About the role
As CTO, you will own the full technical direction of Rankad. This is a founding team position, which means you will not be joining a company that already has its architecture figured out. You will define it. You will build the systems that allow us to autonomously monitor, analyze, and influence how AI models cite and recommend brands at scale.
You will work directly with the CEO and the rest of the founding team. The decisions you make in the first year will shape everything that comes after. We are looking for someone who enjoys that kind of responsibility and operates well with high autonomy.
The technical problems are real and unsolved. How AI models crawl and ingest brand content, how our agents intervene in that cycle, and how we measure causal impact on citation rates are open questions we are actively working through. You will own those answers.
Job description
Define and own the technical architecture of the Rankad platform, from AI agent infrastructure to data pipelines to client-facing APIs
Lead backend and AI systems development, including our crawler log ingestion pipeline, LLM integration layer, and optimization engine
Build and grow the engineering team, including hiring and mentoring developers as the company scales
Work closely with the CEO and CMO to translate product vision into technical roadmap and ship fast
Make infrastructure decisions that balance speed, reliability, and the ability to move quickly in a fast-changing AI landscape
Contribute to product strategy, investor conversations, and the overall direction of the company
Minimum requirements
5 or more years of experience in software engineering or a technical leadership role
Strong backend fundamentals and experience designing scalable, production-grade systems
Hands-on experience building AI-powered products or working with large language models in a product context
A track record of leading or growing an engineering team, even a small one
Comfort operating in an early-stage environment where the spec changes and speed matters
Fluent in English. Swedish is a plus but not required
Benefits
Equity
Meaningful co-founder level equity in a fast-growing AI startup with a clear funding path
Salary
Competitive base tied to funding milestones, with a clear commitment from day one
Remote setup
Flexible remote work from anywhere in Sweden. No micromanagement, no pointless standups
Real ownership
This is not a senior IC role with a CTO title. You will own the technical direction entirely