Founder CTO: AI-Driven, Scalable Tech Architect

Stealth Startup; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Stealth Startup in San Francisco seeks an experienced Chief Technology Officer to lead technology across its incubator and portfolio. This founder-style role blends strategic direction with hands-on execution, shaping product, architecture, and hiring to scale early-stage ventures.

You will own the technology roadmap, drive AI-powered product initiatives, and build a cross-functional team spanning software, data, and product. Exceptional communication and leadership are essential for success.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of professional technology experience.
• Experience building and scaling products from zero to one and from one to many.
• Experience as a CTO, VP Engineering, founding engineer, technical founder, or similar senior leadership role.
• Strong software engineering and system architecture fundamentals.
• Experience designing and building AI-powered products, AI agents, automation systems, or data-intensive applications.
• Strong understanding of modern cloud infrastructure, distributed systems, APIs, databases, and software architecture.
• Proven ability to recruit, mentor, and lead high-performing technical teams.
• Strong product sense and the ability to connect technical decisions with business outcomes.
• Comfortable being hands-on when necessary while also operating strategically at the executive level.
• Excellent communication skills with engineers, founders, investors, and non-technical stakeholders.
• Strong ownership mentality, high agency, and the ability to thrive in fast-moving, ambiguous environments.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute a unified technology strategy across the incubator and its portfolio companies.
• Partner with founders on product strategy, technical architecture, roadmaps, and early-stage technical hiring.
• Design and architect shared systems, data infrastructure, internal tools, and platforms across operating companies.
• Lead the development of AI agents, automation workflows, and vertical AI solutions for real-world businesses.
• Translate business and customer needs into scalable technical solutions.
• Build, mentor, and lead a high-performing cross-functional organization across Software, AI/ML, Data, and Product.
• Establish engineering best practices around architecture, development, testing, deployment, security, and scalability.
• Make high-impact technical decisions balancing speed, quality, and long-term scalability.
• Work with founders and leadership to identify opportunities where technology creates leverage.
• Help early-stage ventures move from prototype to production and scale.

Skills

Tech leadership

Product scaling

Architecture fundamentals

AI/ML experience

Cloud infrastructure

People leadership

Tools

Cloud platforms

APIs & Data architecture

Job description

Stealth Startup in San Francisco seeks an experienced Chief Technology Officer to lead technology across its incubator and portfolio. This founder-style role blends strategic direction with hands-on execution, shaping product, architecture, and hiring to scale early-stage ventures.

You will own the technology roadmap, drive AI-powered product initiatives, and build a cross-functional team spanning software, data, and product. Exceptional communication and leadership are essential for success.