Founding Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

Modern Government Solutions•Raleigh, NC

5d•Remote

About The Position

Modern Government Solutions (MGS) is conducting a confidential executive search on behalf of a venture-backed defense technology partner seeking its Founding Chief Technology Officer. The client's identity is withheld at this stage and will be shared with qualified, pre-screened candidates under a non-disclosure agreement. All inquiries are handled discreetly through MGS. Our client is an early-stage, venture-backed company building advanced hardware, sensing, and autonomous systems for defense and national security customers. In a short time the company has moved from concept to field-validated technology, secured early government agreements, and attracted institutional investment. The next phase is about converting proven prototypes into rugged, mission-ready products at production scale, and that mission defines this role. This is a founding executive seat with meaningful equity and outsized influence over the company's technical direction. It is a builder's role, not a research role: you will lead the teams that design, prototype, manufacture, deploy, and continuously improve products that protect the people who use them.

Requirements

15+ years of hands-on engineering leadership, including taking hardware products from concept through production.
Deep, current expertise across machine learning and edge AI, robotics or autonomous systems, and embedded platforms; a leader equally at home in the machine shop and the boardroom.
A track record of scaling: standing up manufacturing or contract-manufacturing at volume, and building an engineering organization from a handful of people to twenty-plus who would follow you again.
Builder's temperament: comfortable making decisions with incomplete information, hands-on in early-stage development, and driven by mission over title.
U.S. citizenship required, with the ability to obtain and maintain a Top Secret clearance (TS/SCI eligibility preferred; an active clearance is a plus), due to federal contract and export-control (ITAR) obligations.

Nice To Haves

Military or aerospace systems experience is a strong plus.
Advanced degree in engineering, computer science, robotics, physics, or a related field preferred - though a record of shipped products outweighs academic credentials.

Responsibilities

Technology vision & roadmap. Partner with the CEO and COO to translate customer and operational needs into a multi-year technology strategy, and build the engineering organization to deliver it.
AI/ML and edge AI. Lead model development and MLOps for inference that runs on low-power hardware, offline and in degraded environments; not cloud-dependent enterprise AI.
Robotics & autonomy. Direct development of autonomous and embedded systems that operate in GPS-denied and communications-denied conditions.
Hardware & embedded engineering. Oversee electrical, mechanical, embedded, and systems engineering through ruggedization and environmental (MIL-STD-class) testing.
Prototype-to-production. Own the transition from prototype to scalable manufacturing; design for manufacturability, supply-chain qualification, quality and production-test systems, and production scale-up.
Engineering leadership & culture. Recruit and develop an elite, multidisciplinary engineering team, and set an execution culture built on speed, ownership, and mission focus.