Job Description:About the Role The Field Chief Technology Officer (Field CTO) is a senior, customer-facing technology executive whose primary responsibility is to represent the company's AI platform and underlying architecture to C-suite and senior technology leaders. This role helps customers clearly visualize how the platform accelerates their AI journeys-from strategy to production-while delivering measurable business outcomes.
The Field CTO operates at the intersection of revenue, product, architecture, and customer outcomes. This role is highly hands-on, deeply technical, and externally focused, requiring advanced expertise in data and AI architecture as well as the ability to translate architectural decisions into business value.
Primary Charter (What This Role Exists to Do) - Represent the platform architecture, design philosophy, and AI strategy to C-suite leaders.
- Help customers understand how and why the platform accelerates AI velocity, reduces complexity, and enables scale.
- Bridge executive vision, technical reality, and business outcomes.
- Influence strategic revenue opportunities where architectural credibility and executive trust are decisive.
What You'll Do Executive Architecture & Vision - Serve as the senior architectural authority in executive conversations with CIOs, CTOs, CDOs, and business leaders.
- Clearly articulate the platform's data and AI architecture, including tradeoffs, scalability, governance, and extensibility.
- Help customers visualize future-state architectures and operating models enabled by the platform.
- Position the platform as a long-term AI foundation, not a point solution.
Deep Data & AI Architecture Leadership - Demonstrate deep, practical expertise across:
- Enterprise data architectures and pipelines
- AI/ML model development, deployment, and lifecycle management
- Production-grade AI systems (governance, observability, reliability, security)
- Guide customers on architectural patterns that accelerate time-to-value and reduce AI risk.
Hands-On, Advanced Demos - Design and deliver highly advanced, customer- and industry-specific technical and business demos.
- Build and tailor demos that showcase real workflows, data flows, and AI outcomes-not just product features.
- Work hands-on with product, engineering, and forward deployment teams to create compelling demonstrations for strategic accounts.
- Use demos as a strategic tool to accelerate executive alignment and deal velocity.
Accelerating Customer AI Velocity - Articulate how the platform, services, and advisory offerings increase velocity across the AI lifecycle.
- Help customers move faster from ambition to production and scaled outcomes.
- Clearly connect architectural decisions to business KPIs such as revenue growth, efficiency, risk reduction, and customer experience.
Revenue & Strategic Opportunity Engagement - Partner closely with the CRO, sales leadership, and account teams on strategic, high-impact opportunities.
- Engage selectively in deals where:
- Architectural complexity is high
- Executive alignment is required
- AI platform differentiation is a deciding factor
- Provide executive credibility and architectural assurance in late-stage evaluations.
Services, Advisory & Delivery Alignment - Coordinate closely with Customer Success, Professional Services, Forward Deployment, and AI Advisory teams.
- Clearly articulate the value proposition of AI advisory and services as accelerators of customer outcomes.
- Ensure continuity from executive vision through deployment and expansion.
Product & Roadmap Influence - Act as a critical feedback loop from the field into product and engineering.
- Translate customer architectural needs and outcome gaps into actionable roadmap input.
- Pressure-test product direction against real-world enterprise requirements.
Role Clarity: How This Differs from Adjacent Roles Field CTO vs. SE Leader - SEs focus on deal execution and technical validation.
- The Field CTO focuses on executive architecture vision, platform strategy, and AI acceleration.
- The Field CTO is engaged selectively in strategic opportunities, not every deal.
Field CTO vs. Forward Deployment (FDE) Leader - FDEs focus on implementation and delivery.
- The Field CTO focuses on pre-deployment architecture, vision, and executive alignment, remaining engaged through key milestones.
Field CTO vs. AI Consulting / Advisory Leader - Consulting focuses on delivery of services engagements.
- The Field CTO focuses on platform strategy, architecture, and long-term AI foundation, positioning services as enablers-not owners-of success.
Account & Opportunity Attachment Engagement Criteria The Field CTO is attached to:
- Strategic enterprise accounts
- Large or transformational opportunities
- Deals with complex data and AI architectures
- Customers requiring executive-level technical alignment
Scope of Engagement - Starts: Early to mid-sales cycle, when platform architecture and AI strategy must be established with executives.
- Ends: After executive alignment is achieved and architectural direction is clear; may re-engage at major expansion or roadmap milestones.
What We're Looking For Required Experience - 15+ years in senior technology leadership roles with deep data and AI architecture expertise.
- Recent experience in a software or AI platform company.
- Proven success in highly technical, customer-facing executive roles (Field CTO, Chief Architect, Distinguished Engineer, or equivalent).
- Demonstrated ability to design and deliver advanced, hands-on demos.
Preferred Background - Former technical end user (CIO, CDO, architect, engineering leader) who has built and operated data or AI systems.
- Experience scaling AI from pilots to enterprise-wide production.
- Strong exposure to enterprise or regulated industries.
Core Skills & Attributes - Executive presence with C-suite credibility.
- Exceptional ability to explain complex architecture in business terms.
- Hands-on technical depth; not an ivory-tower role.
- Strong public speaking and storytelling skills.
- Strategic mindset focused on velocity, scale, and outcomes.
Why Join Us - Shape how enterprises architect and scale AI.
- Influence platform direction through direct executive engagement.
- Operate at the highest-impact intersection of architecture, AI, and revenue.
- Serve as a visible ambassador of the company's AI vision.
Benefits: In addition to competitive base pay, this position also includes an annual incentive opportunity based on target achievement, pre-IPO stock options, benefits including medical, dental, vision, 401(k) with a match, and more, plus generous paid time off, paid holidays, paid day off for your birthday and other paid leave policies to support employees through all phases of life.
Location preference:USA - CA - Palo Alto
