CTO / Technical Co-Founder (f/m/d) role at startup METAKI

Role summary

CTO / Technical Co-Founder (f/m/d) role at startup METAKI is a full-time role at SouthwestX in Dresden, New York, United States (hybrid). Posted 2026-10-09. Experience level: 5-10.

Job title

CTO / Technical Co-Founder (f/m/d) role at startup METAKI

Company

SouthwestX

Location

Dresden, New York, United States

Work arrangement

hybrid

Employment type

full-time

Category

Trades & Construction

Experience level

5-10

Date posted

2026-10-09

Job description

**METAKI

**Dresden, Germany (TU Dresden) | On-site / Hybrid | Co-Founder / Equity | Deep Tech / AI for Engineering

**About Metaki

**Metaki is building a 'Large Engineering Model' (LEM): a graph-neural-network surrogate trained on large-scale finite element simulation (FEA) data that predicts, near-instantly, how complex 3D parts respond to different materials, loads and boundary conditions — replacing slow FEA runs. The initial focus is solid and structural mechanics, with the long-term ambition of a general foundation model for engineering physics.

**The opportunity

**Founded by Samir El Masri (Founder, ongoing PhD in FEM, 3 years of industry experience in FEM & AI/ML for engineering), Metaki already has a working FEM → data → NN pipeline, is building out a large 3D training dataset, and is running training alongside early industry discussions. What's missing is a technical co-founder to help scale the modeling and engineering work while Samir also drives funding applications and industrial pilot partnerships.

Tasks

**What you will own

**

**Model & platform development

**- Co-own the neural-network surrogate modeling pipeline (FEM data → GNN training → fast inference), extending it from solid/structural mechanics towards a general engineering-physics foundation model.

- Scale the large 3D simulation dataset and physics-informed training infrastructure currently in development.

**Technical leadership

**- Take technical/CTO ownership alongside Samir El Masri (Founder), covering architecture, ML engineering and data pipeline decisions.

- Help turn early industry discussions into validated industrial pilots by making the model production-ready.

**Fundraising support

**- Support funding applications and strategic introductions with a credible technical narrative and roadmap.

Requirements

**What you bring

**

**Core experience

**- Strong machine learning background, ideally with graph neural networks, surrogate modeling, or physics-informed ML.

- Comfort working with finite element simulation data and engineering/physics domain concepts (solid or structural mechanics a plus).

**Especially valuable

**- Software/ML engineering experience taking a research pipeline to a scalable, production-ready product.

- Interest in building toward a general foundation model for engineering physics.

- Experience with industrial pilot partnerships or applied research collaborations.

Benefits

**Why join Metaki

**- A working FEM → data → NN pipeline already built, not just an idea — real technical traction to build on.

- Early industry discussions already underway, with funding applications and pilot partnerships actively being pursued.

- Ground-floor technical co-founder equity in a company aiming to become a foundational-model platform for engineering physics.

Metaki welcomes co-founder candidates regardless of gender, age, ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, sexual identity, or any other characteristic. This is a search for the right partner to build the company with, not a conventional hire.