CTO-Level Platform Architect & AI Lead (Hands-On)

Valis; United States; Remote; USD 300,000 - 500,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Performance-based bonus

Fast growth opportunity

Job summary

Valis is seeking a CTO-level engineering leader in the United States to own platform architecture, ingestion, storage, retrieval, and multi-tenant data access. You will write critical code, design secure data retention, and drive client-ready MCP integrations with major systems.

You will lead deployments, cost-control for token spend, and scale the data stack (Redshift/DuckDB) while shaping the engineering culture and hiring top talent. Fluency in English is essential.

Qualifications

• Must have 10+ years in software engineering with 4+ years in CTO/leadership roles at product companies or strong startups.
• Track record of zero-to-production systems with real users and real load; hands-on contributor.
• Deep hands-on experience running LLMs in production: agents, RAG, MCP, evals, and cost control.

Responsibilities

• Own platform architecture and engineering, from design to production.
• Write code where it matters; hands-on role, not only management.
• Design access control, data retention and GDPR compliance, and multi-tenancy.
• Build MCP servers and connectors to client systems (Slack, Google Workspace, Asana, HRIS, DWH, ERP).
• Lead deployments and be the final technical escalation point for your area.
• Manage cloud infrastructure (AWS/GCP, Cloudflare), CI/CD, observability and security.
• Oversee data stack: warehouse (Redshift, DuckDB), ETL, large-scale migrations.
• Hire, develop, and retain engineers; foster an outcomes-driven culture.
• Leverage AI agents (Claude) as primary working tools.

Skills

10+ years experience

CTO/VP Engineering

LLMs in production

Backend architecture

Team leadership

English fluency

Cost control

Tools

AWS/GCP

CI/CD

Observability

Security

Redshift

DuckDB

ETL

MCP/Agentic tools

Job description

Valis is seeking a CTO-level engineering leader in the United States to own platform architecture, ingestion, storage, retrieval, and multi-tenant data access. You will write critical code, design secure data retention, and drive client-ready MCP integrations with major systems.

You will lead deployments, cost-control for token spend, and scale the data stack (Redshift/DuckDB) while shaping the engineering culture and hiring top talent. Fluency in English is essential.