Sovereign Tech Fellowship (employment)

Up to three two-year salaried positions at Sovereign Tech Agency GmbH paying EUR 64,000 to 82,000 a year full time, for maintainers located in and authorised to work in Germany.

What you get

€64,000–€82,000Cash

“Compensation is based on the collective agreement for the public sector in Germany (TVoeD-Bund) and will range from EUR 64,000 to EUR 82,000 per year for a full-time position, including 30 days of vacation, depending on qualifications and experience.”

Duration2 years

Strings attachedFOSS licensing is mandatory for supported code and documentation. Full-time fellows are expected to contribute their expertise in a consulting manner to the work of the Sovereign Tech Agency, for instance by supporting the design of new programs, and all fellows must be willing to participate in conferences, events, interviews and evaluation reporting and to join a maintainers community.

Can you apply

VC backingnot stated

Referral or partnerNot required

Registered companyNot required

IndividualsEligible

Open sourceProject must be open source

CountriesGermany

Before you applySame role requirements as the freelance option (maintainer of at least one and contributor to at least three FOSS projects, or community manager of at least one, or technical writer on at least three projects), plus being located in and authorised to work in Germany. One application per person. Applications in English.

You are located within Germany. You are authorized to work in Germany and can legally sign a work contract.

When

Not open right now, and no next round has been announced.

Past rounds

2026 roundclosed 6 Apr 2026

What Sovereign Tech Agency funds

German public investor in open digital base technologies: the libraries, package managers, protocol implementations, encryption tooling and developer infrastructure other software depends on. Funds maintenance, security and sustainability work in the public interest, explicitly not prototypes or user-facing apps.

Everything Sovereign Tech Agency funds →

Details

Separated from the freelance option because it adds a hard country and work-authorisation gate and publishes a salary band the freelance option does not. Weekly hours 20 to 40, chosen by the fellow, salary pro-rated. Compensation is set by the German public sector collective agreement TVoeD-Bund and includes 30 days of vacation. Not a grant in the usual sense: it is an employment contract, recorded here because it is non-dilutive public money paid directly to open source maintainers.

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