Chief Technology Officer Offline

Position: Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

Location: Remote, requires at least 4 hours overlap with UTC+2 timezone
Reports To: CEO, PhishFort
Team Leadership: Engineering, Product, Threat Intelligence

Role Overview

The CTO at PhishFort will shape and execute the technical vision to combat phishing and online fraud at scale. This role requires a forward-thinking leader who can recruit and develop distributed teams, steer the product roadmap, and harness the latest developments in machine learning—particularly Large Language Models (LLMs)—to drive innovation and maintain a competitive edge.

Key Outcomes

1. Cutting-Edge Product Strategy – Develop a clear technology roadmap, including advanced AI/ML and LLM-based approaches that align with PhishFort’s mission.
2. High-Performance Teams – Build, scale, and mentor globally distributed engineering teams, fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
3. Product & Threat Intelligence Innovation – Use LLMs, ML, and emerging tools to create sophisticated threat detection capabilities and brand protection features.
4. Platform Reliability & Security – Ensure enterprise-grade availability, security, and compliance, preventing malicious attacks on client brands.
5. Strategic Alignment – Collaborate cross-functionally (sales, product, operations) to translate technical advancements into tangible market advantages.

Responsibilities

1. Team Building & Leadership
   • Recruit, hire, and coach high-caliber engineers across multiple regions.
   • Champion an open, inclusive culture that balances rapid experimentation with operational excellence.
   • Implement agile and DevOps practices, ensuring efficient development cycles and strong communication, especially with the South African engineering base.
2. Technical Strategy & Architecture
   • Define and maintain a multi-year technical roadmap, embedding cutting-edge technologies like LLMs and advanced analytics to anticipate and neutralize phishing threats.
   • Oversee infrastructure decisions (cloud platforms, microservices, containers) to ensure cost-effective, scalable solutions.
   • Stay current on emerging innovations (e.g., GPT-based threat analysis, next-gen data pipelines) to drive PhishFort’s competitive differentiation.
3. Product Development & AI Innovation
   • Collaborate with product management to design and prioritize features, leveraging AI-driven threat detection, automated takedowns, and domain monitoring.
   • Integrate LLM and ML-based solutions into core products, exploring automated pattern recognition, suspicious domain classification, and real-time threat analysis.
   • Guide the R&D efforts for novel approaches to phishing detection and brand protection, evaluating open-source and proprietary technologies.
4. Security & Compliance
   • Implement and continually update security best practices (e.g., DevSecOps, SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR compliance).
   • Coordinate regular security audits and vulnerability assessments, embedding continuous security checks into the software lifecycle.
   • Work closely with internal and external security experts to proactively fortify the platform against evolving threats.
5. Stakeholder Management & Communication
   • Collaborate with the CEO and other executives to align technical strategies with business objectives, revenue goals, and client needs.
   • Communicate complex AI/ML and LLM-driven initiatives to diverse audiences, including investors, customers, and non-technical teams.
   • Represent PhishFort at industry events, showcasing thought leadership and forging strategic partnerships in cybersecurity.

Qualifications

1. AI/ML & LLM Expertise
   • Demonstrable experience with AI/ML frameworks (TensorFlow, PyTorch, or similar) and a track record of incorporating large-scale models (including LLMs) into production.
   • Familiarity with advanced threat detection techniques and how to leverage generative AI for phishing prevention, text analysis, and brand protection use cases.
2. Proven Team Builder
   • History of hiring, developing, and leading distributed technical teams, with a focus on maximizing productivity and retention.
   • Skilled at instilling best practices around testing, deployment, and continuous learning.
3. Cybersecurity & Threat Intelligence
   • 8+ years of leadership in software engineering or security, with at least 4+ years in a Director/CTO/VP Engineering capacity.
   • Demonstrated understanding of phishing tactics, brand protection challenges, and network security fundamentals.
4. Technical & Operational Leadership
   • Proficiency with cloud environments (AWS, GCP, or Azure), container orchestration (Kubernetes), and data pipeline tooling.
   • Experience implementing agile/DevOps methodologies, CI/CD, and high-availability architectures.
5. Business & Communication Skills
   • Ability to translate complex technical strategies into actionable business solutions with measurable ROI.
   • Strong presentation and collaboration skills, capable of aligning engineering efforts with market requirements.
   • Comfortable operating within EU time zones to ensure tight collaboration with teams in South Africa and globally.