Chief Technology Officer

Location: Greater Washington, DC Area (5 days on site)

Overview

An established software company experiencing significant growth is seeking a technology executive to lead the evolution of its engineering organization, software platforms, and technical strategy. This individual will serve as a key member of the leadership team, partnering closely with executives across the business to ensure technology investments, product development efforts, and operational priorities support long-term company objectives.

This position requires a unique blend of technical depth, organizational leadership, and executional focus. The successful candidate will be comfortable influencing strategic decisions while remaining engaged in architecture, engineering processes, and complex technical initiatives.

What You'll Do

• Establish the long-term technology direction for the organization and guide technology-related business decisions.


• Lead and develop engineering teams responsible for building, enhancing, and maintaining software products.


• Champion best practices in software development, testing, reliability, security, and operational performance.


• Partner with stakeholders across the company to translate business requirements into scalable technical solutions.


• Evaluate current systems and processes, identifying opportunities to improve efficiency, performance, and maintainability.


• Provide leadership on platform modernization, cloud strategy, infrastructure planning, and data management initiatives.


• Create an environment that encourages innovation, accountability, collaboration, and continuous learning.


• Oversee technology resource planning, vendor selection, and engineering investment decisions.


• Support the growth of the organization by establishing scalable team structures, career development frameworks, and delivery processes.


• Contribute to important architecture reviews and technical discussions while guiding engineering teams through complex challenges.

Required Background

• Extensive experience leading software engineering organizations in a senior technology leadership capacity.


• Demonstrated success delivering and scaling commercial software products.


• Strong understanding of modern application architecture, cloud technologies, and software engineering methodologies.


• Experience building and mentoring high-performing technical teams.


• Ability to balance near-term business objectives with long-term platform sustainability.


• Strong communication skills and the ability to engage effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.


• Track record of improving engineering effectiveness through process, tooling, and organizational development.

Technical Environment

While technology experience may vary, ideal candidates will have familiarity with several of the following:

• Experience with one or more modern backend development frameworks


• SQL and relational database technologies


• Cloud-native infrastructure and services


• Source control and collaborative development workflows


• Modern DevOps and deployment practices


• Enterprise-scale web applications


• Workflow automation and orchestration technologies


• Data-intensive software environments

Ideal Leadership Profile

The organization is interested in leaders who remain closely connected to the work being delivered by their teams. Successful candidates often come from engineering leadership roles where they have combined people management, technical strategy, and hands-on problem solving.

Ideal qualities include:

• Growth mindset and entrepreneurial thinking


• Ability to lead through influence and collaboration


• Comfort operating in evolving, fast-moving environments


• Strong technical judgment and decision-making ability


• Passion for developing engineering talent and culture


• Willingness to engage directly with technical challenges when needed