Live From New York! DeepL’s New CTO Looks to Accelerate Language AI from the Big Apple

DeepL’s mission has always been to leverage AI to break down language barriers for businesses everywhere. To date, we are in over 63 global markets, working with over 100,000 businesses and millions of individuals to improve communication. And last week’s announcement of our new tech hub in New York City signals an acceleration of these global ambitions; with a solid footprint in a city that’s known for its connections to global enterprises, fast pace, cultural diversity, big commerce and one of the richest pools of tech talent in the world, we can now move even faster and do even more. We can’t wait for this next chapter! 

Launching DeepL’s first US tech hub doesn’t just signal our commitment to scaling Language AI rapidly in the US market. It also helps us to connect our research and product development with the needs of global enterprises, in the city that’s home to the largest share of Fortune 500 companies in the world.

The New York City tech hub will be led by DeepL’s newly appointed CTO, Sebastian Enderlein, who most recently led the Engineering team at Personio from 2019-2024. During that time, the Munich-based HR software business grew to become one of the leading tech companies in Europe, valued at over $8 billion. Prior to Personio, Sebastian worked as Senior Development Manager for Salesforce and Head of Cloud Infrastructure for Uber.

At DeepL, Sebastian will be responsible for building a global culture of innovation, which includes integrating DeepL’s existing AI pioneers in Europe with the rich hub of additional developer talent in New York. Together, this global team will harness the power of Language AI to drive efficiency and productivity at global enterprises with tools that enable clear communication across language barriers.

We asked Sebastian what made the opportunity to lead innovation at DeepL so compelling.

What drew you to DeepL?

It starts with the founders and the leadership team. I met Jarek and the Engineering team, and I could clearly feel the ambition. If you go to Silicon Valley, people think about growth in terms of having a positive impact globally. I saw that same sense of energy and potential at DeepL from the get-go, and that’s a very strong motivator for me. That’s been a common thread throughout my professional career at Personio, Salesforce and Uber.

What’s distinctive about DeepL from a technology perspective?

AI is on everyone’s mind right now, and I’ve had tons of opportunities to work for generic AI companies, which are all doing pretty much the same thing in terms of data analysis and information extraction. What’s special here is that DeepL is leveraging AI for a concrete purpose. It serves real-world use cases and solves problems for millions of people across the world.

For businesses, that means translation tools that can understand context and specialist terminology, delivering accuracy while ensuring that communication always sounds human. It means embedding translations into productivity tools and tech stacks, grasping the terminology that’s distinct to each business and offering real-time writing suggestions to help everyone communicate more clearly. By removing barriers to communication, DeepL facilitates alignment across teams to help companies achieve their collective goals and accelerate global expansion.

Purpose-driven AI is very, very compelling to me. I think DeepL has a unique position in the market because people recognize the importance we place on security, on data privacy and on the quality of our translations. We’ve earned a reputation for enabling people to express themselves naturally and authentically across languages. When you’ve earned that level of trust, it creates a massive opportunity.

What does the opening of the New York City Tech Hub mean for you?

From NYC, we have a prime opportunity to double-down on our Language AI expertise that’s driven so much momentum to date across Europe and APAC. We’ll be leveraging the energy, speed of innovation, and enterprise connections in New York to drive similar adoption in North America and ongoing global reach. 

The office opening feels especially exciting to me on a personal level, because of the experience I’ve had building innovative tech companies in Europe and then helping to drive global expansion in the US. DeepL is at a very exciting inflection point right now; having grown out of Germany and across Europe, we’re now poised for global growth and scale that will enable us to support enterprise organisations across the world.