Graduate AI software engineer (Madrid)

About Meetup

Meetup is a community-building platform that millions of people use to discover events, meet others who share their interests, and cultivate meaningful real-world connections. Now part of Bending Spoons, it plays a key role in a portfolio of outstanding digital businesses united by a shared focus on innovation and operational excellence. By applying through the Meetup brand, you’ll be stepping into the wider Bending Spoons team. You may work directly on Meetup or contribute to one of our other leading products. Either way, you’ll be part of a high-performing, collaborative environment where you can make a real impact.

At Bending Spoons, we’re striving to build one of the all-time great companies. A company that serves a huge number of customers. A company where team members grow to their full potential. A company that functions at unparalleled levels of effectiveness and efficiency. A company that creates value for shareowners at an extraordinary rate. And a company that does so while adhering to high ethical standards.

In pursuit of this objective, we acquire and improve digital businesses, not to sell on, but to own and operate for the long term. The transformations we make are often deep—designed to speed up innovation, benefit customers, and strengthen business performance. Here, hierarchy is minimal and teams are small and talent-dense. We operate established products with the ambition, agility, and urgency of a startup. Across the company, we integrate AI deeply into how we work so that human judgment and machine intelligence reinforce each other.

For a talented, driven, and collaborative individual, working at Bending Spoons is an opportunity to learn, make an impact, and progress their career at an exceptionally high rate. That’s our promise to such a candidate.

About the Role

As one of the first hires in our new Madrid office, you’ll help shape the culture and energy of the place, setting the tone for how we work, collaborate, and raise the bar locally. You’ll be part of a fully integrated global team that works across our other European hubs and beyond, while also contributing to an environment in Madrid that reflects our ambition and standards.

Key Responsibilities

• Build AI-powered product experiences. Work with product teams to identify high-impact opportunities where AI can transform the user experience for millions—and then build these transformative solutions. Drive the process from possibility to production, delivering code that’s robust, reproducible, and built for scale.
• Amplify your impact with AI. Integrate the most powerful AI tools directly into your development workflow—design, implementation, testing, and documentation—to move faster while maintaining high standards for correctness, reliability, and maintainability.
• Master your toolkit. Work across diverse stacks with end-to-end ownership, choosing the right technologies for each challenge. From monoliths to microservices, gRPC to REST, Kubernetes to Docker, Python to Rust—you’ll apply technologies thoughtfully, focusing on depth and purpose rather than trends.
• Build software that matters. Take real ownership from idea to production, creating systems used by millions and evolving them into products at scale.
• Simplify relentlessly. Question every layer of complexity. Improve architectures, pipelines, and codebases to build systems that are simpler, more scalable, and easier to maintain.

What we look for

• Reasoning ability. Given the necessary knowledge, you can solve complex problems. You think from first principles, and structure your ideas sharply. You resist the influence of biases. You identify and take care of the details that matter.
• Drive. You’re extremely ambitious in everything you do—and your initiative, effort, and tenacity match the intensity of your ambition. You feel deeply responsible for your work. You hold yourself to a high—and rising—bar.
• Team spirit. You give generously and without the expectation of receiving in return. You support the best idea, not your idea. You're always happy to get your hands dirty to help your team. You’re reliable, honest, and transparent.
• Proficiency in English. You read, write, and speak proficiently in English.

What we offer

• Incredibly talented, entrepreneurial teams. You’ll work in small, result-oriented, autonomous teams alongside some of the brightest people in your field.
• An exceptional opportunity for growth. We go to great lengths to hire individuals of outstanding potential—then, our priority is to put them in the ideal position to thrive. Spooners in their 20s lead products worth hundreds of millions of dollars. And if you’ve got what it takes, you’ll soon be playing an essential role in major projects, too.
• Competitive pay and access to equity in the company. Typically, we offer individuals at the start of their career an annual salary of £85,797 in London and €66,065 elsewhere in Europe. For a candidate that we assess as possessing considerable relevant experience, the salary on offer tends to be between £112,189 and £250,512 in London, and €107,837 and €188,848 elsewhere in Europe. Compensation varies by location and expected impact, and grows rapidly as you gain experience and translate it into greater contributions. For individuals who demonstrate exceptional capability, we may offer compensation that extends beyond the usual ranges to reflect their higher expected impact. If you're offered a permanent contract, you'll also be able receive some of your pay in company equity at a discounted price, thus participating in the value creation we achieve together. If relocating to Italy, you may enjoy a 50% tax cut.
• All. These. Benefits. Flexible hours, remote working, unlimited backing for learning and training, top-of-the-market health insurance, a rich relocation package, generous parental support, and a yearly retreat to a stunning location. We help each Spooner set up the conditions to do their best work.
• A flexible start date and part-time options. You don't need to wait until graduation to apply. We offer flexible start dates and the possibility to begin part-time, transitioning to full-time as you complete your degree. Many Spooners joined before graduating and progressively took on greater responsibility, with arrangements that allowed them to do so without compromising their education.

Commitment & contract

Permanent or fixed-term. Full-time.

Location

Madrid (Spain).

The selection process

In our screening process, we prioritize verifiable signals of excellence, regardless of seniority. Some people hold back because they feel they lack experience or have an “imperfect” CV. If you like the role and believe you could excel over time, don’t self-reject.

If you pass our screening, you’ll be asked to complete one or more tests. They are challenging, may involve unfamiliar problems, and can take several hours.

We set the bar high and won’t extend an offer until we’re confident we’ve found the right candidate. This is why a job may remain open for months or be reposted several times.

We consider all applicants for employment and provide reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities—please let us know through this form.

Before you apply

If you’ve applied before but didn’t receive an offer, we recommend waiting at least one year before applying again.

Bending Spoons is a demanding environment. We’re extremely ambitious and we hold ourselves—and one another—to a high standard. While this tends to lead to extraordinary learning, achievement, and career growth, it also requires significant commitment.

To help you ramp up quickly and set yourself up for success, we recommend spending your first few months working from our Milan office, regardless of your long-term work location. It’s the best way to rapidly absorb our company culture and build trust with your new teammates. We’ll support you with generous travel and accommodation assistance. After that, you’re welcome to work from our offices in Milan or London, or remotely from approved countries—depending on what we agree at the offer stage.

If the role speaks to you and you’re excited to give your best, we’d love to hear from you. Apply now—we can’t wait to meet you.

Key skills/competency

• AI Software Engineering
• Product Development
• Problem Solving
• Full Stack Development
• Software Architecture
• Testing and Debugging
• Python
• Rust
• Kubernetes
• Agile Methodologies