Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for EU startup

Our partner is a fast-growing European FinTech & MediaTech startup building a next-generation financial planning platform for project-based industries. With market traction and active business users, they are now scaling their engineering leadership to build a category-defining product. Join them as a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and shape the technical future of a real-time financial operating system.

Whom are we looking for – Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

Location: Poland, Germany & the EU

Brief company description

We are building the financial engine of the modern project and production stack – a high-performance, browser-based system for real-time financial modeling, forecasting, and collaboration. The foundation comes from a proven Excel-based budgeting system that became an industry standard, used by 300+ companies in media and entertainment. The mission now is to rebuild and scale this into a real-time, multi-user financial operating system – fast, visual, scalable, and built for the next decade. This is a high-ownership, high-impact CTO role in a company with real traction, real users, and deep technical challenges.

Why is it worth joining this company?

1. Build the financial layer of the future – We are creating a next-generation financial engine for modern product stacks – designed for humans, not spreadsheets, and built to scale into an era of AI agents and autonomous systems.
2. Work in a fast, creative, and exciting industry. Our customers operate in media and entertainment – a high-speed, dynamic, and fun environment with ambitious teams and zero corporate boredom.
3. Start with momentum, not from zero. We already have a proven foundation, active users, and real market validation – meaning you join a running engine, not an empty roadmap.

Chief Technology Officer (CTO) – Key Responsibilities

1. High-Performance Frontend Architecture

• You will own the performance of our React SPA, specifically regarding large-scale data presentation.
• Tree Virtualization: Architect algorithms to flatten deeply nested data into performant, virtualized list views (DOM-based).
• Performance: Ensure 60fps scrolling for thousands of items using memoization & virtualization.
• State Management: Architect granular Valtio state solutions to prevent expensive re-renders across the tree.

• You will maintain and evolve a Node.js backend designed for complexity and speed.
• Data Modeling: Manage complex budget structures and migrations in PostgreSQL using Prisma and raw SQL.
• Real-Time Systems: Architect and maintain WebSocket and Redis implementations to enable live, multi-user collaboration on budget flows.

• You will maintain our existing stack, ensuring smooth delivery from Local to Production without rebuilding operations.
• Cloud Health: Oversee the health of our current AWS infrastructure (CDK) and RDS databases.
• Pipeline Stewardship: Keep GitLab CI/CD pipelines green and efficient, troubleshooting occasional build issues.
• Containerization: Maintain Docker setups to keep environments running smoothly.

Chief Technology Officer (CTO) – Main requirements 

• Startup experience and founder mindset – You’ve built things from scratch, owned projects end-to-end, and think like an entrepreneur. You’re not just here to build a product; you’re here to help build the company. We don’t work in silos — it’s crucial to understand our domain, our customers’ problems, and how we solve them. You think beyond code and care about the bigger picture.
• Speed – You turn ideas into shipped features in days, not weeks, and thrive in a fast-moving environment. We are not waiting for the next weekly, we jump on a huddle and ship.
• Curiosity and continuous learning – You have a deep curiosity about how things work and how they could work better. You’re not just focused on technology but also on business, customers, and what makes startups succeed. You see every challenge as an opportunity to learn, grow, and push beyond what you already know.
• Boldness to step outside your comfort zone – You take on challenges that stretch your abilities, experiment without hesitation, and embrace the unknown.
• Full-stack mastery with modern TypeScript stack – You can own entire features from backend to frontend.
• Track record of maintaining large codebases with growing teams – You write scalable, maintainable code and have experience with long-term tech decisions.
• Experience with React and Node.js – You can build and ship high-quality web applications.
• Excellent taste in product and UI design – You have a strong sense of what makes a great user experience and care about the details.
• Comfortable talking to customers – You’re not afraid to jump on a call, understand their needs, and get direct feedback.
• Genuine passion for AI tools of the future – You’ve likely built something with LLMs just for fun or to solve a real problem.
• React Proficiency: Proven experience with complex React applications, performance profiling, and optimization (memoization, virtualization).
• Backend Experience: Experience with Node.js and relational databases (PostgreSQL).
• DevOps Literacy: Comfortable with Docker, Docker Compose, and CI/CD configurations.

Nice to have:

• Background in building collaborative multi-user applications (with Yjs).
• Experience with Valtio for proxy-based state management.
• Experience with TanStack Query (React Query).
• Experience with AWS CDK or CloudFormation.
• Custom UI design systems/components
• Realtime collaborative features using Websockets, tRPC, YJS etc.

Chief Technology Officer (CTO) – What is in it for you?

• Attractive Equity package: 25–35% ownership potential depending on involvement and seniority
• Salary on top of the equity: 12,000–15,000 PLN/month on B2B (can be a bit higher for exceptional candidates). Salary will progress accordingly to company’s growth.
• Founder-level influence: Shape the product, team, and technical direction
• Remote-first flexibility with optional hybrid work in Poland / EU
• High-impact mission: Build a system designed to become a long-term industry standard
• Opportunity to build a product used by hundreds (and soon thousands) of companies

The Next Step for you:

Is it a new challenge for you? If you want to become a valuable part of this project, please apply via the contact form below.

Itentio IT Recruitment privacy and equal opportunity statements:

By submitting the recruitment application, you consent to the processing of your personal data contained therein. The controller of your personal data is Vladyslav Muzhylivskyi operating under the business name Vladyslav Muzhylivskyi Itentio with its registered office in Kraków (Tax ID: 6751522794). Personal data will be processed in order to carry out the recruitment process for the position specified in the job offer, including for the purpose of assessing the qualifications for work in this position. You can withdraw your consent at any time, which, however, does not affect the legality of the processing that was carried out on its basis before its withdrawal. You have the right to request access to your data, to rectify it, delete it or limit its processing, as well as the right to transfer your personal data, the right to object to data processing and the right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority for the protection of personal data. Additional information on the processing of personal data is in our Privacy Policy available at https://itentio.com/privacy-policy/.

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