---
title: 'Founding Talent Lead (m/f/x) at Cortea AI'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/founding-talent-lead-m-f-x-cortea-ai-berlin-kmpew9400gvd'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-09'
---

# Founding Talent Lead (m/f/x) at Cortea AI

- **Company:** Cortea AI
- **Location:** Berlin, Germany
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-08-04
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-09
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/cortea/e197e840-81fc-4810-aac8-c99881a74cf6

## Job description

## ABOUT CORTEA

We’re Cortea, a Berlin startup transforming audits with AI. Manual, document-heavy audits waste expert time while demand keeps rising. Our AI-powered software and specialized AI agents remove the repetitive work so auditors can focus on judgment.

Backed by top-tier VCs with >15m funding, with a working product and paying customers, we’re rapidly scaling.

We value first-principles thinking, speed, trust, and kindness. We build side by side in our Berlin office.

## THE ROLE

You build talent foundations. You’ll design a process, that bring in exceptional talent across Tech and Non-Tech, and build a culture we’re proud of.

## WHAT YOU’LL DO

- Own the Talent end to end: job design → scope → JD → sourcing → structured interviews → offer → close
- Build a Talent Engine: attract great people proactively; both inbound and outbound
- Raise the hiring bar: scorecards, trained interviewers, consistent candidate experience
- Shape our brand for Tech/AI talent with content, events, and a strong referral loop
- Be culture-positive: partner with founders on rituals, onboarding handover, and feedback loops

## YOU’LL BE GREAT AT THIS IF YOU

- Have 5+ years of TA in a fast environment (startup/scale-up or agency)
- Have hired top talent before and know the difference in how to assess them
- Communicate clearly, leverage our founding team, and make data driven decisions fast
- Can show early-stage track record you’re proud of
- Think in systems and improve with data; bonus if you’ve built employer branding for engineers/AI

## HOW WE WORK

- We value kindness + candor + execution, speed with care, and strong ownership
- We’re fully in-office in Berlin because we like building side by side
- We hire with structured interviews and clear scorecards to reduce bias
- Non-linear paths welcome. Career breaks welcome. If you’re unsure, apply.

## WHAT WE OFFER

- High impact from day one and a path to Head of Talent/People as we grow
- Competitive salary + meaningful equity (range shared on the first call)
- In-office energy. shared lunches, whiteboard time, fast decisions, real teamwork
- Uncapped growth. Budget for tools, learning, and events you choose

## INTERVIEW PROCESS

- Intro Call (25 min) with Liza https://www.linkedin.com/in/liza-shaban/
- Expert interview (45 min): with Valentin https://www.linkedin.com/in/valentinneumann/ (Co-Founder) - deep dive into: sourcing strategy, process design, quality in decisions)
- Cultural interview (45 min): with Philipp https://www.linkedin.com/in/philipp-hoevelmann/ (Co-Founder) - collaboration, judgment, and culture add
- On-site day (Berlin): meet the team and work on a real life assignment

[https://app.ashbyhq.com/api/images/user-content/316125b8-3855-479e-a082-a30caf346d45/1ddbeed3-b4e6-4a47-8872-d5cfeee3e842/image.png]

## About Cortea AI

## Company Overview
- **One‑liner**: Cortea builds purpose‑built AI agents that help professional audit firms review work, surface inconsistencies, and produce traceable, defensible outputs while keeping human judgment in control.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Seed stage; raised €12M / $3.4M)
- **Headquarters**: Berlin, Germany (with offices in France and the Netherlands)
- **Founded**: 2024
- **Founders**: Valentin Neumann (CEO, former auditor at KPMG and early‑stage employee at N26) & Philipp Hövelmann (CPO, former CTO at audibene)

## Core Business
- **Industries**: Audit automation, financial technology, enterprise AI
- **Target customers**: B2B – professional audit firms (financial, IT, internal audit, and advisory practices)
- **Mission**: Provide high‑quality, transparent AI so auditors can review work more easily and focus on professional judgment – ultimately changing how trust is created in the global economy.

## Products & Services
- **AI Agents for Audit**: A suite of agents grounded in ISA, IFRS, HGB, IDW, and other audit standards. Key capabilities:
  - **Evidence Testing**: Automates manual testing, evidence review, and sample checks with full traceability.
  - **Financial Data Validation**: Validates figures against source documents and builds an audit trail ready for sign‑off.
  - **Disclosure & Compliance Checklists**: Runs automated completeness checks against IFRS, HGB, local GAAP, and IDW disclosure requirements.
  - **Risk Analysis & Audit Planning**: Identifies risk areas earlier and builds defensible audit plans aligned with ISA 315.
  - **Audit Team Collaboration**: Assigns tasks, tracks progress, and keeps milestones on schedule.
  - **File Requests**: Tracks requests, submissions, and engagement files to prevent gaps.
- **Platform Type**: SaaS – fully web‑based, uses a “white‑box” approach so every AI decision provides a verifiable logic path.
- **Security & Compliance**: Designed to meet ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, and professional secrecy obligations; no client data is used to train models.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation / Market Cap**: Not disclosed (private company)
- **Key Metric**: Total funding **€12M / $3.4M** (Seed round, April 2025)
- **Notable Investors**:
  - Lead: **Cherry Ventures**
  - Co‑participants: **Dawn Capital**, **Mosaic Ventures**, **Discovery Ventures**
  - Notable angels: Larry Bradley (former Global Head of Audit, KPMG), Mehdi Ghissassi (Director Product, DeepMind), Jens Rassloff (Chairman Parloa), and others.
- **Growth Signals**:
  - Headcount grew **+63.6% YoY** to 12 employees (2024→2025).
  - **8 open positions** as of mid‑2025 (Senior Auditor, Chief of Staff, Fullstack Engineer, AI Product Manager, Founding Product Engineer, AI Audit Engineer, Data Engineer, Software Engineer).
  - Active in multiple geographies (Germany, France, Netherlands).

## Competitive Advantages
- **White‑Box AI**: Unlike black‑box models, Cortea’s agents provide a transparent, verifiable logic path – critical for regulated audits.
- **Domain‑Deep Team**: Founders and advisors include former KPMG auditors, BCG partners, and DeepMind PMs; methodology is built into the product from day one.
- **Methodology‑First**: Every agent speaks the language of ISA, IFRS, IDW, and local standards – results are professionally defensible.
- **Enterprise‑Grade Security**: ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, and strict professional secrecy – no client data ever used for training.
- **AI‑Native Culture**: The company itself is built to operate like an AI‑first team – small, fast, shipping weekly, not quarterly.

## Strategic Focus
- **Deepen Audit‑AI Integration**: Continue expanding agent capabilities (evidence testing, disclosure checklists, risk planning) to cover the full audit lifecycle.
- **Scale Go‑to‑Market**: Use the fresh seed funding to build sales and customer success, especially in DACH, France, and the Netherlands.
- **Maintain Quality & Trust**: Stay “methodology first” and keep human judgment central – the auditor reviews, approves, and signs every conclusion.
- **Attract Top Talent**: Hiring aggressively for engineering, product management, and audit‑specialist roles to accelerate product development.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: “Builders, not managers” – bias for action, ship this week, not next quarter. Small team (12 people), high ownership, direct feedback, low ego.
- **Remote / Hybrid / Office**: Roles are advertised as **on‑site in Berlin** (e.g., Marketing, Engineering). However, the company already has distributed presence (France, Netherlands), so some flexibility may be possible – confirm during application.
- **Notable Perks / Engineering Culture**:
  - Everyone uses AI to multiply their own output – an “AI‑native” company, not just an AI product.
  - Deep work environment: “We love going deep” – they look for people who have gone unusually deep on a problem, regardless of domain.
  - High‑performance + warmth: Ambitious but not arrogant, human at heart.
  - Build with rigor and care – the work directly shapes how trust is created in the global economy.

## Sources
1. [Cortea Careers Page](https://cortea.ai/careers)
2. [Cortea Company Page](https://www.cortea.ai/company)
3. [Cortea Homepage](https://cortea.ai/)
4. [Cortea LinkedIn](https://de.linkedin.com/company/cortea-ai)
5. [Cortea Jobs on Ashby](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/cortea)

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