Chief Technology Officer
Chief Technology Officer - AI Hardware Business - London
A high-growth London business at the intersection of artificial intelligence, computer vision and consumer hardware is hiring its next Chief Technology Officer. Recann is the retained executive search partner on this mandate.
About the business
The company is a venture-backed business building an AI-driven consumer experience that combines real-time computer vision, sensor-based input and a large language model coaching layer, delivered through proprietary physical hardware deployed across multiple sites. The first commercial site is cashflow positive, with strong demo-to-paid conversion and an NPS in the high 60s. The seed round is closing and the company is preparing for Series A. The founders include a serial entrepreneur with a track record of building category-defining consumer businesses, supported by an experienced chair from the health and wellness sector.
Full company details will be shared with shortlisted candidates following an initial conversation with Recann.
The role
The CTO will own the company's technology end to end, including real-time computer vision, the LLM application layer, hardware and firmware, the cloud platform, the data pipeline and the engineering organisation. The first 12 to 18 months are deliberately hands-on, with a focus on shipping the next generation of the product. The role then evolves into organisational leadership through Series A.
Reporting to the CEO, the CTO will inherit a working MVP, a small in-house and contractor engineering team, and a defined product roadmap. They will be expected to make the senior technical hires personally, including an ML lead and an infrastructure lead, and to grow the team toward 30 engineers over the next 18 to 24 months.
Who we're looking for
The brief is for a systems thinker who has owned the architecture of a connected product across computer vision, machine learning, edge hardware and cloud. Candidates do not need to have held a CTO title previously. What matters is that they have operated as the de facto technical leader on a cross-functional product team, are ready to take the seat, and have the judgment to know which technical layer matters most at each stage of the company's growth.
Specific experience worth highlighting on application:
- Real-time computer vision, pose estimation, action recognition or comparable multimodal systems where live input drives model output to the user.
- Production machine learning at the edge, including on-device inference trade-offs.
- Current working knowledge of large language model application patterns including agentic architectures, tool use and retrieval-augmented generation.
- Hardware-software integration where software reliability has direct commercial consequences.
- Building and leading an engineering team through a funding round, ideally from under ten engineers to around thirty.
Location and working pattern
This is a London-based role. The expectation is four days per week in the company's London office, with three days considered for exceptional candidates. Remote-only working is not available.
Remuneration
Base salary in the range of £120,000 to £160,000 depending on experience, with the package structured to reflect the stage and seniority of the role. A meaningful equity allocation is offered under an EMI scheme, with a four-year vesting schedule and a one-year cliff. Total compensation will be sharpened against the market through the search process and may flex above this band for exceptional candidates.
How to apply
Applications are handled exclusively through Recann. To register interest, apply via the LinkedIn application link. Initial conversations are confidential. Full company details, including the names of the founders and the company, will be shared with candidates following an initial qualification call with Recann.
Recann is acting as an employment agency on this assignment in line with the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003.