Founding Technical Lead / CTO

NuboVault is an ambitious, next-generation cloud management and optimization platform. Our mission is to centralize a user’s entire fragmented digital footprint—including cloud storage providers (Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox), local devices, and address books—into a single, passwordless, unified dashboard.We have successfully built a comprehensive 82-page, clickable visual prototype that validates our concept and user experience. Now, we are preparing for our strict Q3/Q4 sprint to transition this prototype into an elite, production-ready Minimum Viable Product (MVP). Because NuboVault sells foundational digital trust (zero-knowledge architecture and passwordless security), we are hiring our founding engineering leader to architect the technical bedrock of the global platform before scaling the core team. Location: On-site (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia)Role Type: Full-time (Founding Executive Team)Reporting To: Founder & CEO (Non-Technical) The Mandate: Your First 30 DaysYou will not be dropped straight into a vacuum of writing random feature code. You are being brought in to hold total technical accountability, de-risk the build, and establish absolute technical truth for the venture. Your first month is governed by a strict, week-by-week architectural roadmap: Week 1 (Ground Truth): Audit the 82-page interactive prototype. Map the necessary API integrations, rate limits, and authentication flows for our initial target cloud providers. Build a transparent register pinpointing our top 5 technical risks. Week 2 (The Security Blueprint): Define and document our core encryption, zero-knowledge mechanics, and key-management model. Finalize our build-vs-buy decisions for infrastructure and map out our independent, pre-launch external security audit. Week 3 (Team Topography & Backlog): Ruthlessly cut the prototype down to a lean MVP backlog. Advise the founder on exact staffing needs—leveraging modern AI-accelerated workflows to determine if we truly need our projected 3-developer team, or a leaner, hyper-optimized alternative. Week 4 (The Vertical Slice): Deliver a functioning, thin end-to-end code slice (e.g., connecting a single provider, indexing metadata, and securely displaying records) to prove your chosen architecture functions flawlessly in production. Present your final cost/burn analysis to align with our upcoming pre-seed capital raise. Core Responsibilities & Expertise NeededSecurity & Encryption Architecture: Deep, practical expertise implementing secure token-handling pipelines, OAuth 2.0 protocols at scale, and zero-knowledge encryption patterns (AES-256, TLS 1.3). You must know how to build a passwordless authentication loop that is ironclad yet user-friendly. Data Structure Optimization: Ability to design background multi-threaded parsing tools and high-performance, hash-based deduplication engines capable of scanning thousands of cloud and local device directories securely without lag. Engineering Leadership & Interviewing: You will establish our internal coding standards, repo policies, and automated deployment pipelines. You will actively lead the technical screening, testing, and interviewing workflows for the full-stack and mobile engineers we onboard post-Month 1. AI-Augmented Velocity Control: Deep comfort using AI development agents to maximize velocity, combined with the unyielding commitment that no security-critical or data-handling code ships without rigorous, senior human review. Capabilities & CredentialsExperience: 5+ years of software engineering experience, preferably having served as a Tech Lead, Principal Engineer, or Founding Developer at a high-growth SaaS startup, cybersecurity company, or VC-backed venture.The Tech Stack: We value architectural wisdom over specific syntax loyalty. In your first 2 weeks, you will make the official call on our core stack. You should have a proven track record deploying highly scalable backends (e.g., Node.js, Go, or Python) paired with robust, modern frontends and database structures. Mindset: Radical candor and engineering integrity. We value early bad news over hidden defects. You must be comfortable translating complex engineering compromises into clear business choices for a non-technical founder. What We Offer (Compensation & ESOP)We are moving with extreme discipline to optimize our capital runway before closing our institutional pre-seed investment round. We compensate our founding team with elite equity upside.Monthly Stipend/Salary: Fixed monthly retainer/stipend tailored to your location and seniority level, designed to comfortably support you through our pre-seed phase.Executive ESOP Allocation: Generous Founding Team Equity Allocation (2.5% to 5.0% depending on experience and structural alignment), executed under a protective Delaware C-Corp stock option plan with a standard 4-year vesting timeline and a 1-year cliff. You will possess significant, direct ownership of the global asset you are helping architect.