business owners can focus on scaling their companies, not losing sleep over paperwork. Having found a strong product-market fit, we are now entering a hyper-growth phase and need a strategic-minded "doer" to help the founders bring mika under the people.

As a Founders Associate, you are the founders' right hand and a strategic partner in our growth journey. You will operate at the intersection of Sales Operations, Strategy, and Business Development. This isn't a role with a fixed routine; you will tackle the most critical bottlenecks of the company as we scale from a successful startup to the market leader for SME finance automation.

You will work hand in hand with our founders to build the structures that allow mika to reach thousands of SMEs across Germany.

Tasks

• Strategic Growth Projects: Lead special projects focused on SME market penetration - from evaluating new sales channels to building strategic partnerships.
• Sales Operations & Scaling: Design and implement the processes, tools, and playbooks that our sales team needs to win. You turn "manual wins" into "scalable systems."
• Founder Sparring: Act as a shadow and sparring partner for the founders in high-stakes meetings, investor relations, and strategic planning.
• Data-Driven Insights: Analyze our sales funnel and market data to identify growth opportunities and provide the founders with actionable recommendations.
• Cross-functional Execution: Bridge the gap between Product, Marketing, and Sales to ensure that the voice of our SME customers is heard and reflected in everything we do.

Requirements

• Entrepreneurial Drive: You have a "founder" mindset. You think in solutions, not problems, and you are not afraid to take full ownership of a project from day one.
• Relevant Experience: You have gained initial professional experience in a high-growth startup, top-tier management consulting, investment banking, or you have founded your own venture.
• Analytical & Operational Excellence: You can dive deep into a spreadsheet but also know how to pick up the phone and close a deal or manage a project.
• SME Empathy: You understand the German SME landscape and are passionate about helping "Mittelstand" businesses digitize and thrive.
• Communication: Business-fluent German (C1 level) is essential, as you will be shaping our strategy and communicating directly with partners in the German market. English is our internal company language.

Benefits

• The Ultimate Learning Curve: You will see everything that goes into scaling a fintech—from fundraising to building a high-performing sales machine.
• Direct Impact: Your work directly influences the company's trajectory. You are not just a "cog in the machine"; you are helping build the machine.
• Trust & Autonomy: We hire smart people and get out of their way. You will have the freedom to experiment and lead.
• Culture: A transparent, ambitious, and supportive team in Berlin that celebrates wins together.

Our Hiring Process

1. Quick intro call with Lisa (~15 min)

A brief introductory call with Lisa, our internal recruiter. She'll walk you through the process, answer any initial questions, and make sure we're aligned on basics like timeline and expectations.

1. Intro call with the hiring manager (~30 min)

You'll meet with Henry, mika's CTO, to talk about your background, what drives you, and what you're looking for. We'll share more about mika's mission, our team culture, and the role. This is also your opportunity to ask questions about the company and our vision.

1. ‍ System design interview with a senior engineer (60 min)

A deep-dive technical session run by one of our senior engineers. We'll give you a real-world scenario and explore how you approach system design from scratch – service boundaries, data models, database design, code-level structure, and tech stack decisions. We want to understand how you think about complex systems, not just whether you know the right answers.

1. Code review challenge with the hiring manager (60 min)

This is the core of our technical assessment and reflects how we actually work today. You'll receive a large, LLM-generated microservice – the kind of output our agents produce daily. You'll have ~20 minutes to go through it, then walk us through:

• What you'd fix and why
• What you'd prioritize and what you'd consciously skip
• How you'd approach a PR of this size in a real codebase

We're not looking for perfection. We're looking for judgment, prioritization, and the ability to navigate large codebases efficiently.

1. Team meeting (~30 min) - optional

A casual call with a few of our engineers – no agenda, no evaluation criteria. Just a chance to get to know the people you'd be working with every day, and for the team to get to know you.

1. Founder call (30 min)

A final conversation with one of mika's other founders. This is less about technical skills and more about values, long-term goals, and mutual fit. You'll get a broader picture of where mika is heading and have space to ask anything that's still on your mind.

We aim to complete the entire process within 2–3 weeks. We know candidates are often in multiple processes at once, and we're happy to adapt the timeline or order of steps where needed.