Chief Technology Officer
Founding technical leadership role at an AI-native commerce advertising company. Stand up and scale the US engineering organization, own long-term technical strategy, and lead the transition to an agentic, AI-native platform. Inherit a real business (real revenue, real customers) paired with a mandate to rebuild the technical foundation for the next decade.
The company believes AI agents will fundamentally reshape how businesses operate. Over time, many of the decisions made today by marketers, analysts, operators, and hard-coded software workflows will be made by intelligent systems that can reason, act, learn, and continuously improve. Commerce advertising is the starting point. Today, the company helps brands manage and optimize performance across the world's major commerce ecosystems. Tomorrow, it intends to build the intelligence layer that powers decision-making across the entire commerce value chain. The US business is scaling quickly, and the company is establishing an independent, US-based technology organization to support that trajectory and its next phase of growth. This is a builder's role, not a caretaker's.
The mission
The CTO will build the company's long-term technology moat across three areas while driving the agentic future of the organization.
Build a breakthrough algorithmic advantage
Lead the evolution from traditional AI/ML models to large language model and agent-based systems for commerce advertising. Develop AI-native optimization that continuously learns from data, decisions, and outcomes to deliver performance advantages that compound over time.
Build the technical infrastructure for omnichannel scale
Redesign and modernize the platform and data infrastructure to support rapid expansion across commerce ecosystems, including deeper integration with additional channels. Deliver scalable architecture, reusable platform services, and the technical foundation required for future AI-native products.
Build a world-class technical organization
Recruit, develop, and inspire an exceptional US-based engineering, data, and AI team. Establish a culture of technical excellence, experimentation, and ownership, and shift the company's center of gravity toward a more technical perspective in a business that has historically been sales- and marketing-led.
What you will own in the first 6 to 12 months
- Solve the company's most pressing technical challenges, beginning with the transition of core advertising algorithms from traditional models to LLM-based approaches.
- Re-architect data infrastructure to be robust, scalable, and omnichannel-compatible.
- Partner closely with the existing engineering team during the knowledge-transfer and transition period (heaviest in the first 3 to 6 months).
- Hire the founding members of the US engineering organization and set the bar for hiring, architecture, and delivery standards.
- Build strong working relationships with US sales, marketing, and a forming product team so that technical work maps directly to commercial outcomes.
- Contribute to the technical narrative supporting an upcoming investment round.
Required experience
Looking for a builder rather than an operator. The ideal candidate has demonstrated success in the following.
- Building and scaling complex software platforms.
- Leading major architectural transformations.
- Creating technology-driven competitive advantage.
- Building and leading high-performing engineering organizations.
- Translating technical vision into measurable business outcomes.
- Typical profile: roughly 7 to 10 years of engineering and engineering-leadership experience, currently operating at a Director / VP level (or equivalent founder experience). Founders who have built and run their own companies, including those whose ventures did not ultimately succeed, are strongly encouraged to apply.
Highly desired
Experience in one or more of the following.
- AI, machine learning, or agent-based systems, ideally including hands-on LLM exploration.
- Advertising technology, advertising engines, marketplaces, or commerce ecosystems (experience within major ad-tech businesses is a plus).
- Optimization, experimentation, or decision-intelligence platforms.
- Large-scale data platforms and data infrastructure.
- Multi-platform / multi-tenant SaaS architecture.
Leadership profile
The successful candidate combines deep technical judgment with strong leadership and product intuition. They are a talent magnet, operate effectively in ambiguity, bring genuine curiosity and conviction about the agentic future of commerce, and have the ability to turn ambitious vision into durable, compounding competitive advantage.
Location and travel
Based in San Francisco. During the first 3 to 6 months, periodic international travel is expected to support knowledge transfer and the transition of existing systems. Travel is expected to decrease substantially thereafter.
Compensation
Competitive base + equity + comprehensive benefits.