CAREERS · ANTWERP · DEVELOPMENT
Software Developer,
Sustainability Strategy Tooling
We are building the analysis layer for enterprise sustainability data. We are hiring a developer to help design and build the core of it: how a complex organization is modeled, how its sustainability data is consolidated, and how changes to it can be simulated.
This is an R&D role. The work is early and technically demanding.
- Antwerp · hybrid
- Full time
- Reports to Toby, CTO
- Start ASAP
01 / The role in one paragraph
Most sustainability software helps a company produce a report. We are building something more ambitious: a platform that links sustainability data to how an enterprise is actually run, across its entities, brands and products. This is the first development role dedicated to that effort. You will work directly with our CTO on the foundation of the system: its data model, its aggregation engine, and its scenario analysis. The work is early and technically demanding. Enterprises will base real decisions on what you build.
02 / What you will actually do
Day to day.
- Design and build the core functionality behind our novel sustainability strategy solution.
- Apply LLMs where they add value and constrain them rigorously where correctness matters, with guardrails, evaluation and validation.
- Define the schemas and contracts the rest of the system depends on.
- Validate the system against realistic enterprise structures, not simplified test cases.
- Keep reasoning paths transparent and explainable, so results stand up to enterprise scrutiny.
- Build to the standard of enterprise customers expactations.
03 / Who we are looking for
Who fits, and who would thrive.
You should bring
- Strong Python, with clean, typed and well tested code.
- You think in data models and relationships. Graphs, recursive structures and consolidation logic are familiar territory.
- Solid experience with LLM based systems: retrieval, structured extraction, prompting, evaluation and guardrails. You understand both their strengths and their limits.
- You can take an ambiguous, difficult problem and find the simplest architecture that holds.
- You are comfortable working early, with direct ownership and fast feedback.
- You value intellectual honesty and speed, and you say what you think.
Bonus, not required
- Graph databases.
- PostgreSQL with recursive structures, CTEs and closure tables.
- Document ingestion tooling.
- Finetuning small models and running them in production.
- LLMOps, monitoring and evaluation pipelines.
- Any exposure to ESG or non financial reporting. We will teach you the domain.
04 / The stack
What you will work with, and help decide.
- Python
- Pydantic
- Pandas
- PostgreSQL
- LLMs + RAG
- Finetuning
- LLMOps
The data foundation is not yet fixed. Evaluating relational and hybrid approaches is part of the work, and you will have real input into the decision.
05 / Why this matters
ESG reporting is becoming a commodity. Few tools help a complex enterprise understand its performance across regions, brands and products, or test a decision before making it. That is the gap we are closing.
The companies that feel it most are the ones under the most pressure from regulators, investors and their own value chains. We are building the analysis layer they cannot buy elsewhere, and a position no reporting tool can reach.
06 / About Palau, and how we work
How we work.
Palau is an Antwerp based startup with a hybrid way of working, building sustainability analysis software for complex enterprises. We work with renowned local and international sustainability leaders including Umicore, VITO, imec, Cordeel Group, Reynaers Aluminium.
- Central Antwerp office at Tabakvest, hybrid working with min. 2 days per week at the office.
- Direct ownership of core product from week one.
- Work next to the founders. A short path from idea to production.
- Competitive salary, and an equity conversation open for the right person.
07 / How to apply
Show us how you think.
Send a short note and something that shows how you work: code, a project, or a piece of writing. We care more about how you think than about a formal cover letter.