Location: Bangalore preferred / Hybrid
Engagement: Full-time leadership role
Compensation: Founder-track ESOP / sweat-equity-led structure with milestone-linked ownership; cash component may be discussed based on fit, commitment and runway
Experience: 8–15 years preferred, or equivalent proven technology architecture ownership
About the Role
Strengthscape is building Meridian, an in-house digital assessment, scoring, reporting and AI-enabled insight platform for enterprise clients.
We are now looking for a Chief Technology Officer / Technology Architect who can own the technology direction of Meridian at a platform level.
This is not a regular full-stack developer role and not only a “build the MVP” assignment. We are looking for someone who can make senior technology decisions, define the platform architecture, design the data and AI architecture, create engineering governance, guide technical execution, and build the foundation for scale.
The right candidate should be capable of thinking like a CTO from day one: architecture, security, scalability, engineering standards, vendor/team leadership, product-tech alignment and long-term platform evolution.
About Meridian
Meridian will power next-generation assessment journeys across individuals, teams and enterprise clients. The platform will include:
- Assessment-taking application
- Assessment builder and item bank
- Scoring and interpretation engine
- AI-assisted report generation
- Human-in-the-loop review workflows
- Admin, reviewer, consultant and client dashboards
- Enterprise client access and reporting workflows
- Secure data architecture for assessment content, respondent data, scoring outputs and reports
- Automation layer for delivery, review, exports and operations
The product sits at the intersection of psychometrics, HR technology, leadership development, AI-assisted insights, people analytics and B2B SaaS.
Core CTO Mandate
The CTO / Technology Architect will be responsible for:
1. Technology Strategy and Architecture
- Define the technology vision, platform architecture and product engineering roadmap for Meridian.
- Decide the right architecture across frontend, backend, database, AI layer, automation layer, infrastructure and integrations.
- Create a scalable architecture that supports multiple assessments, multiple user roles, enterprise clients, reporting workflows and future mobile/app extensions.
- Evaluate build vs buy vs integrate decisions with practical business judgement.
- Ensure the platform is designed for maintainability, reliability, extensibility and long-term product evolution.
2. Platform and Data Architecture
- Design the core data model for users, clients, assessments, item banks, responses, scoring rules, reports, dashboards, exports, audit trails and permissions.
- Build the blueprint for versioning of assessment items, scoring logic, review workflows and report templates.
- Ensure clean separation between respondent data, assessment content, scoring logic, client accounts and reports.
- Create architecture that allows future assessments to be added without rebuilding the system each time.
- Define database, API, access control and reporting structures with scalability in mind.
3. AI Architecture and Automation
- Design the AI layer for controlled use in item review, report drafting, insight generation, quality checks and internal operations.
- Build human-in-the-loop governance so AI supports expert judgement without replacing review.
- Decide where to use custom code, AI APIs, automation tools, low-code platforms and internal admin tools.
- Create reliable AI workflows with prompt versioning, quality checks, logs, approvals and safeguards.
- Prevent fragile automation by designing workflows that can scale beyond the first MVP.
4. Security, Privacy and Governance
- Define the security and access-control architecture for internal users, clients, reviewers, consultants and respondents.
- Implement role-based permissions, authentication, audit logs and controlled access to sensitive data.
- Establish data protection practices suitable for enterprise client expectations.
- Plan backup, rollback, monitoring, incident logging and release discipline.
- Ensure IP protection, confidentiality and controlled handling of assessment content and respondent data.
5. Engineering Leadership
- Set engineering standards for code quality, repository structure, documentation, testing, release management and deployment.
- Convert business and psychometric requirements into structured technical specifications.
- Guide developers, freelancers, vendors or internal team members as the product scales.
- Review technical work critically and prevent short-term build decisions from becoming long-term technical debt.
- Build the future engineering team and vendor ecosystem required for Meridian.
6. Founder and Business Partnership
- Work directly with the founder and assessment/content teams to convert product vision into a practical technology roadmap.
- Challenge assumptions where needed and propose better technical options.
- Communicate technology decisions clearly to non-technical stakeholders.
- Represent Meridian’s technology direction in internal reviews, partner discussions and future investor/client conversations.
Required Candidate Profile
We are looking for someone who has:
- Proven experience owning product architecture or platform architecture, not only feature development.
- Experience designing or leading SaaS, enterprise platforms, HR tech, edtech, assessment platforms, workflow platforms or data-heavy applications.
- Strong understanding of backend architecture, databases, APIs, authentication, permissions and deployment.
- Ability to design technical systems before jumping into coding.
- Experience guiding engineering teams, vendors, freelancers or junior developers.
- Strong documentation habits and ability to create architecture notes, data models, system diagrams and technical roadmaps.
- Comfort with AI APIs, automation workflows and modern AI-enabled product development.
- Ability to work in ambiguity while still creating structure, priorities and execution discipline.
- Founder-track ownership mindset with long-term commitment.
Preferred Technical Exposure
Candidates may have experience with some of the following:
- Frontend: React, Next.js, Vue or equivalent modern web frameworks
- Backend: Node.js, Python, FastAPI, Django, Express or equivalent backend stacks
- Database: PostgreSQL, Supabase, Firebase, MongoDB or similar
- Cloud/deployment: AWS, GCP, Vercel, Render, Railway or equivalent
- AI/LLMs: OpenAI, Gemini, Claude APIs, prompt orchestration, AI workflow governance
- Automation: Apps Script, Zapier, Make, n8n, Notion APIs, Google Workspace integrations
- Engineering discipline: GitHub, CI/CD, logging, monitoring, testing, documentation and issue tracking
- Security: authentication, RBAC, audit trails, data protection and access governance
This Role Is For You If
- You want to own technology architecture, not just write code.
- You can create the technical blueprint before asking for developers to build.
- You understand how to move from MVP to scalable platform without overengineering.
- You can combine business judgement, product thinking and engineering leadership.
- You are comfortable with founder-level accountability.
- You want long-term ownership through ESOP / sweat equity participation.
- You can be hands-on where required, but your real value is CTO-level judgement.
This Role Is Not For You If
- You are primarily looking for a full-stack developer role.
- You have built features but have not owned platform architecture.
- You need detailed specifications before you can structure a system.
- You prefer coding tasks but do not want technology strategy responsibility.
- You are uncomfortable leading vendors, developers or technical decision-making.
- You are looking only for a high fixed salary from day one.
- You are not comfortable with milestone-based founder-track ownership.
First 90-Day Expectations
Within the first 90 days, the selected candidate should be able to:
- Create the Meridian technology architecture blueprint.
- Define the MVP-to-scale technical roadmap.
- Finalize the core data model and system modules.
- Recommend the technology stack and deployment approach.
- Establish security, access-control and documentation standards.
- Build or supervise the first usable assessment flow.
- Create the AI-assisted reporting and review workflow architecture.
- Identify team, vendor and development resource requirements.
- Present a clear 6–12 month product engineering roadmap.
Compensation and Ownership
This is a founder-track technology leadership role structured around ESOP / sweat equity / milestone-linked ownership participation.
The exact structure will depend on capability, commitment, scope ownership, vesting design, company structure, legal documentation and approvals.
A cash component may be discussed depending on fit, availability and runway, but this role is designed for someone who is motivated by long-term value creation and ownership, not only a salary-first arrangement.
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Bengaluru, Karnataka
