Technical Co-Founder / CTO — Hands-On Startup Leader

InovativAI is looking for an experienced, entrepreneurial, and deeply hands-on Technical Co-Founder / CTO to lead the next stage of our journey.We have built an advanced PoC for an AI-enabled airline passenger, crew, and cabin-experience platform. Nexora combines multilingual AI, live captioning and translation, real-time communications, passenger and crew applications. We are preparing for our first airline test and potential pilot with a major European airline. Nearly ten other major airlines have expressed interest in following the outcome and evaluating Nexora once the first successful airline engagement is established.This is a rare opportunity to join at an inflection point: the product and market momentum exist, but InovativAI now needs an experienced technical leader to turn an ambitious advanced PoC into an independently validated, secure, reliable, and pilot-ready platform.We have started collaborating with the University of Alberta’s Computing Science community and several AI and CS full professors showed interest supporting us.The opportunityWe need someone who can move comfortably between strategy and implementation: reviewing architecture in the morning, examining code and infrastructure in the afternoon, interviewing an engineer, and explaining an important technical risk to the founder or an airline stakeholder.The successful candidate will initially lead an independent technical review and help establish the most responsible path from the current PoC to a controlled airline pilot. Subject to mutual fit, the relationship is intended to develop into a CTO position / long-term Technical Co-Founder.Mandatory qualifications — must haveApplicants should meet all or nearly all of the following requirements:Previous experience as a CTO, Technical Co-Founder, VP/Head of Engineering, Principal Architect, or an equivalent senior technical leader.Meaningful startup or scale-up experience.A strong entrepreneurial mindset and genuine interest in building a company—not only managing a software department.A proven record of designing, building, deploying, and operating production software systems.The willingness and ability to remain hands-on: reading and writing code, reviewing pull requests, running tests, examining logs, troubleshooting systems, and inspecting infrastructure.Strong architecture experience with complex web, cloud, API, data, and distributed or real-time systems.Production-level experience in Python and backend application development. Experience with Django or a comparable mature backend framework is expected.Strong working knowledge of modern TypeScript/JavaScript applications, React, Next.js, or comparable frontend technologies.Strong experience with relational databases—particularly PostgreSQL—and caching or realtime data technologies such as Redis.Strong cloud architecture and operations experience, preferably on GCP or with clearly transferable AWS/Azure expertise.Practical experience with Docker, infrastructure as code, CI/CD, automated testing, observability, secrets management, and secure release processes.Experience designing secure multi-tenant systems, authentication and authorization, privacy controls, auditability, and data-isolation safeguards.Experience hiring, mentoring, and leading senior engineers and multidisciplinary technical teams.Particularly important leadership qualitiesYou are a builder, not only an advisor.You are comfortable inheriting a substantial AI-assisted codebase and evaluating it objectively.You can simplify complexity without destabilizing a time-sensitive product.You make evidence-based decisions and do not confuse code volume with product maturity.You can operate with urgency without compromising professional engineering judgement.You enjoy turning an ambitious founder vision into a credible technical and commercial execution plan.You want to help build a globally relevant company from an early and consequential stage.Any of the following would add significant value:Airline, aviation, airport, inflight entertainment and connectivity, cabin systems, passenger experience, or airline operations experience.Aircraft-edge computing, embedded Linux, intermittent-connectivity systems, offline synchronization, secure device management, or hardware-software integration.Speech-to-text, machine translation, text-to-speech, multilingual AI, NLP, RAG, LLM evaluation, or AI safety and guardrails.Accessibility, RTL/localization, human factors, safety-sensitive user experience, or emergency communication systems.Experience in other regulated or safety-sensitive fields, including healthcare, fintech, telecommunications, transportation, automotive, industrial systems, or defence.Experience preparing a technology company for enterprise diligence, airline evaluation, controlled pilots, fundraising, strategic partnerships, or acquisition.We particularly welcome applications from:Former or current startup CTOs or technical co-founders ready for their next major challenge.Principal or Staff-level engineers who have already operated with CTO-level responsibility.Engineering leaders who miss building and want to return to a deeply hands-on role.Experienced founders who understand that early-stage leadership requires architecture, coding, recruiting, customer interaction, and resilience.Leaders motivated by aviation, AI, accessibility, global travel, and the opportunity to create a new category of passenger and crew technology.Engagement and locationRole: Technical Co-Founder / CTOStage: Advanced PoC entering airline-pilot preparationLocation: Edmonton / Hybrid / RemoteCommitment: Full-time preferred / initial fractional-to-full-time transitionCompensation: NegotiableEquity: Meaningful co-founder equity may be considered, subject to experience, commitment, contribution, vesting, due diligence, and mutual agreement.Apply through LinkedIn or email your application to info@inovativai.com with the subject:Technical Co-Founder / CTO — NexoraPlease send:Your résumé or LinkedIn profileA short introduction explaining why Nexora interests youExamples of startups, platforms, or production systems you have personally helped build and operateYour experience as a CTO, technical co-founder, principal engineer, or engineering leaderYour current location, availability, and preferred level of commitmentA brief description of how you would approach the first 30 days of independently reviewing an AI-assisted, multi-application software platformIf you have built difficult systems, led through uncertainty, and want your next chapter to combine AI, aviation, global opportunity, and company-building, we would like to hear from you.