Chief Technology Officer

This is a single founding leadership seat with co-founder level equity. We are looking for one exceptional technology leader to own the entire technical direction of Prime Cargopeople. You will work directly alongside the founders to set technical strategy, make critical infrastructure and product decisions, and build the engineering organization from the ground up. This is a hands-on leadership role - deeply involved in architecture decisions while simultaneously managing and growing the team., Technical Leadership & Vision:

• Define and execute the overall technology roadmap aligned with business goals
• Own all architecture decisions across frontend, backend, AI/ML, data, and infrastructure
• Lead the migration of existing GCP infrastructure to AWS with zero disruption
• Establish engineering best practices, coding standards, security protocols, and compliance frameworks
• Drive technology evaluation and vendor/partner decisions

Product & Platform Development:

• Oversee end-to-end development of the Prime Marketplace - product catalog, search, supplier storefronts, cart and checkout (B2B & B2C)
• Lead delivery of AI-powered features: visual search, voice commerce, dynamic pricing, demand forecasting, hyper-personalized recommendations
• Manage and evolve microservices architecture: auth, user, order, chat management, LLM service, recommendation consumers
• Oversee real-time systems: WebSocket infrastructure, Kafka event pipelines, Redis caching
• Deliver advanced supplier analytics dashboards and fraud detection systems

Team Building & Management:

• Recruit, hire, mentor, and retain a world-class engineering team
• Build an engineering culture of ownership, speed, and quality
• Manage engineering roadmap, sprint planning, and delivery timelines
• Partner with product, sales, and operations leadership on cross-functional priorities

• 10+ years of progressive software engineering experience
• 3+ years in a VP Engineering, Head of Engineering, or CTO role
• Proven track record building and scaling B2B or B2C marketplace or e-commerce platforms
• Deep expertise in Node.js, React/Next.js, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis, and Kafka
• Strong hands-on experience with Kubernetes, Docker, and AWS (GCP experience a plus)
• Experience integrating AI/LLM APIs (OpenAI, Claude, or similar) into production systems
• Demonstrated success hiring, leading, and scaling high-performing engineering teams
• Strong communication skills - able to translate complex technical concepts for non-technical stakeholders and investors

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience building AI-powered commerce features: recommendation engines, dynamic pricing, visual search, voice AI
• Background in export/import, logistics, supply chain, or freight platforms
• Familiarity with India-US cross-border trade, EXIM regulations, or international payments
• Experience with Series A or seed funding technical due diligence
• Prior startup or founding team experience

Pulled from the full job description

• Health insurance
• Paid time off, * Competitive executive compensation commensurate with experience
• Hybrid work schedule - New York, NY base
• Health insurance, paid time off, executive development and conference budget
• Full autonomy over all technology decisions
• Ground floor opportunity at a high-growth AI export platform

Prime Cargopeople is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Pay: $120,000.00 - $200,000.00 per year