Chief Technology Officer (CTO) (gn) @ DefenceTech Ve...

AboutHI

We're building the future of autonomous maritime systems, technology that's already deployed and operating in some of the world's most demanding environments. Our AI-powered platform works across everything from commercial vessels to defense applications, combining advanced perception, embedded intelligence, and robust hardware into solutions that actually ship.

We're a European deep tech company that's moved beyond the prototype phase. We've proven that our technology works in the real world, secured early customers, and now we're scaling fast. Think dozens of deployments this year, hundreds next year, and a technical foundation that's attracted backing from top-tier investors.

The challenge? We're at the inflection point where "make it work" becomes "make it scale", and we need someone exceptional to lead that transformation.

The Opportunity

As our CTO, you'll own the technical vision for a company solving genuinely hard problems at the intersection of AI, robotics, and mission‑critical systems. This isn't about incremental improvements to existing products, it's about architecting platforms that need to work flawlessly in environments where failure isn't an option.

You’ll be leading a sharp technical team, working directly with founders, and making decisions that directly impact whether we become the dominant player in maritime autonomy or just another promising startup.

What you’ll actually do:

• Shape the technical roadmap that takes us from early traction to category leadership, balancing innovation with the discipline required to scale production systems
• Build platform architecture that's flexible enough to serve radically different customer needs (from plug‑and‑play commercial solutions to highly modular defense integrations) without drowning in customization
• Lead and grow an exceptional engineering team across embedded software, AI/perception, and systems integration, the kind of people who get excited about hard problems
• Own the deployment pipeline , from how we test and validate software updates to how we maintain reliability across dozens of remote, autonomous systems
• Bridge technical depth and business strategy , translating complex capabilities into competitive advantages and working closely with commercial teams to define what we build next
• Be the external face of our technology , representing MAHI at conferences, with customers, and in the broader autonomy and maritime communities

What We’re Looking For

You’ve scaled complex systems before. You’ve taken embedded or edge systems from early deployments to production scale, ideally in robotics, autonomy, industrial automation, or similarly demanding environments. You understand what breaks when you go from 10 to 100 deployments, and you know how to prevent it.

You’re a technical leader, not just a manager. You can dive deep into architecture decisions, understand the latest AI advancements, debug gnarly integration issues, and command respect from senior engineers, while also planning quarters ahead and building high‑performing teams.

You’re a phenomenal communicator. You can explain a complex technical architecture to engineers on Monday and articulate its business value to the board on Tuesday. You're comfortable representing the company externally, at conferences, panels, customer meetings.

You understand complex, integrated systems. You’ve worked on platforms where reliability is non‑negotiable, where systems need to interface with multiple third‑party components, and where you can't just push an update without extensive validation. Experience in autonomy, robotics, automotive, industrial automation, or defense‑adjacent fields is a strong plus.

You thrive in the messy middle. You’ve worked at companies that had to fight for every customer, where resources were constrained, and where engineering excellence had to coexist with commercial pressure. You know how to make smart tradeoffs.

You think strategically but execute relentlessly. You're planning 12 months out while shipping this quarter. You know when to refactor and when to ship. You bring clarity to complexity.

What Success Looks Like

In your first year, you'll transform how we build and deploy technology:

• You’ll architect a platform that scales elegantly, enabling us to serve diverse customer needs without the need to customize for each use case
• You’ll establish deployment and testing processes that let us ship confidently and frequently across remote autonomous systems
• You’ll grow and level up the team, establishing technical culture and engineering practices that scale beyond you
• You’ll work with commercial teams to define our next‑generation product offering
• You’ll position MAHI as a technical leader in the maritime autonomy space

Why This Role is Special

• Real‑world impact : Your decisions affect technology operating in critical, real‑world environments, not optimizing ad clicks
• Technical depth meets commercial reality : We're solving genuinely hard engineering problems while building a sustainable business
• Exceptional team : Work with talented engineers who care deeply about the craft and founders who understand what it takes to build great technology companies
• Ownership and influence : This is a true leadership role with meaningful equity and the authority to shape our technical future
• European deep tech at its best : Building world‑class technology, competing globally, with the backing and support to do it right

Not Right For You If

• You're most comfortable in pure research environments or where shipping production systems isn't the primary goal
• You need massive resources and established market dominance to thrive
• You prefer to delegate rather than roll up your sleeves when needed

Based in Belgium. Competitive package with significant equity upside.

If you're energized by the idea of scaling autonomous systems that actually work in the real world, and leading the technical team that makes it happen, let's talk.