Chief Technology Officer - AI Start-up

I’m working with a fast‑growing European AI company in the e‑commerce space, backed by tier‑1 global investors. Their platform is already live at real scale, supporting some of the best‑known retail brands and handling hundreds of millions of requests every month.

This isn’t a short‑term or feature‑driven business. The team is focused on building something long‑lasting - a company that genuinely changes how product discovery and merchandising work in modern e‑commerce.

With a new CEO having joined recently, they’re now making what’s easily the most important hire of the year: a CTO who will take ownership of the technology organisation and play a major role in shaping the product direction as the company scales.

Why this role exists

The technology organisation is intentionally headless today - by design.

The business is ready for a leader who can:

• Set a clear, opinionated product and technical vision
• Bring focus, pace, and accountability to execution
• Turn applied AI into tangible commercial advantage for customers

This is not a role for someone who wants to sit purely at a strategy level, and equally not for someone who only wants to code. It’s built for a founder‑minded operator who thrives at the intersection of product, technology, and business impact - at a pivotal inflection point.

Role overview

• ~80% strategy, roadmap ownership, leadership, and execution
• ~0–20% hands‑on technical involvement where it genuinely adds leverage
• Full ownership of product, engineering, and applied AI direction
• Close partnership with the CEO and commercial leadership
• Stockholm‑based, hybrid setup with a strong preference for regular in‑office collaboration

What you’ll be responsible for

• Owning the end‑to‑end product and technology vision
• Auditing and evolving architecture, AI capabilities, and engineering standards
• Building a roadmap that is relentlessly focused on customer value and revenue impact
• Scaling and leading high‑performing product and engineering teams
• Acting as the bridge between:
• Advanced AI capabilities
• Real SaaS customer outcomes
• ARR, retention, and long‑term growth
• Setting the bar through decisive, hands‑on leadership when needed

Who they’re looking for

• A founder‑level mindset with strong entrepreneurial instincts
• Experience scaling SaaS businesses from early stage through Series B/C
• Deep technical credibility, particularly in SaaS architecture and systems
• Strong, well‑formed opinions on how AI should actually be applied in production
• Proven ability to build elite teams - hiring A‑players and maintaining a high bar
• Commercially fluent: understands how product and tech decisions directly affect revenue

If this sounds like you and you'd like to hear more about the opportunity, please feel free to apply or message me directly!