Role Summary:

The CTO will be responsible for setting the overall technology strategy, leading all aspects of product development, infrastructure, and technical operations. This role demands a blend of strategic foresight, hands-on technical leadership, and strong people management skills to build, mentor, and empower a world-class engineering team. You will be the primary advocate for our technological vision, ensuring our architecture is scalable, secure, and future-proof.

Key Responsibilities:

Strategic Technology Leadership:

- Define and articulate the long-term technology vision and strategy, aligning it with the company's overall business objectives and market opportunities.

- Develop and manage the technology roadmap, prioritizing initiatives that drive innovation, competitive advantage, and operational efficiency.

- Evaluate and recommend new technologies, platforms, and architectural approaches to enhance product capabilities and scalability.

Technical Excellence & Innovation:

- Oversee the architecture, design, development, and deployment of all software products and platforms.

- Champion engineering best practices, including agile methodologies, code quality, testing, and continuous integration/delivery (CI/CD).

- Foster a culture of technical excellence, innovation, and continuous learning within the engineering organization.

- Drive R&D efforts, exploring emerging technologies (e.g., AI/ML, blockchain, IoT) and their potential application to our products.

Team Leadership & Culture Building:

- Recruit, mentor, and develop a high-performing engineering team, including senior leaders, architects, and individual contributors.

- Define organizational structure, roles, and responsibilities to optimize team efficiency and collaboration.

- Cultivate a strong, inclusive, and empowering engineering culture that attracts and retains top talent.

Product & Business Alignment:

- Collaborate closely with Product Management, Sales, Marketing, and other executive stakeholders to ensure technology initiatives directly support business growth and customer needs.

- Act as a key technical advisor to the CEO and Board of Directors, effectively communicating complex technical concepts and strategies.

Operations, Scalability & Security:

- Ensure the reliability, performance, scalability, and security of all systems and infrastructure.

- Oversee DevOps practices, cloud operations, and incident management.

- Establish and enforce robust security protocols and data governance policies.

Budget & Resource Management:

- Manage the technology budget effectively, optimizing resource allocation for maximum impact.

- Oversee vendor relationships and technology procurement.

Required Qualifications:

- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.

- 15+ years of progressive experience in software development and engineering leadership roles.

- Minimum of 5 years in a senior technology leadership role (e.g., CTO, VP of Engineering, Head of Engineering) at a high-growth company.

- Proven track record of defining and executing technology strategies that have significantly impacted business outcomes.

- Deep technical expertise across the full stack, including modern programming languages, cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP), microservices architecture, and data management.

- Extensive experience building and scaling high-performing engineering teams (100+ engineers preferred).

- Strong understanding of agile methodologies and DevOps practices.

- Exceptional strategic thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making abilities.

- Outstanding communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence and engage diverse stakeholders.

- Demonstrated ability to balance innovation with operational stability and security.

Preferred Qualifications:

- Ph.D. in a relevant technical field.

- Hands-on experience with AI/ML, Big Data, or other cutting-edge technologies.

- Experience managing technology due diligence for M&A activities or fundraising rounds.