CTO

Cookunity - New York, NY

Full-time - Executive

New York, NY

Food Manufacturing

About the position

CookUnity is seeking a visionary Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to lead the transformation of its engineering team and enhance operational scale across the United States. The CTO will mentor engineering leads, foster a culture of excellence, and drive technological innovation to support the company's mission of delivering high-quality meals. This role involves overseeing various engineering teams, collaborating with leadership, and ensuring the scalability and efficiency of the subscription platform while managing the complexities of ingredient sourcing and fulfillment logistics.

Responsibilities

• Participate in company-level quarterly planning and lead setting OKRs for the engineering organization.
• Collaborate with product development partners to set long-term and short-term roadmaps and execution.
• Increase velocity to support business innovation and rapid experimentation while maintaining quality.
• Provide transparency into the development process, challenges, and opportunities to the organization.
• Attract, develop, and retain world-class engineering talent passionate about the mission.
• Establish accountability within teams, focusing on measurable output and results.
• Balance people and budget across key product development centers in NYC and Buenos Aires, incorporating remote talent.
• Anticipate challenges and bottlenecks in growth phases and map out solutions without over-investing.
• Provide thought leadership on data infrastructure and leverage data for customer experiences.
• Build on existing culture while challenging norms that hinder achieving the mission.
• Drive technological innovation for ingredient sourcing, production, and fulfillment logistics.
• Lead migration from legacy technology stack to the latest stack.
• Design and implement a scalable microservices architecture capable of handling 100k-1m requests per minute.
• Drive R&D initiatives to keep CookUnity at the forefront of food tech innovation and adopt AI.
• Implement a full software testing lifecycle to ensure clean codebases and bug-free releases.
• Instate policies and design patterns across IT departments for code quality and consistency.

Requirements

• 10+ years of software development and engineering leadership experience.
• Proven track record of scaling an engineering organization from 30 to 200+ people.
• Leadership experience at a startup with the ability to inspire composure during stressful times.
• Strong background in marketplaces or complex e-commerce fulfillment/operational businesses.
• Experience leading distributed global teams, particularly in Latin America.
• Demonstrated excellence in building strong relationships and collaborating with cross-functional teams.
• Deep interest in and passion for CookUnity's mission to change the way we eat and how chefs cook.
• Ability to balance business priorities with technological advancement.
• History of successfully migrating legacy systems to modern architectures.
• Expertise in building and scaling microservices infrastructures.

Nice-to-haves

• Passion for CookUnity's mission to transform the culinary landscape.
• Ability to navigate the complexities of a rapidly growing startup environment.
• Strategic decision-making on prioritizing business needs vs. technological advancements.
• Efficient processes for continuous integration and deployment.
• Fostering a culture of innovation, quality, and data-driven decision-making.
• Effective communication of technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Commitment to staying current with emerging technologies and industry trends.

Benefits

• Health Insurance coverage
• PTO policy and paid sick days
• Stock Options Plan granted on Day 1
• Eligible for a bi-annual performance bonus
• 401k Plan
• Family leave: 12 weeks for primary caregiver and 6 weeks for secondary caregiver, fully paid
• Compassionate Leave: 3-5 days each time the need arises
• CookUnity credits to enjoy meals, added monthly
• Wellness perks: access to a nutritional coach and fitness subsidies
• Personalized Spanish coach