Chief Technology Officer

Skillzy; Denver (CO); On-site; USD 85,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity: 10–15% founder equity

Job summary

Skillzy is seeking a Co-Founder & CTO to architect and ship the AI Lab MVP and grow it into a multi-tenant LMS for K-12 and beyond. This equity-based role offers 10–15% founder equity and the opportunity to lead the engineering culture from day one in Denver.

You will design the LLM layer, build classroom-scale lab environments, ensure FERPA/COPPA/privacy readiness, and drive technical due diligence with VCs while hiring our first engineers and setting the long‑term tech vision.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in software, with at least one product shipped 0-to-1
• Hands-on full-stack depth on AWS; you can write production code in week one
• Real experience building with LLMs: RAG, agents, evals, cost control
• Strong security and privacy instincts
• Able to work equity-first for 12–18 months
• Bonus: EdTech/LMS experience, CTF or sandbox platforms, a past VC-backed startup

Responsibilities

• Architect and ship the AI Lab MVP, then grow it into a multi-tenant LMS
• Design our LLM layer: tutoring agents, auto-generated challenges, adaptive difficulty, age-appropriate guardrails
• Build sandboxed, auto-reset lab environments at classroom scale and classroom budget
• Make privacy a feature: FERPA, COPPA, state student-privacy laws, SOC 2 readiness, WCAG 2.1 AA
• Integrate with Google Classroom, Clever, ClassLink, LTI 1.3 and SSO
• Hire and lead our first engineers and set the engineering culture
• Pitch alongside me to VCs and own technical due diligence

Job description

Co-Founder & CTO — Skillzy (AI Lab + LMS for K-12 and beyond)

Equity-based co-founder role | 10–15% founder equity | US, Denver preferred

A NOTE FROM OUR FOUNDER

Every school district in America is being told to “teach AI,” and almost none have a safe, hands‑on way to do it. Kids learn best by doing, breaking and fixing things. Nobody has built that experience for a 9‑year‑old, with guardrails a school board will sign off on. That’s our gap, and the window is open right now.

WHAT WE’RE BUILDING

• Skillzy AI Lab: gamified, hands‑on challenges in AI, coding and cyber safety for ages 7–14 (MVP in build)
• AI Tutor: a safe, curriculum‑aligned assistant that coaches without giving away answers
• Skillzy LMS: classes, assignments, teacher dashboards, standards mapping, district reporting (next 6–12 months)
• Beyond K‑12: higher‑ed, workforce and certification pathways (18+ months)

We sell to schools and districts through B2B licensing, starting in Denver and Wyoming.

WHAT YOU’LL OWN

• Architect and ship the AI Lab MVP, then grow it into a multi‑tenant LMS
• Design our LLM layer: tutoring agents, auto‑generated challenges, adaptive difficulty, age‑appropriate guardrails
• Build sandboxed, auto‑reset lab environments at classroom scale and classroom budget
• Make privacy a feature: FERPA, COPPA, state student‑privacy laws, SOC 2 readiness, WCAG 2.1 AA
• Integrate with Google Classroom, Clever, ClassLink, LTI 1.3 and SSO
• Hire and lead our first engineers and set the engineering culture
• Pitch alongside me to VCs and own technical due diligence

TECH STACK (you’ll have the final call)

• Frontend: React / Next.js, TypeScript, Tailwind, Chromebook‑first
• Backend: Node.js (NestJS) or Python (FastAPI)
• AI: AWS Bedrock, RAG on curriculum content, agent workflows, evals
• Data: PostgreSQL (Aurora), Redis, S3, pgvector or OpenSearch
• Labs: containers on ECS/EKS, browser‑based sandboxes
• DevSecOps: GitHub Actions, Terraform, CloudWatch, Cognito

YOUR FIRST 12 MONTHS: MVP TO VC-READY

• Days 1–90: Ship the AI Lab MVP and go live with pilot schools
• Months 4–6: Turn pilots into paid district licenses
• Months 6–9: Raise pre‑seed/seed with edtech and AI‑focused VCs
• Months 9–12: Hire the first engineers and launch the LMS layer
• Month 12+: Scale districts and build toward Series A

WHO YOU ARE

• 8+ years in software, with at least one product shipped 0‑to‑1
• Hands‑on full‑stack depth on AWS; you can write production code in week one
• Real experience building with LLMs: RAG, agents, evals, cost control
• Strong security and privacy instincts
• Able to work equity‑first for 12–18 months
• Bonus: EdTech/LMS experience, CTF or sandbox platforms, a past VC‑backed startup

This isn’t for you if you need a full salary next month or would rather manage than build.

COMPENSATION

• 10–15% founder equity, based on experience and commitment, 4‑year vest with a 1‑year cliff
• Base salary: $0 until the first milestone below
• Partial salary begins at $25K MRR (~$300K ARR)
• Market‑rate founder salary at $85K MRR (~$1M ARR) or a closed seed round
• Full salary, benefits and equity refresh after Series A
• Expected salary range once triggered: $[X]–$[Y] per year

IS THIS YOU?

If five of these are true, let’s talk this week:

• I’ve shipped a product from an empty repo to paying users
• I’ve built something with an LLM that real people use
• I can explain COPPA and FERPA to a principal in two minutes
• I’d rather own the upside than take a safe salary right now
• I’m excited, not scared, to sit across from VCs
• I believe every kid deserves to learn AI by building