Job description
SMASH, Who we are?
We believe in long-lasting relationships with our talent. We invest time getting to know them and understanding what they seek as their professional next step.
We aim to find the perfect match. As agents, we pair our talent with our US clients, not only by their technical skills but as a cultural fit. Our core competency is to find the right talent fast.
This position is remote within the United States. You must have U.S. citizenship or a valid U.S. work permit to apply for this role.
Role summary
You will partner closely with the CTO to drive execution across product, engineering, and AI initiatives, enabling focus on strategic decision-making. This role blends technical program management, engineering operations, and hands-on technical support in a fast-paced startup environment.
Responsibilities
Product & Engineering Coordination
Own tracking of the product and engineering roadmap across Q4 2025–Q2 2026 deliverables.
Coordinate sprint planning, retrospectives, and weekly engineering syncs.
Track technical debt and partner with the CTO to prioritize remediation.
Manage cross-team dependencies across Frontend, Backend, AI/ML, and DevOps teams.
Identify delivery risks, unblock teams, and escalate issues proactively.
Special Projects & Technical Initiatives
Research emerging technologies, tools, and AI models to support strategic decisions.
Build prototypes and proof-of-concepts for new initiatives.
Coordinate with vendors and partners on integrations, including ERP and CLM connectors.
Support AI experimentation, including new models, fine-tuning, and RAG approaches.
Document findings, trade-offs, and recommendations for CTO review.
Technical Program Management
Coordinate multiple customer implementations with Implementation Specialists.
Track technical milestones related to Series A readiness.
Support SOC 2 preparation in collaboration with Platform Engineering.
Coordinate technical due diligence activities for fundraising efforts.
Maintain engineering documentation, including architecture diagrams and runbooks.
Support the technical hiring pipeline by screening candidates and coordinating interviews.
Engineering Operations & Metrics
Maintain engineering metrics dashboards (velocity, cycle time, deployment frequency).
Coordinate on-call rotations and incident response processes.
Track and optimize infrastructure costs in partnership with Platform Engineering.
Manage engineering tools, licenses, and vendor relationships.
Coordinate internal training, documentation, and knowledge-sharing sessions.
CTO Executive Support
Prepare technical materials for board meetings and investor updates.
Draft technical documentation, including architecture overviews, APIs, and RFP responses.
Manage and prioritize the CTO’s calendar and time allocation.
Act as a technical point of contact when the CTO is unavailable.
Handle ad-hoc technical research and rapid prototyping requests.
Requirements – Must-haves
Strong technical background in software engineering with the ability to review architecture and code.
Full-stack familiarity with Python, TypeScript, APIs, databases, and cloud platforms (AWS).
Working knowledge of AI/ML concepts, including LLMs, RAG, vector databases, and fine-tuning.
Proven experience managing complex technical initiatives or programs.
Hands-on experience with tools such as GitHub, Linear or JIRA, Notion, Datadog, and CI/CD pipelines.
Excellent communication skills with the ability to translate between technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Experience operating in startup or high-growth environments with high ambiguity.
Strong execution mindset with the ability to drive outcomes independently.
Nice-to-haves (optional)
Prior experience supporting a CTO, VP Engineering, or technical leadership team.
Exposure to SOC 2 compliance, fundraising due diligence, or enterprise security requirements.
Experience coordinating AI-first or data-intensive product teams.
Background in technical operations or engineering management roles.
