Technical Lead / Founder

Creativedock is building a portfolio of new ventures with our client, spanning manufacturing quality, production, data infrastructure, automation, and supply chain provenance. A discovery phase has mapped 16 investable concepts across 5 strategic themes — each with its own venture thesis and market/regulatory clock.We are recruiting founding leadership to take one of these concepts from validation and pilot to a fundable, scalable business. As Founder, you will own the technical direction and build from the first prototype through scale, partnering directly with a Founder/ Product Lead and backed by Creativedock's venture-building team and client's industrial network.What You'll DoTechnical Architecture: Define and own the technical architecture, adjusting as constraints clarify.Engineering Leadership: Build and lead the early engineering effort—hiring when appropriate, building hands-on when needed.Stack & Tooling Strategy: Make pragmatic build-vs-buy decisions balancing speed against long-term flexibility.Customer Pilot Validation: Validate technology directly with pilot customers, working alongside plant engineers and IT/OT teams in real production environments.Security & Compliance: Ensure solutions are secure, scalable, and compliant—including data privacy and OT-specific security considerations for factory systems.Investment Gate Diligence: Own technical due diligence at each gate, translating technical risks and progress for the steering board.Co-Founder Partnership: Collaborate closely with the Founder on product roadmaps, sequencing, and engineering resource allocation.What You Could Be BuildingConcepts are matched to your background and conviction during the recruitment process. Technical surface areas across the current portfolio include:Computer Vision & Applied ML: Catching defects, damage, or quality issues from sensor and image data in manufacturing environments.Industrial Data Platforms & Integration: Unifying data across shop-floor and enterprise systems (MES, PLC, ERP, LIMS) while securing against OT-specific threats.Real-time & Predictive Software: Optimizing production scheduling, inventory, and capacity-matching decisions.Robotics & Automation: Control software, connectors, and orchestration for flexible, modular production equipment.Traceability & Provenance Systems: Verifying and recording product journeys from raw material to the field.Note: You do not need experience across all domains—a strong pattern of architecting/shipping 0-to-1 technical products and rapid domain acquisition is what matters most.What We're Looking For0-to-1 Track Record: Proven experience taking a product from prototype to production as a technical founder or lead.Hands-on Depth: Current coding and architecture experience—this is an active builder's role, especially in early stages.Domain Expertise: Experience in at least one key domain (e.g., CV/ML, industrial data integration, IoT/OT systems, robotics, enterprise data platforms).Pragmatic Mindset: Lean build instincts focused on shipping early, learning, and iterating quickly.Communication & Leadership: Ability to translate technical trade-offs to non-technical stakeholders/investors and act as a full partner in product decisions.Languages: Fluent English; German is a plus.Nice to HaveExperience in manufacturing, industrial, or OT-connected environments.Exposure to securing OT/industrial systems.Production experience with robotics or applied computer vision.Previous experience as a startup CTO or technical co-founder.What We OfferFounder Equity: A meaningful founder stake in the venture you build with real upside.Venture Support: Dedicated methodology, coaching, operating capital, and proven build processes from validation through launch.Network: Direct access to clients as a design partner, pilot site, and engineering sounding board.True Founding Journey: The opportunity to build a company from scratch, rather than joining an existing entity.