Interim CTO / Principal Engineer – Product Modernization Embedded Role

At Speed & Function, we build custom software and the high-trust teams that power it. We are currently deploying a senior engineering leader into a high-leverage, transitional role inside a growing SaaS company in the higher ed marketing space.

This is not a routine “full stack” job. It is a technical leadership embed with a dual focus: modernizing a production platform (Rails + React) and helping stabilize and uplift an engineering team in the midst of architectural change, team re-alignment, and leadership turnover.

If you have led a product through messy scaling, served as a startup CTO, or stabilized a fragile team post-founder transition, this may be one of the most meaningful opportunities you’ll see this year.

🧭 Context:

The client is a US-based SaaS company offering a specialized CRM for universities and colleges. Their platform is actively used and revenue-generating, but the codebase is overburdened, the infrastructure is uneven, and the founding architect is stepping away.

CIO leads transformation. You will be Speed & Function’s embedded technical leader, placed inside this ecosystem to help stabilize delivery, guide architectural decisions, and support the team in shifting from reactive work to more intentional systems.

You won’t just be writing code. You’ll be leading quietly, structurally, and relationally—helping shape what comes next.

🔨 What You’ll Actually Do:

• Lead platform modernization alongside client stakeholders: refactoring legacy Rails code, introducing modular patterns, optimizing cloud infrastructure, improving observability, and addressing performance bottlenecks.
• Participate in and influence a cross-cutting architectural review, including monolith decomposition, data ingestion flows, QA coverage, and AWS right-sizing.
• Act as mentor and stabilizer to the client’s existing mid-level engineers, without dominating them.
• Translate between product vision, delivery constraints, and technical decisions - partnering closely with the client’s CIO.

• Represent Speed & Function as a trusted engineering advisor embedded into a complex moment.

   

✅ What We’re Looking For:

• 5+ years of experience building and leading complex web applications (Rails + React).
• Experience serving as a startup CTO, Staff+ engineer, or lead architect in high-growth environments.
• Proven track record of stabilizing and evolving technical teams in real-world production systems.
• Ability to read organizational dynamics - not just code. You earn trust through presence, clarity, and follow-through.

• Strong written and verbal communication. Able to hold your own with technical and business leaders alike.

   

👤 Who You Are:

• You’ve led teams through ambiguity, not just scale.
• You care as much about team culture as infrastructure.
• You know when to ask “why” - and how to ask it in a way that creates alignment, not friction.

• You’re energized by turning entropy into architecture - and by helping others succeed without always needing credit.

   

🤝 Engagement Details:

• Start: Early September (client’s transition window is live)
• Mode: Full-time or part-time via Speed & Function
• Location: Remote. Must have 4+ hours of overlap with US Eastern Time
• Initial Term: 3-6 months, with possible extensions based on roadmap
  
   

To Apply:

 

Send your resume or LinkedIn and a short note on how you’ve helped a system or team evolve - technically, culturally, or both. Bonus for founder stories, architectural war stories, or examples of change-making without formal power.