Chief Technology Officer

Xcede; Greater London; On-site; GBP 180,000 - 320,000; Full time

Job summary

Xcede is recruiting a founding CTO for its London-based enterprise AI platform. You will own the technical vision, guide architecture, and build a high-calibre engineering team from a small, senior core.

The role requires partnering with the founder as the technical face to enterprise customers and shaping the engineering organisation from the ground up. Ideal candidates will have scaled teams through high-growth journeys (Series A+), enterprise-facing experience, and a credible track record as

Qualifications

• Experience leading engineering teams at scale-ups or startups (Series A onwards).
• Ability to architect scalable platforms for enterprise clients.
• Proven track record hiring and developing senior engineers.

Responsibilities

• Own the technical vision and architecture of the platform as it scales.
• Build, hire and lead a high-caliber engineering team from a small, senior core.
• Set the operating model for shipping, prioritising and maintaining quality in an enterprise context.
• Partner with the founder as technical leadership and be credible to enterprise customers.

Skills

Leadership

Scale teams

Enterprise IT

System architecture

Hiring

Product judgement

Job description

Xcede has been exclusively retained to appoint the founding CTO for one of the most exciting enterprise AI companies to emerge from London.

Having only emerged from stealth 12 months ago, they have already secured $65M Series A funding from some of the world’s leading venture investors.

The business has already grown to 18 heads, including a stellar engineering team with alumni from DeepMind, Meta, Spotify, Twitter, Apple, Improbable and Palantir.

They are an exciting B2B enterprise AI platform with impressive paying customers and an exciting roadmap for growth.

Led by an incredible Founder, they are looking to make their most important hire – a founding CTO.

The role

This is the founding CTO hire — a chance to shape the engineering organisation and technical direction of the business from the ground up. You'll:

• Own the technical vision and architecture of the platform as it scales
• Build, hire and lead a high-calibre engineering team from a small, senior core
• Set the operating model — how the team ships, prioritises and maintains quality in an enterprise context
• Partner directly with the founder as the technical leadership of the business, and act as a credible technical face to enterprise customers

What we're looking for

• A genuine engineering leader who has scaled a strong team through a high-growth journey (Series A onwards), ideally in a fast-paced startup or scale-up environment
• Enterprise experience — you understand what it takes to build and sell technically into large, security- and compliance-conscious organisations
• Real credibility as an engineer and architect (stack-agnostic — how you think matters more than any specific technology)
• A track record of hiring, developing and attracting excellent engineers
• Strong product judgement — a clear sense of what to build, what not to, and why
• Curiosity and genuine appetite for the AI space; you don't need to be a core ML engineer, but you should be excited by where this technology is heading
• The drive and hunger to build something from an early, hands-on stage

Location

London-based, with a strong in-person culture — the team builds together, in the office, most of the week. This is a business that moves fast and values the energy of being in a room together.