Why This Role Exists
SVS ships multiple ventures in parallel; each needs a scalable, secure technology foundation and accelerated path to MVP. The CTO architects that foundation, leads technical diligence on new concepts, and coaches venture engineering teams to world-class execution — while keeping the studio at the leading edge of AI, cloud, and data practices.
Role Overview
The Chief Technology Officer sets the technology vision for both the studio and its portfolio. They combine strategic foresight (road‑mapping, investment decisions, platform standards) with hands-on leadership (guiding architecture, code reviews, incident response). The CTO is the studio’s authority on build‑vs‑buy, scalability, and technical talent. In early-stage ventures, the CTO is expected to be deeply hands-on – reviewing architecture, unblocking teams, and occasionally writing or pairing on critical code paths – to ensure speed, quality, and shared learning across the studio.
Key Responsibilities
Technology Strategy & Innovation
- Define and maintain a 2‑year technology roadmap covering core platforms, AI/ML capabilities, and shared services.
- Evaluate emerging tech and make investment recommendations balancing cost, speed, and venture fit.
- Partner with the Investment Committee to assess technical feasibility & moat of new venture ideas.
Product Development & Architecture
- Oversee design, development, and deployment of secure, high‑performing stacks for studio ventures.
- Create reference architectures, coding standards, and DevSecOps pipelines reused across ventures.
- Supervise MVP builds, ensuring velocity to market without compromising quality or compliance.
- Ensure AI/ML systems are production-grade, secure, and economically rational, avoiding experimental complexity unless it creates clear venture-level advantage.
Technical Team Leadership & Culture
- Recruit, mentor, and retain top engineering talent; establish a guild model for knowledge sharing.
- Foster a culture of innovation, rapid experimentation, and continuous learning (hack days, brown‑bags).
- Build and manage relationships with agencies and contractors to flex capacity as cohorts scale.
Operational & Security Oversight
- Own cybersecurity, data‑privacy, and regulatory compliance frameworks (SOC 2, HIPAA as needed).
- Set SLOs/SLAs, monitor reliability, and lead post‑mortems for any critical incidents.
- Manage cloud spend and vendor contracts to maintain budget discipline.
Fundraising & External Evangelism
- Support CEO/COO during fundraising by leading technical due diligence and showcasing product roadmaps.
- Represent SVS at conferences and ecosystem events, positioning the studio as Florida’s deep‑tech hub.
Ideal Background & Competencies
- 10+ yrs technology leadership in high‑growth startups, venture studios, or product companies.
- Deep expertise in full-stack development, AWS-based cloud infrastructure, modern DevOps practices (Terraform, CI/CD), and AI/ML workflows.
- Demonstrated success taking software from concept to market launch and scaling to thousands of users.
- Strong communicator able to translate complex tech into investor‑friendly language.
- Experience recruiting and managing distributed engineering teams.
Preferred Technology Stack & Platform Standards
Establish and enforce studio-default technology standards, including:
- AWS-first cloud infrastructure, leveraging managed services where possible
- Infrastructure as Code using Terraform
- Python-based back-end services and APIs
- React (and modern JS tooling) for front-end applications
- Modern AI/ML stacks, including LLMs, vector databases, and MLOps pipelines, applied pragmatically where they create defensible advantage
Exceptions to these preferred standards are evaluated explicitly based on venture needs, talent availability, and long-term maintainability.
To Apply
Email your resume (PDF) and LinkedIn profile to hiring@suncoast.studio.
A brief note highlighting relevant experience is encouraged; GitHub or work samples are optional but welcome.