The team

Who builds the digitally sovereign AI of the future?

Europe lacks a sovereign cloud for AI, and the alternatives do not exist yet, so we are building them ourselves: determined and out of our own conviction, with our own money and with the experience we gained in the public sector and at institutions where privacy and governance are concern number one.

Founders

Casper Rutjes

CEO & Co-founder

Scaled Amsterdam Data Collective from 19 to 200 FTE in six years, first as MT member and later as CTO, into a leading European AI consultancy. As CTO he went through a private-equity-backed buy-and-build with multiple mergers from the inside, so Localign's endgame is a playbook he already knows.

Eight years of data and AI advisory at executive level, up to the boardrooms of the largest Dutch banks, with the Dutch Data Protection Authority and the NCSC among his clients. PhD from CWI, on the supercomputers that are now Europe's AI factories.

Mathyn Scheerder

CTO & Co-founder

As Tech Lead at the NCSC he built systems that protect the Netherlands: the Anti-Phishing Shield, which shields Dutch internet users from phishing via DNS, and the threat-hunting platform Pharos.

Before that he worked as a data science consultant and data engineer, building production-grade systems for more than twenty scale-ups, government agencies and banks. Inside those heavily regulated environments he was the sparring partner for CIOs, CISOs and enterprise architects.

Leadership

Sophie Smits

Strategic Finance Lead

Sophie holds a Master's in Finance and Strategic Management. During her studies, she competed in top-level fencing. She began her career in finance and risk consulting, then pivoted into data science and AI as a consultant at Amsterdam Data Collective, most recently working as a business data analyst in the real estate market.

At Localign she puts that financial grounding to work inside an AI startup: pricing, unit economics and the metrics investors actually underwrite. She also guides the company through venture funding.

The wider team

Doga Aras

AI Engineer

Dante George

Frontend Engineer

Bink Hol

AI work student

Product and technology are already proven inside this team. The next hires are in growth.

Careers

Open application

We do not always have a role posted, and the best people rarely wait for one. Does our story get you excited, and do you want to help build a sovereign European AI solution?

AI engineering, security engineering, frontend and go-to-market
Based in Den Bosch, a short walk from Centraal Station
Tell us what you would build in your first three months, and send along something you have made

Send an open application

Rather talk first? Write to us at the same address.

About Localign

Localign takes its name from Local and Alignment. We bring world-class AI to organisations, on their own terms. For European users, that starts with one clear promise: identifiable data stays within the EU by default.

Many platforms look European on the surface. Localign is European at every layer: world-class AI models process identifiable data within the EU by default, and AI providers see Localign, not your organisation. The platform is designed around the Schrems II ruling; on-premise and air-gapped deployment are available on request.

Localign presents AI agents as independent sources: you compare answers from multiple models side by side and form your own view. That limits lock-in and keeps you from leaning on a single system.

We build from Den Bosch, with a team that is at home in AI ethics, cybersecurity and European data sovereignty.