Experienced Startup CTO possible co-founder role, hands on Rust, startup experience a must have

Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

Founding Technical Leadership Role • Rust • Real-Time Systems • Social • AI • Payments

 

Please read the full job description before applying.

 

We are not looking for a traditional corporate CTO.

 

We are looking for a hands-on technical leader who still builds, ships, reviews architecture, and understands modern product engineering at scale.

 

This role is for someone who combines strong engineering judgment with startup execution ability — someone comfortable moving between backend architecture, real-time systems, infrastructure, product strategy, and technical leadership.

 

About the Role

 

OleOle is building a football-focused social network and super app combining

• Real-time social feeds and microblogging
• Messaging and mobile communication
• TikTok-style short-form video
• Live scores and sports engagement
• AI-powered translation and football history
• Rewards, payments, and future crypto infrastructure

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• This role may evolve into a co-founder-level position for the right person.
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• You will define the long-term technical architecture of the company while also helping build and ship the platform alongside the engineering team.
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• We are not looking for a CTO who has spent the last 20 years only managing meetings, vendors, and process.
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• We are looking for someone who still codes, still understands systems deeply, and still enjoys building.
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What We’re Looking For

 

A product-first, systems-oriented technical leader who understands

• Real-time social feeds and recommendation systems
• Messaging and event-driven infrastructure
• High-performance backend architecture
• Frontend/backend integration for modern consumer products
• Payments, wallet infrastructure, or financial systems
• AI infrastructure and data-driven products
• Scalability, reliability, and operational discipline

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• You do not need to be an expert in every area above.
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• However, you should have strong experience across multiple domains and the ability to make pragmatic technical decisions across a highly ambitious product ecosystem.
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Key Responsibilities

 

• Define and lead the long-term technical architecture of the platform
• Lead backend architecture and infrastructure strategy using Rust-based systems
• Help build scalable systems supporting feeds, messaging, live updates, video, and data infrastructure
• Oversee engineering direction across backend, frontend, infrastructure, and product systems
• Partner closely with leadership on product and company strategy
• Establish engineering culture, hiring standards, and technical execution processes
• Work directly with engineers on architecture reviews, tradeoffs, and implementation decisions
• Help design future financial infrastructure including rewards, wallets, payments, and crypto-related systems
• Support AI-powered systems including translation, recommendation, search, and football history infrastructure
• Ensure scalability, reliability, performance, and security across all systems

 

Technical Areas Involved

 

• Rust backend infrastructure
• Real-time systems and asynchronous architecture
• APIs, event-driven systems, and distributed services
• Messaging and feed infrastructure
• Video and media systems
• AI and data infrastructure
• Payment and wallet systems
• SSR and SEO-focused architecture
• High-scale consumer product engineering

 

What Makes Someone Successful in This Role

 

• You have personally designed and operated production systems
• You still enjoy building and solving technical problems directly
• You can explain architectural tradeoffs clearly and pragmatically
• You understand how consumer platforms scale technically and operationally
• You focus on execution and shipping, not unnecessary complexity
• You are comfortable operating in ambiguous startup environments
• You know when simplicity is the correct engineering decision
• You can lead engineers without becoming disconnected from the technology

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• We value real-world system ownership, technical depth, execution ability, and engineering judgment significantly more than keyword-heavy resumes.
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Compensation & Structure

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• This role is currently structured as deferred compensation.
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• All current team members — including leadership, engineers, designers, and product teams — are currently working under the same structure while the company secures funding.
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• This is not unpaid work.
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Compensation is intended to convert into a normalized salary structure post-funding, in addition to

• Significant equity ownership
• Long-term token participation
• Founding-level influence over the company and platform

 

We want to be fully transparent

• There is real startup risk
• Fundraising timelines are unpredictable
• Building at this stage requires resilience, ownership, and long-term thinking

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• At the same time, this is an opportunity to help architect and build one of the most ambitious consumer platforms in global football from the earliest stages.
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• OleOle – Where Fans Kick Off
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Qualifications

Your Background

• 7–15+ years of software engineering and technical leadership experience, ideally within startups or high-growth consumer technology platforms
• Strong hands-on engineering background with active involvement in architecture, systems design, and production codebases
• Significant experience building and scaling modern consumer platforms involving real-time systems, high concurrency, and large-scale user engagement
• Strong production Rust experience building asynchronous backend systems and distributed infrastructure
• Deep understanding of backend architecture, APIs, event-driven systems, databases, caching, and scalable infrastructure design
• Experience building or operating one or more of the following:
• Social feeds and microblogging systems
• Messaging or real-time communication platforms
• TikTok-style video or media infrastructure
• Financial, wallet, fintech, or gambling infrastructure
• AI-powered consumer products
• Large-scale SEO or content infrastructure
• Ability to make pragmatic technical tradeoffs balancing scalability, performance, speed, maintainability, and operational simplicity
• Experience leading and mentoring engineering teams while remaining deeply technical and hands-on
• Comfortable operating in fast-moving startup environments with ambiguity, evolving priorities, and limited process
• Strong communication skills with the ability to explain architectural decisions clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Strong entrepreneurial judgment, ownership mentality, and execution focus

What Makes Someone Successful in This Role

• You have personally designed and operated production systems at scale
• You still enjoy building and solving technical problems directly
• You focus on execution, shipping, and long-term maintainability
• You value simplicity and practical engineering over unnecessary complexity
• You are comfortable taking ownership without requiring constant direction
• You understand how modern consumer products scale technically and operationally
• You can lead engineers without becoming disconnected from the technology

Strong Plus

• Experience with Rust-based consumer platforms
• Experience with distributed systems and event-driven architectures
• Experience with feeds, messaging, streaming, or recommendation systems
• Experience with payments, crypto, wallet infrastructure, or gambling systems
• Experience with AI infrastructure, search, recommendation, or translation systems
• Startup leadership experience building products from zero to one
• Existing network within startup, venture capital, or fundraising ecosystems
• Passion for football, sports media, or global fan communities

• We value real-world system ownership, technical depth, execution ability, and engineering judgment significantly more than keyword-heavy resumes.
• OleOle – Where Fans Kick Off
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Additional Information

• Building a platform like OleOle is difficult by design.
• We are not looking for people who avoid hard technical problems — we are looking for builders who are energized by solving them.

What We Value

• Creative problem solvers who are willing to challenge assumptions, propose new ideas, and help build better systems rather than simply repeating existing patterns
• Engineers who can adapt across a broad range of technologies, infrastructure challenges, and evolving product requirements
• People who are comfortable operating in fast-moving startup environments with ambiguity, shifting priorities, and limited process
• Strong entrepreneurial judgment with the ability to work independently and take ownership without requiring constant direction or micromanagement
• Builders who focus on practical execution, scalability, and product quality rather than unnecessary complexity
• Engineers who embrace difficult challenges and enjoy helping shape products from the ground floor

Location & Work Environment

• OleOle is based in Austin, Texas, although the team currently operates remotely while the company completes its fundraising process.
• We are a privately held company building a globally ambitious football platform with a distributed international team.
• OleOle – Where Fans Kick Off