Hi, Alex and Jeremy here from UMH.
8 years ago, Jeremy was absolutely frustrated with the status quo of data infrastructure in manufacturing. Companies paid millions per year for "shitty 90s software" and are still doing that today, when there is much better software out there for open-source. So we decided that we can do this better, first founded a System Integrator, realized most of the tasks in setting up and maintaining a data infrastructure can be standardized, and decided to found the currently VC-backed UMH, which is built on open source software and is open source itself.
What we're actually building:
We build and scale a real-time data platform that runs hundreds of Benthos pipelines inside a single Docker container (UMH Core), processing millions of industrial messages that control actual production processes.
Plus a local-first user interface (Management Console) where both non-technical factory workers and power-users/developers can work together. And yes, we care about UI in enterprise/industrial software.
You’ll love this if you want to:
-
Understand distributed systems. And by that we don’t mean deploying an Ingress into a k8s cluster. We mean actually understanding the difficulties of controlling physical manufacturing production lines across resource constrained edge devices and network outages. This could include understanding the IoT protocol MQTT, or why moving away from Kubernetes made us more cloud-native.
-
You want to build truly local-first software - browser-based databases, E2E encryption, efficient sync of hundreds of thousands of datapoints, all while keeping the UI as snappy as Linear/Superhuman.
-
You believe good engineering means solving the whole problem - this is sometimes adding a new industrial protocol converter, and sometimes just guiding the user better through the UI so that he finds a slightly different but still applicable and already existing protocol converter.
-
Want to ship fast with safety nets. PRs to production in 3h-4h through automated testing, code reviews, and staged rollouts.
-
You want to shape what gets built, not just how. You'll talk to users, challenge specs, and propose alternatives when you see a simpler solution.
-
Collaborate closely with our Value Engineering Team and the user community via Discord, Slack, Linear, and GitHub.
-
Disrupt an industry that needs it. Ask our customers. Ask any of our community members. Controlling manufacturing systems is so complex, the existing vendors are stuck somewhere in the 90s, because they never managed to update their systems.
-
Contribute to an Open-Source project.
-
Want to work with technologies like Kafka (Redpanda), Docker, S6, fly.io, Grafana, Node-RED, k3s, Helm, Go, Svelte, Typescript. But look for yourself.
United Manufacturing Hub is an equal-opportunity employer and welcomes applications from all qualified individuals regardless of ethnicity, sex, disability, religion/belief, sexual orientation, or age.
You might be a fit if you have:
-
Built something from your own idea AND shipped it AND know what happened next (Did users like it? Did it work? What would you change?)
-
You think about tradeoffs: "We could do X in 2 weeks or Y in 2 days with 80% of the value"
-
A proven track record of solving complex bugs, with evidence such as post-mortem, blog post, or PR link.
-
Experience in early-stage startup environments (small teams, high autonomy) and the intention for learning new technologies and self-reliance to take responsibility.
-
3–5 years of software engineering experience (or less if your ownership evidence is exceptional)
-
Practical use of AI tools in development.
-
Ideally: Go and Svelte experience (our stack), but we care more about learning ability
-
Ideally active contributions to open-source projects.
-
Ideally familiarity with IT/OT protocols (MQTT, OPC UA) or Industrial IoT.
-
Fluency in German and English.
Also a good sign: You go to meetups, read HN, or learn technologies your job doesn't require.
This probably isn't for you if you prefer well-defined tickets, structured processes, or a role where someone tells you what to build next.
But honestly, we care more that you can learn what's needed than what you already know, but the tech foundation matters too.
-
Salary: 55-85k EUR (depending on your experience) + equity
-
Backend or Frontend: Both. We're looking for product engineers who own features end-to-end - from database to UI to user feedback. The split varies by week.
-
How we work: We're synchronous and in-person by default (we don't ask anyone to waste hours commuting; see Onsite/Remote). That means pair programming, walking each other through problems, ad-hoc sessions instead of standing meetings. We share the office with sales, marketing, and customer success, who work the same way, and we need to be there to hear what they're hearing from the market. We find decisions land faster when everyone's prepared and in the same room. Async-first is a legitimate model, just not how we work.
-
Working environment: Three rooms grouped by function: value engineering and engineering, finance and operations, go-to-market. Height-adjustable desks and multiple monitors per seat. Phone calls go to phone booths, not desks, which keeps the ambient noise workable without headphones. Meeting rooms when you need them.
-
Onsite/Remote: Most people live in or near Cologne (including Aachen, Bonn, and the towns in between) and come to the office regularly. Some live further away and come in for a week (sometimes two) every one to two months, with travel covered. For middle distances (Berlin, Frankfurt, etc.) we work out a cadence together. How you split it is up to you; just make sure coming in makes sense. Living near the office and coming in twice a week or less is weird, though. Commuting an hour to sit alone at a screen is wasted hours of your time.
-
Virtual Company Shares: We're building a generational company, and those who join us on that multi-year, all-in journey should share in the upside. Through our VSOP program, you participate directly in the value you help create.
-
Benefits: the standard stuff you'll expect in a startup (well designed office in the heart of cologne, free drinks/snacks, ergonomic tables/chairs, Urban Sports Club/EGYM Wellpass, etc.)
How To Apply:
Upload your CV and answer this question (2-3 paragraphs): "Tell us about something you built that wasn't assigned to you." What problem did you see? Why did you decide to solve it? What happened?. This could be a side project, homelab setup, a tool you built at work, or an open-source contribution.
