Job description

Position Overview

We are seeking an exceptional Chief Technology Officer to lead our Large Language Model initiatives and drive technological innovation in AI/ML. This executive role requires a visionary leader who can bridge cutting-edge research with scalable production systems while building and managing world-class engineering teams.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership

• Define and execute the technical vision for LLM development, deployment, and scaling
• Drive strategic partnerships with research institutions, cloud providers, and AI/ML vendors
• Lead technology roadmap planning aligned with business objectives and market opportunities
• Represent the company at industry conferences, research symposiums, and with key stakeholders

Technical Excellence

• Oversee architecture and development of large-scale LLM training and inference infrastructure
• Guide research initiatives in model optimization, efficiency improvements, and novel architectures
• Ensure robust MLOps practices, including model versioning, monitoring, and deployment pipelines
• Drive innovation in areas such as multi-modal models, retrieval-augmented generation, and agent frameworks

Organizational Leadership

• Build, mentor, and scale high-performing engineering and research teams (50-200+ people)
• Establish engineering culture focused on excellence, innovation, and rapid iteration
• Collaborate closely with CEO, CPO, and other executives on product strategy and go-to-market
• Drive talent acquisition strategy for specialized AI/ML roles

Operational Management

• Oversee technical budgets, infrastructure costs, and resource allocation
• Ensure security, compliance, and ethical AI practices across all LLM initiatives
• Manage vendor relationships and technology partnerships
• Drive cost optimization for compute-intensive workloads

Required Qualifications

Education & Experience

• PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, AI, or related field (or equivalent industry experience)
• 12+ years of technical leadership experience, with 5+ years in executive roles
• 5+ years of hands-on experience with large language models, transformers, or related architectures
• Proven track record of scaling engineering organizations from startup to enterprise level

Technical Expertise

• Deep understanding of LLM architectures, training methodologies, and optimization techniques
• Experience with distributed training frameworks such as PyTorch
• Strong background in cloud infrastructure, particularly GPU/TPU clusters and ML platforms
• Knowledge of model compression, quantization, and inference optimization
• Understanding of AI safety, alignment, and responsible AI practices

Leadership Skills

• Demonstrated ability to recruit, develop, and retain top-tier technical talent
• Experience managing complex, multi-disciplinary projects with competing priorities
• Strong communication skills with ability to explain complex technical concepts to diverse audiences
• Track record of successful collaboration with product, business, and research teams

Preferred Qualifications

• Startup experience or research experience at leading AI/ML companies (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, etc.)
• Published research in top-tier ML conferences such us NeurIPS, ICLML, ICLR, etc.
• Experience with foundation model commercialization and API products
• Experience with open source models, RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation), and fine-tuning techniques
• Cloud experience with AWS or Google Cloud Platform
• Background in adjacent areas such as computer vision, robotics, or speech recognition
• MBA or equivalent business education

What We Offer

• Competitive executive compensation package including equity
• Opportunity to shape the future of AI technology at scale
• Access to cutting-edge compute resources and research partnerships
• Collaborative work environment with world-class researchers and engineers
• Comprehensive benefits including health, dental, vision, and retirement plans
• Flexible work arrangements and professional development budget

Reporting Structure

This role reports directly to the CEO and will be a member of the executive leadership team. The CRO will manage multiple VP-level leaders across Engineering, Research, Infrastructure, and Security.

Location

San Francisco, CA (HQ) with flexibility for hybrid/remote work arrangements. Regular travel required for conferences, team meetings, and partnership activities.

Details

• Full time
• Payment in USD [Open to discussion]