Chief Product & Technology Officer

Chief Product & Technology Officer (CPTO) Reports To CEO Location Houston, Texas Work Arrangement In Office Compensation Discussed directly with candidates based on experience Type Full-Time About TheLinkU TheLinkU is a fast-growing NIL SaaS platform connecting student athletes, universities, brands, and fans. Our platform, LinkSuite, supports the NIL ecosystem including revenue share contract execution, cap management, athlete payment processing, brand opportunities, membership programs, and community engagement. We are live with well-known universities, with real athletes and real contracts being managed on the platform every day. We are a lean, fast-moving team where leaders have real ownership and the ability to make an immediate impact. The Opportunity We are looking for a technically strong, hands-on CTO to lead TheLinkU’s engineering function through its next stage of growth. This is not a figurehead or pure strategy role. The CTO will be directly involved in architecture, technical decisions, engineering standards, troubleshooting, and delivery while empowering the engineering team to own day-to-day implementation. You will work closely with the CEO and Director of Product to turn business priorities into a practical product and technical roadmap. You will inherit an established production platform and a lean offshore engineering team, with additional engineering capacity planned as the company grows. The incoming CTO will have a structured transition with the current technology leadership covering the platform, architecture, infrastructure, integrations, engineering team, roadmap, and operational processes. Current Environment: LinkSuite is an established production SaaS platform built primarily on PHP/Laravel and AWS What You Will Own Lead, mentor, and grow the engineering team while setting clear standards for quality, accountability, delivery, and technical culture. Stay closely engaged with day-to-day engineering execution, including developer discussions, technical blockers, architecture and code decisions, delivery progress, and production issues. Own LinkSuite’s technical architecture and engineering standards, including scalability, AWS infrastructure, security, reliability, technical debt, code quality, and deployment practices. Manage and develop our offshore engineering team effectively, maintaining strong communication, velocity, quality, and alignment across time zones. Partner closely with the Director of Product to translate business requirements into technically sound solutions and maintain a practical product and engineering roadmap. Champion effective Agile and Scrum practices, including sprint planning, backlog refinement, sprint ceremonies, retrospectives, and consistent delivery of shippable software. Own engineering delivery and platform operations, including release quality, monitoring, uptime, incident response, and continuous improvement. Own the company’s technical security posture and ensure the platform can meet the security and technology expectations of university and enterprise partners. Guide the technical strategy for payments, financial workflows, APIs, third-party integrations, and technology vendors, including build-versus-buy decisions. Work with the CEO on the 1-to-3-year technical vision and the engineering resources, architecture, and investments needed to support company growth. Evaluate relevant opportunities in AI, automation, integrations, and emerging technologies that can improve the product or internal operations. Represent TheLinkU credibly in customer, university, partner, and vendor conversations when technical leadership is needed. What We Are Looking For & Must Haves 10 years of overall technology experience, including at least 5 years in senior engineering or technology leadership. Proven experience owning and evolving the architecture of a production SaaS platform with real customers. Strong technical depth and the ability to work credibly with engineers on architecture, code quality, system design, reliability, and technical trade-offs. Experience leading remote or offshore engineering teams and growing engineering organizations. Experience with cloud-based SaaS infrastructure, preferably AWS, including deployment, security, monitoring, and scalability. Experience with payments, financial transactions, sensitive data, or other high-reliability production workflows. Strong communication skills and the ability to explain technical decisions clearly to non-technical executives, product leaders, customers, and partners. Comfort operating in a lean, fast-moving environment where leaders are expected to be both strategic and hands-on. Additional Nice To Haves Experience as a CTO, VP Engineering, Head of Engineering, or similar technology leader in a growth-stage SaaS company. Experience with marketplace, community, payments, contract management, or compliance-sensitive platforms. Familiarity with sports, college athletics, NIL, fintech, or adjacent industries. Experience applying AI and automation to product or operational workflows. The Environment You Will Be Joining TheLinkU operates with a lean leadership structure and a small, capable offshore engineering team rather than multiple layers of engineering management, a dedicated DevOps organization, or a PMO. This gives the CTO genuine ownership of technical decisions, direct access to company leadership, and the opportunity to shape how the engineering organization evolves as the platform and customer base grow. Why Join TheLinkU Real ownership: you will be the technical decision-maker and a key member of the leadership team. A live and growing product: LinkSuite is already supporting real university partners, athletes, contracts, and payments. A meaningful market: NIL is changing how college athletes build their careers and financial futures. A fast-moving leadership team where decisions are made quickly and leaders are trusted to execute. We are setting the standard for the industry, come be a part of something special!!! #J-18808-Ljbffr