Co-Founder & CTO

The Opportunitytofounders is one of the founding products of an AI research lab based in Rouen, France, established in 2026. The lab's mission is to research and build AI systems capable of decision-making, proficient enough to be deployed in high-stakes, judgment-heavy processes, starting with innovation paradigms and venture-building, and expanding from there.Problem and solution validation for tofounders are underway, with early interest from experts, institutions, and universities across Europe and Asia. The next phase is building the product and the research engine behind it in parallel and we're looking for the person who wants to lead that build as a Co-founder, not an employee.The Venturetofounders is an AI infrastructure for early-stage founders and academic incubators, enabling them to innovate with AI across the full journey, from theory formation to product management, without needing to prompt-engineer their way through disconnected tools.Today, founders juggle a dozen AI tools that don't share context and don't understand the entrepreneurial process. tofounders helps early-stage founders and incubators to move from an idea to a validated product without friction and without needing to already be technical or experienced.The PartnershipLet's be direct: this is not an employment contract, at least not until we raise funds. What we're offering is an opportunity, for someone genuinely passionate about startups and building great products to help build one from the ground up, as a founder.There is no investment required from you. Your level of passion for startups and building innovative products matters more to us than your years of experience. In return for the commitment and contributions, we offer a meaningful percentage of equity, along with the promise of a formal employment contract once we raise funds and mutually agree it's the right fit going forward.What You'll OwnAs Co-Founder & CTO, you will lead the research, write the first lines of production code, set the technical direction, and lead execution end-to-end. (You won't be doing this alone. We already have a team of junior & senior engineers and researchers ready to execute with you.)Architecture & Reliability: Design the core technical architecture of tofounders, and set the standards for reliability, observability, and quality as we move from early product to scaled infrastructureResearch Contribution: Drive original research alongside the lab, contributing to how we approach AI-assisted decision-making in high-stakes, judgment-heavy processes like venture-buildingModel Fine-Tuning & Training Signals: Lead the design of new types of training signals and use them to fine-tune models that get better at structured, entrepreneurial reasoning over timeProduct & Technical Roadmap: Translate research progress into shipped product features, and own the technical roadmap across both tofounders and the research labTeam: Lead and grow the founding engineering team, including the engineers & researchers already in place, and set the technical culture of the companyCustomer & Market: Represent the technical vision of tofounders to institutions, universities, and future investorsCo-Founder ProfileGenuinely excited about leading the technical and research side of an AI-first startup, not just shipping features, but pushing on real questions in applied AI and decision-making systemsStrong fundamentals in AI/ML, software engineering, and system architecture, with the ability to go from research idea to production codeComfortable operating with ambiguity, and confident enough to say "this isn't ready" or "this won't scale" when it mattersInterested in or (preferably) already experienced with fine-tuning models, working with structured/HITL training data, or applied NLPGenuine interest in entrepreneurship and the founder journey; you don't need a business background, but you should care about the missionNice to have (not required):Published research in AI/ML or a related fieldPrior startup or founding experience, technical or otherwiseNo formal work experience is fine, if your passion and demonstrated ability (projects, research, open-source, hackathons) speak for themselves, we want to hear from youHow to ApplySubmit your CV, and we'll get back to you with a short form to get to know you a little better before we schedule a call to discuss details.If you believe there's something more interesting about you that we should know, email us directly at team@tofounders.com, so we skip the initial screening and get on a call.