Chief Engineer

Our client company applies AI to Ukraine's drone fleet, flying on live combat missions. The company is partnered with some of the major OEMs and brigades in Ukraine, and its AI is also deployed on EU platforms. The company was built on a simple premise: deterrence is proven in the field, not built in a laboratory. The company is hiring a Chief Engineer who wants to keep building, not step away from it. This role leads the Pilot and Platform engineering teams - not through day-to-day people management or payroll, but through architecture, product decisions and direct technical leadership. A CTO sits above this role to handle strategy, business and financing; this position exists so that whoever holds it can stay close to the code and the customer instead of being pulled upward into the business. Key Responsibilities - Work with the product team to shape product development - Own system architecture across the flight autopilot and hardware/platform layers - Drive both the Pilot and Platform engineering teams to ship - Lead product and architectural decisions, guide the teams, participate in recruiting Stay hands-on in the codebase (roughly half of the role) Requirements - Deep hands-on engineering expertise and strong credibility in the codebase - Experience owning system architecture across complex, hardware-adjacent software systems - A track record of driving engineering teams to ship without formal management authority - Comfort working closely with product and OEM stakeholders on real-world trade-offs - A build-first mentality - this is primarily a technical role, not a strategy or business-focused role Company Offer - Top-of-market compensation + equity - A senior technical role that allows you to stay hands-on, close to both the code and the customer - Direct influence over the architecture and a product deployed in real-world combat environments - Military exemption (reservation) may be provided, subject to available company quota