Freelancer/Consultant CTO

Job Title : Chief Technology Officer (CTO) – Blockchain & Web3

Location : Bangalore & Gurgaon

Job Type : Full-Time, On-Site

Working Days : 6 Days

About the Role :

• We are seeking an experienced and visionary Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to lead our Blockchain & Web3 initiatives.
• The ideal candidate will have a strong technical background in Blockchain, Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), Smart Contracts, DeFi, and Web3 applications.
• As a CTO, you will be responsible for defining and implementing the technology roadmap, leading a high-performing tech team, and driving innovation in the Blockchain and Web3 space.

Key Responsibilities :

• Define and execute the technical strategy and roadmap for Blockchain & Web3 products and services.
• Lead the architecture, design, and development of scalable, secure, and efficient blockchain-based applications.
• Oversee Smart Contract development, Layer-1 & Layer-2 solutions, DeFi, NFTs, and decentralized applications (dApps).
• Manage and mentor a team of engineers, developers, and blockchain specialists to ensure high-quality product delivery.
• Drive R&D initiatives to stay ahead of emerging trends and advancements in Blockchain & Web3 technologies.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams including Product, Marketing, and Business Development to align technology with business goals.
• Ensure regulatory compliance, security, and scalability of Blockchain solutions.
• Build and maintain relationships with industry partners, investors, and technology vendors to drive innovation.

Required Qualifications & Experience :

• 10+ Years of overall experience in software development with at least 5+ Years in Blockchain & Web3 technologies.
• Deep understanding of Blockchain protocols (Ethereum, Solana, Polkadot, Hyperledger, etc.), consensus mechanisms, cryptographic principles, and tokenomics.
• Hands-on experience with Solidity, Rust, Go, Node.js, Python, or other blockchain programming languages.
• Proven track record of building and scaling decentralized applications (dApps), DeFi platforms, or NFT marketplaces.
• Experience with cloud infrastructure (AWS, Azure, GCP) and DevOps best practices.
• Strong leadership and management skills with experience in building and leading high-performing teams.
• Excellent problem-solving skills with the ability to work in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.
• Strong understanding of Web3, DAOs, Metaverse, and the evolving regulatory landscape.

Preferred Qualifications :

• Prior experience in a CTO, VP Engineering, or similar leadership role.
• Experience in fundraising, investor relations, and strategic partnerships.
• Knowledge of cross-chain interoperability and Layer-2 scaling solutions.
• Understanding of data privacy, security, and compliance regulations related to Blockchain & Web3.

Head/ Chief Architect - Engineering

About Our Client

Our client is headquartered in California and Y Combinator backed Shopify-like platform for creators & knowledge professionals (coaches, instructors, experts, artists etc.) to launch, manage and grow their business online. Founded by IIT/ IIM/ BITS/ Yale/ BCG Alumni and 3X Entrepreneurs, they are well funded and backed by top Indian VC firms along with start-up veterans like Kunal Shah (CRED). The company is founded by alumni from top IITs, IIMs, BITS, Yale including ex-entrepreneurs and from firms such as BCG, Hike, Dunzo and P&G.

Since the launch of  its first version in December 2020 they have grown 25X. Creators have earned more than $1 Million since launch through the platform.
We have just closed our series A (yet to announce) and are looking to build out our leadership team across functions.

About the role:

About the job

• Own and drive product development and engineering management in a fast paced, rapidly changing environment.
• Deliver architectural initiatives that drive revenue and improve efficiency inline with business strategy.
• Develop and maintain a aspirational architectural road map
• Maintain in-depth knowledge of IT industry best practices, technologies, architectures and emerging technologies.
• Build and lead the technical team with focus on infusing culture resulting in energetic & positive outcomes.

Requirements

• Relevant prior experience in a software product-based company in a leadership position. Minimum of 5+ years experience building applications in high level programming languages - Java, Python or Go
• Strong experience in either or all of databases: MySQL, MongoDB, NOSQL, SQL Server, Oracle. -Strong working knowledge on AWS & Google Cloud & Cloud security.
• Strong working knowledge of Web, caching technologies, API integration technologies & protocols.
• Experience with managing AGILE development methodology and inspire the team to follow best Scrum practices.
• Fair understanding of DevOps would be ideal
• Must be a strong and enthusiastic team player with excellent verbal and written communications skills.
• You are a good communicator who can explain technical concepts to product managers, designers, support and other engineers and you have curiosity about how things work
• Skills in Microservices Architecture, Product Roadmap& tech team management

What you need to have:

• Setting a vision for how technology will be used in the company
• Ensuring that technological resources meet the company's short and long-term needs
• Outlining the goals for research and development
• Creating timelines for the development and deployment of all technological services
• Making executive decisions on behalf of the company's technological requirements
• Setting up of CI/CD pipelines to automate deployments at various stages, dev to staging to production at scale
• Setting up of APMs and integration with Slack to monitor the distributed system’s health in real-time
• Acting as a mentor to team members
• Maintaining a consumer-focused outlook
• Managing technology budgets and time frames
• Staying on top of technology trends and developments

Desired Candidate Profile

• 8-12 years of overall experience
• 5+ years of experience in managing a self-organizing, high growth team
• 3+ years of experience as a developer
• Hands-on experience with MERN Stack
• Hands-on with Vue.js, AWS, and AWS Lambda implementation, Serverless Architecture, Microservices Architecture, MongoDB, MySQL, PHP (Laravel)
• Knowledge of scaling high traffic apps using Heroku/EBS etc.
• DevOps knowledge
• Working knowledge of Data Warehousing and CDP platforms

Role Description

Location - Bangalore / Remote/WFH

This is an equity-only role.

We are looking for a young but mature mindset with highly skilled Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to provide sound technical leadership in all aspects of the business. This person will be added as a Co-founder in the Team.

CTO should be able to take technical decision and having a Strategic thinking mindset with strong business acumen. We expect you to be well-versed in current technological trends and familiar with a variety of business concepts.

You will work directly with the CEO and will act as both a technology and business expert, making decisions that will impact the current and future operations of the company. If you are self-motivated, emotionally strong, enjoy challenges and have a never give-up approach, we’d like to meet you.

CTO / Co- Founder Responsibilities

Lead the technology division with new-age technologies and processes

Build on the vision for the organization by technology

Identify new opportunities and develop products and processes in line with cutting edge technologies

Deploy, develop and implement solutions in a cost-efficient manner

Experience in building scalable products, platforms, and modern technologies

Experienced on the internet/ e-commerce industry, B2B platforms, start-up setups is a plus

Hands-on experience in digital initiatives, big data, mobile apps, AI & ML, analytics, and business intelligence solutions

Ability to convert data into usable modern technology-driven solutions

Experience or knowledge on AWS server side is required

Requirements

B.E / B.tech / Masters Degree in computer science or related field.

6+ years of working in a technological role is preferable but not mandatory

Experience working in an early-stage tech start-up will be a plus

A strong product sense and can build engaging tech for customers

Ability to conduct technological analyses and research

Deep knowledge of full-stack modern development practices (node.js, angular, java javascript, AWS, DS, react, etc.) Can work / learn and work on AI/ML

Have a proven understanding of best engineering practices for the full software development life cycle (SDLC), including coding standards, code review, source control, build, test, deploy, and operations

Experience in project management to ensure timely deliverables

Strong communication skills with the ability to present the technology vision confidently in a way that motivates others both internally and externally

• 9+ years of experience in enterprise web application design and development with 4+ years of experience as an automation architect.
• Experienced in technology stack selection and the definition of solution, technology and integration architectures for small to mid-sized applications and cloud hosted platforms
• Strong understanding of various design and architecture patterns
• Experience in implementing and governing software engineering processes, practices, tools and standards for development teams
• Experience of setting up and operating the DevOps and automation infrastructure for continuous integration and delivery
• Full SDLC experience leveraging Agile, TDD and BDD for building and rolling out highly transactional and highly available platforms hosted on premise and on the cloud
• Proficient in effort estimation techniques
• Must be hands on technology and able to troubleshoot critical issues in design or code
• Experience in Mobile Applications automation using SeeTest, Appium
• Strong hands-on experience of designing and developing technology frameworks and micro-services, APIs, REST Web Services, leveraging Java and open source technology stack (i.e. Java, JavaScript, Node.js/ Angular.js/ React.js, Spring Bot, Non-blocking Java, etc. )
• Hands on experience with JBehave, Cucumber, TestNG, Extent Reports
• Strong design, development and performance tuning skills on at least two or more databases such as Oracle, SQL Server, NOSQL and NewSQL (e.g. PostgresQL, Cassandra, Mongo DB, Cosmos DB, MySQL etc.)
• Experience on enterprise architecture patterns and a couple of past examples of architecting high availability, scale and performance applications 
• Strong experience with code review and evaluate the architecture as well as design towards a set of business and technology goals
• Experience with SonarQube code coverage and code quality
• Experience with Cypress JavaScript automation
• Experience on command prompt tools like Shell Script, UNIX
• Hands on experience on Cloud stacks (AWS preferred)
• Hands on experience with standalone applications automation using UFT, LeanFT and VB Script
• Knowledge of principles on code quality, distributed applications, TDD & test automation, self-monitoring applications, refactoring and technical debt

• Experience in defining new architectures, design all layers of the solution, create architectural blueprints that can be used for final code development.
• Interface with client business/technical teams to understand complex requirements.
• Anticipate on technological evolutions(example use MySQL Lite not MS SQL, use C# not ASP, don't use JSF use Angular).
• Resolve technical issues.
• Bridge between Developers, Project Managers/Leads, and Client, ensuring smooth communication channel.
• Ensure quality of project implementation deployed.
• Provide technical guidance to projects/programs for complex components of a multiple technology suites.
• Ensuring documentation of the complete project architecture.
• Lead actions to determine root cause of problems and drive resolution.
• Participate in cross-functional work groups to assess business needs, develop a systems architecture strategy, and implementation plans.
• Leads work groups that are responsible for software development.
• Ensure that all components of the technical architecture are properly integrated and implemented by the development team.
• Coach the technical team in the development of the technical architecture and help them solve challenging technical problems
• Provide technical support and technical quality control throughout all stages of the project.
• Spearheads the development, implementation and communications of architecture roadmap strategies to ensure that systems are scalable, reliable, secure, supportable, and achieve.
• Identify existing architecture weaknesses and find opportunities for process reengineering and perform cost benefit analysis

• Time Management- Organizes own workload to achieve maximum productivity and completes work in a timely and professional manner. Handles multiple short and long term modules by proper planning while anticipating potential problems and planning for contingencies.
• Identify high-potential team members for next level positions and creating learning and development plans for them.
• Enable strong process in place and reducing dependencies on individual.

Technical Skills and Qualification

• Excellent knowledge of Web technologies, Java, Javascript, Contact center environment.
• Experience of current technologies including Open Source, J2EE (JSP, Servlet, JSP, etc.), web application development, web services (REST/SOAP/XML), Rich Internet Applications, messaging infrastructures and databases.
• Adaptability and willingness to learn new tools and applications.
• Should be comfortable for 40%-60% coding.
• Able to convert requirements into executable code
• 9 to 12 yrs experience
• Qualification: BE/B-Tech /MCA or any equivalent degree

Desirables

• Excellent written and verbal communication skill
• Ability to lead discussions with all levels of the organization and provide balanced information of an idea or communication of an issue regardless of written or verbal
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively across project teams.
• Having Analytical and problem-solving
• Ability to translate complex requirements into functional and Technical architecture
• Experience managing the technology aspect of multiple complex projects
• Ability to think ahead and anticipate problems, issues and solutions and Assist team members in complex task
• Willing to take ownership and being accountable.
• Openness, communicates honestly, openly, and consistently.
• Positive Attitude encourages a positive rather than negative viewpoint.
• Integrity maintains the highest standard of personal conduct in performing all duties.
• Should be a good listener.
• Dependable, can be relied upon to get the job done.
• Able to avoid mistakes that could/should be anticipated.
• Should be able sense and grab the opportunities to innovate and improvise.
• Very high competence in presentation skills.
• Negotiator: Excellent negotiation skills which comes handy in hard selling new ideas/ new technical implementations etc.
• Risk Management: Should be able to take calculated risks in trying out new technical implementation avenues
• Able to communicate the org level vision to the team effectively

Responsibilities

• Design and implement features spanning across systems in a manner that satisfies requirements of performance, scale, security and robustness
• Contribute to improvement of technology and execution processes in the company
• Collaborate in setting technology standards with technology leaders across the company
• Serve as a knowledge center on current and emerging technologies, and help train others when required
• Foster a strong technical culture by mentoring other engineers
• Keep up to date with the latest technologies, evaluate new tools

Relevant Experience and Qualifications 

• Demonstrated expertise in system-level design of large scale distributed systems on the Java stack, and experience with web services and service oriented architectures
• Solid experience with Spring (Core/Boot/Security/MVC/Data)
• Have 8 - 12  years of professional experience in software development.
• Extensive experience with modern open source systems including relational / non relational data stores and bigdata processing
• Experience with AWS stack, at least the common datastores and services 
• Experience with containerization technologies and concepts including Docker
• Basic knowledge about security concepts and secure coding
• Excellent analytical, conceptual and communication skills in spoken and written English.
• Experience leading projects developed across continents.

Great to have Experience and Qualifications 

• Knowledge of machine learning concepts, and some hands-on experience implementing machine learnt models
• Experience with infrastructure design for cloud based apps, especially AWS.
• Past experience with information and data security standards (PCI-DSS, ISO27000) very nice to have.