Chief Technology Officer

Role Description

Submittable is seeking a Chief Technology Officer to own our engineering vision, architecture, and execution as we continue to scale. This is a pivotal leadership role reporting directly to the CEO, responsible for building and leading a high-performing, globally distributed engineering organization spanning India and the US. The CTO will partner closely with Product, Sales, and the broader Executive Leadership Team to translate strategic vision into technical execution including platform stability, scalable architecture, and cross-border effectiveness.

Key Responsibilities

• Technical Strategy & Architecture
  • Define and own the multi-year technology roadmap and architecture strategy in alignment with business goals
  • Evaluate and evolve the technology stack to support scalability, security, and reliability
  • Champion product stability and platform resilience as a top engineering priority
  • Own build-vs-buy and vendor/technology partnership decisions
  • Maintenance of legacy platforms and potential for migration strategies, profit optimization
• Engineering Leadership
  • Lead a distributed engineering organization across US and India
  • Recruit, develop, and retain engineering talent; build a strong leadership bench
  • Establish engineering best practices: code quality, testing, CI/CD, incident response, and security posture
  • Drive cross-border collaboration and communication practices to close gaps between distributed teams
• Cross-Functional Partnership
  • Partner with Product on roadmap prioritization and technical feasibility
  • Work with Sales and Customer Success to address technical escalations and enterprise requirements
  • Represent engineering in ELT strategic planning, budgeting, and board-level initiatives
• Operational Excellence
  • Own engineering KPIs (i.e. uptime/reliability, velocity, technical debt reduction, defect reporting, AI utilization/leverage, etc.)
  • Oversee security and compliance team inclusive of SOC II audits, pen testing, privacy compliance, etc.
  • Manage engineering budget, SaaS platform margin, headcount planning, and vendor contracts
  • Ensure compliance with data security, privacy, and industry regulations relevant to SaaS

Qualifications

• 12+ years of software engineering experience, including 5+ years in senior technology leadership (CTO or equivalent) at a SaaS company
• Proven experience leading distributed/global engineering teams, ideally including India-based teams
• Track record of scaling engineering organizations through growth stages (startup to mid-market SaaS)
• Demonstrated experience building or scaling AI/ML-powered product features and driving AI adoption within an engineering organization
• Strong technical foundation in modern web architecture, cloud infrastructure (AWS/Azure/GCP), APIs, and data security
• Experience partnering with executive leadership on business strategy, not just technical execution
• Excellent communication skills; able to translate technical concepts for non-technical stakeholders and the board
• Experience with M&A technical due diligence, platform migrations, or major re-architecture projects is a plus

Success Metrics (First 12 Months)

• Established technical roadmap aligned to ELT strategic priorities
• Measurable improvement in platform stability and uptime
• Strengthened US/India engineering collaboration model
• Key senior engineering leadership hires and retention milestones met

Benefits

• Comprehensive health and life insurance with optional HSA, FSA, and DCA accounts
• 401(k) plan with employer match starting day one
• Equity stock options to share in our success
• Flexible hours, remote work options, and generous vacation and sick leave
• Paid parental leave for mothers, fathers, and adoptive parents
• Professional development stipends to support your career growth
• Opportunities to participate in community outreach and volunteer programs
• Monthly company-sponsored happy hours and gatherings to connect and unwind