Founding CTO (Web2)

<p>We are supporting a <strong>venture-backed, early-stage technology company</strong> building a <strong>white-label consumer engagement and rewards platform</strong> for global brands. The platform enables large-scale fan and customer experiences (e.g. predictions, quests, digital rewards, ticketing and commerce) while incorporating tokenised settlement and rewards infrastructure.</p> <p>This role represents a <strong>true greenfield build</strong>. The Founding CTO will define the overall system architecture, technical standards, and engineering culture from day one, while delivering a production-grade platform designed to scale to millions of users.</p> <p>As Founding CTO, you will take <strong>end-to-end ownership of the technology organisation</strong>, from initial architecture and hands-on development through to team build-out and long-term technical strategy.</p> <p>You will work closely with founders and commercial stakeholders, translating product vision into scalable systems and ensuring the platform can support multiple partners, brands, and regions.</p> <h3><strong>Responsibilities</strong></h3> <ul> <li><strong>Platform &amp; architecture</strong></li> <ul> <li>Define and build the core platform architecture supporting engagement mechanics, rewards, commerce, and analytics</li> <li>Establish system design principles covering scalability, security, and performance</li> <li>Make key build-vs-buy decisions and select vendors, tooling, and infrastructure partners</li> </ul> <li><strong>Backend &amp; infrastructure</strong></li> <ul> <li>Architect and implement backend services supporting real-time event ingestion, points/wallet systems, identity, and compliance controls</li> <li>Design robust data pipelines, storage, and API layers</li> <li>Own production readiness, including monitoring, alerting, SLOs, and incident response processes</li> </ul> <li><strong>Consumer products</strong></li> <ul> <li>Oversee development of mobile (iOS/Android) and web applications delivered under partner branding</li> <li>Ensure high-quality user experience across consumer touchpoints</li> </ul> <li><strong>Token &amp; rewards infrastructure</strong></li> <ul> <li>Lead design and integration of tokenised reward systems, including smart contracts and distribution logic</li> <li>Manage wallet integrations and fiat on/off-ramps in collaboration with external providers</li> </ul> <li><strong>Integrations</strong></li> <ul> <li>Build and maintain APIs connecting to external data feeds, ticketing systems, commerce platforms, and sponsor tools</li> </ul> <li><strong>Leadership &amp; team</strong></li> <ul> <li>Hire, mentor, and scale a high-performing engineering team</li> <li>Establish engineering standards, documentation practices, and development workflows</li> <li>Act as a hands-on technical leader while progressively transitioning to strategic oversight</li> </ul> </ul> <h3><strong>Qualifications</strong></h3> <ul> <li>8+ years of experience building consumer-facing technology products</li> <li>Proven experience delivering at least one <strong>0-to-1 platform</strong></li> <li>Track record of shipping and operating products at scale (100K+ users)</li> <li>Strong backend engineering background (distributed systems, real-time data, API design)</li> <li>Experience designing production-grade systems with high reliability requirements</li> <li>Comfortable working across frontend, backend, and infrastructure layers</li> <li>Strong written and verbal communication skills (architecture docs, technical strategy, roadmap planning)</li> </ul> <h3><strong>Strongly preferred</strong></h3> <ul> <li>Experience with loyalty, gaming, or marketplace-style mechanics (e.g. rewards, auctions, prediction-style systems)</li> <li>Familiarity with blockchain or tokenised systems (smart contracts, wallets, settlement flows)</li> <li>Background in security-sensitive or compliance-aware systems</li> <li>Experience building white-label or multi-tenant platforms</li> </ul> <h3><strong>Technical environment (current / planned)</strong></h3> <ul> <li><strong>Languages:</strong> TypeScript/JavaScript, Node.js, Python; Go or Rust exposure is a plus</li> <li><strong>Mobile:</strong> React Native or Flutter; native iOS (Swift) / Android (Kotlin) experience advantageous</li> <li><strong>Infrastructure:</strong> Cloud-native (GCP), Docker/Kubernetes, CI/CD pipelines</li> <li><strong>Data:</strong> PostgreSQL, Redis, event streaming (Kafka or equivalent)</li> <li><strong>Web3 exposure:</strong> Solidity fundamentals, wallet integrations, token mechanics</li> </ul>