About Nokat
Nokat is an early-stage startup building an AI-for-education platform on a knowledge graph. AI drafts lesson content and practice material, people review and correct it, and both feed a shared graph of concepts and prerequisites that improves with every correction. Learning paths are computed by traversing that graph. The language model is used at the edges for generation and drafting initial contents, and deterministic algorithms are designed to run personalized and learning routes. The MVP is a German exam-prep prototype (TestDaF, telc, Goethe), public at nokat.com since August 2026.
The founders: a PhD from the Max Planck Institute for Informatics, now a product designer, and a final-year PhD researcher in AI for education at the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems with a professor specializing in AI in education as the research advisor.
What you'd work on
The current prototype is a React/TypeScript web app with browser-side storage. The production backend is designed but not implemented yet; you would help build it from the start.
- Backend services for the generation pipeline: turning a learning goal into a sequence of lessons and practice items
- LLM API integration for content generation, and the validation logic that checks and structures what comes back
- API design and data models for the knowledge graph and the learner-progress model
- Working alongside the founders, with real influence on architecture and stack decisions
What we're looking for
- Enrolled in computer science or a related field, Bachelor's (second year or later) or Master's
- Solid Python, comfortable with backend fundamentals: REST APIs, relational databases, Git, Docker
- Curiosity about how LLMs get used inside a structured product
- No prior startup experience required. What matters is genuine interest in a fast-paced startup environment, and wanting to build something that actually ships
- Working language is English. German is not required
Practical details
10–20 hours a week, flexible around lectures and exams; six months or longer preferred. Based at the SouthwestX Innovation Center on the Saarland University campus, with occasional remote work. Nokat is pre-seed, so this is a ground-floor role with two founders, initial funding in active discussion. Strong working students are the natural path to a full-time backend or AI engineering role once the round closes.
How to apply
A short message on why this interests you, plus a link to something you've built (GitHub, a project, a thesis). No cover letter needed.