Forward Deployed CTO

Tribe AI

11d•$300,000 - $450,000

About The Position

The Forward Deployed CTO is a field executive who owns the technical transformation of a focused portfolio of enterprise clients — and uses that work to build something lasting for Tribe. This isn't a delivery management role. You're not running status meetings or coordinating handoffs. You're the person a Fortune 500 CTO calls when they need to make a consequential decision about AI, and you're also the person building the methodology that makes Tribe's delivery consistently excellent across every account. You'll own 1–2 high-stakes client engagements deeply — setting technical direction, leading cross-functional teams, and holding the bar on what ships. In parallel, you'll translate what you learn in the field into reusable Tribe IP: architecture patterns, evaluation frameworks, deployment playbooks. That internal work is as central to the role as the client work. This is the role for a technical founder-operator who wants to drive transformation at scale without taking all the startup risk.

Requirements

12+ years of engineering experience with deep expertise in AI/ML and production systems.
You've founded a company or built a 0-to-1 product as a technical lead. You know what it means to own an outcome, not just a workstream.
Strong command of the modern AI stack: LLMs, agentic frameworks, RAG, vector infrastructure, cloud deployment, and evaluation pipelines.
Background in client-facing or consulting engineering where delivery accountability was real — not advisory.
Executive presence: you can hold a room with a Fortune 500 CTO and earn trust in the first conversation.
You think in systems and patterns. You see what's reusable across client problems before anyone else does.
Comfortable managing ambiguity across high-stakes accounts without losing track of what matters.

Responsibilities

Own technical delivery across a focused portfolio of 1–2 enterprise accounts — setting direction, managing risk, and holding the standard on outcomes.
Act as the senior technical partner for C-suite stakeholders: translate business problems into architectural decisions and make those decisions defensible.
Guide clients through the hardest AI transformation decisions — when to automate, when to augment, how to govern, and how to scale what's working.
Be the person clients call when something is critical or when they need a strategic perspective, not just a project update.
Build reusable Tribe IP from your client work: architecture patterns, evaluation frameworks, deployment playbooks, and tooling that raises the floor for every FDE team.
Develop Tribe's point of view in your domain — whether that's healthcare, financial services, supply chain, or another vertical you know deeply.
Spot what's generalizable before anyone else does. The best FD-CTOs don't just solve one client's problem — they solve it in a way that makes the next engagement faster and sharper.
Hire, develop, and retain FD Engineers, Architects, and PMs across your accounts.
Create conditions for your teams to do their best work — clear scope, the right tools, and air cover to move fast.
Run 1:1s and performance conversations that actually accelerate people's growth, not just check the box.