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Founding CTO / Head of Engineering — Stealth Mode Agentic Commerce | Category-Defining Platform Company Snapshot

Status: Stealth

Stage: Formation / Pre-Seed

Category: Agentic Commerce

Market: ~$1.3T projected by 2030

Location: (flexible)

We are building a company at the frontier of Agentic Commerce, where AI becomes the primary interface for discovery, decision-making, and transactions. This is a once-per-cycle platform shift—comparable to mobile and cloud—that requires new technical primitives, architectures, and systems of trust.

Role Overview

We are seeking a Founding CTO / Head of Engineering to partner directly with the founder as a true co-creator—owning the technical vision, architectural foundations, and engineering culture of a category-defining platform.

This is a 0→1 founding role , not a staff CTO position. You will make early, high-leverage decisions that shape the company for years, balancing speed with durability and ambition with rigor. The role requires deep systems thinking, strong product intuition, and hands-on execution—paired with the judgment to know when not to overbuild.

The ideal candidate brings founder-level ownership , operates with low ego and high accountability, and has driven prior platform or interface shifts across commerce, AI, and developed large-scale systems.

What You’ll Own

• Technical vision & architecture: Define the core technical strategy and platform architecture from first principles, aligned with long-term product, GTM, and ecosystem goals
• Agent-native foundations: Design and build systems that support AI-driven discovery, decisioning, and transactions—optimized for trust, extensibility, and interoperability
• 0→1 execution: Translate an early thesis into real, working systems quickly, while making architectural decisions that compound rather than constrain
• Judgment under uncertainty: Navigate tradeoffs between speed, quality, and durability in a stealth environment without hiding behind process or perfectionism
• Engineering culture & talent bar: Hire early engineers, set the technical and cultural bar, and model ownership, clarity, and accountability from day one
• Founder-level collaboration: Operate as a thought partner to product and GTM leadership, shaping what gets built—not just how it’s built
• Long-term defensibility: Build systems that accrue durable advantage through data, workflows, and ecosystem integration over time

Who We’re Looking For Required

• 15 years of experience building and scaling complex platforms and systems
• Proven 0→1 engineering leadership, followed by meaningful scale
• Deep background in commerce platforms and AI-driven systems, marketplaces, or distributed systems
• Strong architectural judgment in ambiguous, fast-moving environments
• Founder mentality: high ownership, comfort with responsibility, and willingness to make irreversible decisions early

Strong Preference

• Senior technical leadership experience at Google, Meta, Amazon, or similarly scaled global technology companies (seniority Director).
• Experience operating across both big-tech rigor and startup velocity
• Prior founder, co-founder, early-stage CTO experience or 0-1 platforms in Large enterprises
• Demonstrated ability to lead with low ego, strong opinions, and clear decision-making
• Pattern recognition from prior platform or interface shifts (e.g., marketplaces, mobile, cloud, AI)
• Formal training in Computer Science, Data Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Physics, or Engineering from a top-tier U.S. institution (e.g., MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, Caltech), or equivalent depth demonstrated through exceptional real-world execution and technical leadership.

What Success Looks Like

• You are an inspirational leader who sets the cultural bar, brings people together, and builds high-trust, highly collaborative teams.
• You turn an early thesis into a credible, scalable, and defensible technical platform
• You make early architectural decisions that age well as complexity grows
• You enable fast product iteration without compromising long-term integrity
• You attract exceptional engineers who value ownership and clarity
• You build technical foundations capable of supporting category leadership

Why This Role

• Founding-team ownership and leadership in a once-per-generation platform shift
• Direct partnership with an experienced founder and former executive at the world’s largest commerce and AI platforms
• Opportunity to lead and define the technical backbone of Agentic Commerce
• Equity, influence, and genuine co-founder-level impact from day one

Company: Stealth Mode

Compensation: Equity cash (stage-appropriate)