Co- Founder & Chief Technology Officer (Equity only )

Executive leadership role | Beta-stage social media platform
Help build a social media platform where equity, diversity and equality are embedded in the product, the technology and the organisation.

STAGE
Beta launch
COMMITMENT
Approx. 40 hours per week
REWARD
Significant double-digit equity
FRONTEND
React Native
BACKEND
C# / .NET Core
INFRASTRUCTURE
Kubernetes on GKE

About Luupli
Luupli is a social media app with equity, diversity and equality at its heart. We believe social media can be a force for good. We are committed to creating a platform that maximises the value creators and businesses can gain from social media while making a positive impact on society and the planet.
Our team is made up of passionate, dedicated people who are committed to making Luupli a success. As we move through beta launch, we are looking for a highly experienced Chief Technology Officer to take full ownership of our technology function and help turn that ambition into a secure, scalable and commercially successful platform.

The opportunity
This is a high-impact, equity-led executive appointment for a scale-up technology leader who combines exceptional software development depth with strategic judgement, organisational leadership and a willingness to remain hands-on. The CTO will work closely with the Chief Executive Officer, leadership team and Board, and will be accountable for every aspect of Luupli’s technology estate.

Role purpose
The Chief Technology Officer will define and execute Luupli’s technology strategy, lead the engineering organisation and evolve the beta product into a robust, scalable and trusted social media platform. The role owns software engineering, architecture, cloud infrastructure, DevOps, security, privacy, data, platform reliability, technical operations and technology supplier relationships.
The successful candidate will establish the technical and organisational foundations required for user growth, creator and business value, international expansion, commercialisation and future investment. This person must be equally credible in a Board discussion, an architecture review and a detailed engineering conversation.
Core accountabilities

Technology strategy and executive leadership
Create and deliver a clear technology strategy aligned with Luupli’s mission, product vision, growth plans and commercial priorities.
Own all technology decisions, budgets, investment cases, delivery commitments, risks, controls and performance measures.
Act as the principal technology adviser to the CEO, leadership team and Board, translating complex technical matters into clear commercial choices.
Build a practical roadmap that balances beta-stage speed with security, resilience, maintainability and long-term scale.
Contribute to company strategy, fundraising, due diligence, partnerships and major commercial discussions.

Product engineering and delivery
Lead end-to-end delivery across mobile, backend services, APIs, data capabilities, internal tools and platform integrations.
Set engineering standards for architecture, coding, testing, peer review, documentation, release management and quality assurance.
Create a predictable delivery operating model with clear priorities, ownership, milestones and transparent reporting.
Work closely with product, design, growth, creator, business and trust-and-safety stakeholders to convert user needs into executable technical plans.
Own technical debt: identify it, quantify its impact and manage its reduction without slowing essential product learning.
Remain sufficiently hands-on to review designs, challenge implementation choices, support critical debugging and raise the technical bar.

Architecture, cloud and platform scale
Assess the current React Native frontend, C# / .NET Core backend and Kubernetes deployment on Google Kubernetes Engine, then define the target architecture.
Ensure the platform can scale safely across users, content, media, notifications, data, creator activity and business use cases.
Strengthen cloud architecture, container orchestration, CI/CD, observability, environment management, capacity planning and cost control.
Set standards for APIs, service boundaries, data storage, integrations, performance and resilience.
Build effective disaster recovery, backup, incident response and business continuity capabilities.

Security, privacy and responsible technology
Own cybersecurity, data protection, secure software development and technology risk management across the company.
Embed privacy, security, accessibility, fairness and responsible design into product and engineering decisions from the outset.
Protect user information, company data, intellectual property, credentials, infrastructure and third-party integrations.
Establish proportionate controls, audits, policies and evidence to support regulatory, partner and investor requirements.
Partner with relevant leaders on platform integrity, moderation, abuse prevention, trust and safety, and responsible use of automation or artificial intelligence.

Data, insights and AI
Define a trusted data architecture and governance approach that supports product decisions, performance reporting and responsible innovation.
Improve the quality, availability and security of analytics while ensuring appropriate consent, access and retention controls.
Evaluate responsible applications of AI in areas such as recommendations, discovery, moderation, customer support and operational efficiency.
Ensure algorithmic and automated systems are aligned with Luupli’s values of equity, diversity and equality.

Team, culture and operating model
Design the technology organisation needed for the next stage of growth, including roles, reporting lines, hiring priorities and leadership capacity.
Recruit, lead, coach and retain a diverse, high-performing engineering and technology team.
Create a culture of ownership, inclusion, openness, engineering excellence, continuous learning and constructive challenge.
Set clear expectations, objectives and career pathways, and build succession and resilience across critical areas.
Determine the right balance of employees, contractors and specialist partners, and manage external vendors effectively.

First 12-month priorities
PHASE
EXPECTED OUTCOME
0-30
Complete a rigorous assessment of the product, codebase, architecture, cloud environment, security posture, delivery practices, suppliers, team capability and critical risks.
30-90
Agree a prioritised technology strategy, target architecture, engineering operating model, risk plan and resourced roadmap with the CEO and Board.
3-6
Improve platform stability, release quality, observability, security controls, delivery predictability and documentation while supporting beta learning.
6-12
Prepare the platform and team for meaningful user growth, commercial partnerships, international expansion and investment readiness.

Required experience
Substantial, expert-level software development experience, with a career foundation as a strong hands-on engineer and a deep understanding of modern software design and delivery.
Proven success as a CTO, VP Engineering, Head of Engineering, Chief Architect or comparable technology leader in a start-up or scale-up environment.
Experience taking a consumer-facing digital product from beta or early market entry through rapid growth and increasing operational complexity.
Strong experience designing, building and operating distributed, cloud-native, high-availability software platforms.
Demonstrable leadership of multidisciplinary engineering teams, including recruitment, performance management, coaching and organisational design.
Strong knowledge of mobile engineering, backend services, APIs, databases, cloud infrastructure, DevOps, security, privacy, reliability and data platforms.
Experience making pragmatic architecture decisions under constraints and managing the trade-offs between speed, cost, quality and scale.
Experience presenting technology strategy, risk and investment needs to Boards, investors, partners and non-technical executives.
Commercial judgement, including technology budgeting, cloud cost management, vendor selection, contracting and due diligence.

Highly relevant technical background
Candidates do not need to have spent their entire career in Luupli’s exact stack, but they must be able to lead it credibly, assess it deeply and make high-quality decisions about its evolution.
AREA
RELEVANT EXPERIENCE
Mobile frontend
React Native and modern mobile application architecture, performance, release processes and user experience quality.
Backend
C#, .NET Core, API design, service architecture, asynchronous processing, integrations and scalable data access patterns.
Infrastructure
Kubernetes, Google Kubernetes Engine, containers, CI/CD, infrastructure as code, observability, reliability and cloud cost management.
Social platforms
Social media, creator platforms, communities, marketplaces, content systems, network effects, moderation or trust and safety.
Data and AI
Analytics platforms, recommendation or discovery systems, experimentation, data governance and responsible AI.

Leadership profile
Mission-aligned: motivated by Luupli’s commitment to equity, diversity, equality and positive social and environmental impact.
Builder mentality with strategic depth: energised by creating products, teams and systems, while remaining hands-on enough to unblock delivery and uphold standards.
Pragmatic, decisive and accountable: makes sound decisions with incomplete information, adapts quickly and remains calm through incidents and setbacks.
Inclusive and persuasive leader: values different perspectives, explains technology simply and builds trust across technical, commercial, Board, investor and external audiences.

Commitment and reward

Time commitment
Approximately 40 hours per week, with the availability and ownership expected of a full-time executive leader at beta and scale-up stage.

Equity
This is an equity-led opportunity offering a significant double-digit equity stake in Luupli. The precise equity allocation, vesting arrangements, performance or service conditions, any future salary and all other appointment terms will be agreed with the selected candidate and documented formally.

Measures of success
A credible, prioritised and funded technology strategy is in place and understood across the leadership team.
The beta platform becomes progressively more stable, secure, observable, scalable and cost-efficient.
Engineering delivery becomes faster, more predictable and more transparent without compromising quality.
Critical technology risks and technical debt are visible, owned and reduced in a disciplined way.
The technology organisation has the right structure, capability, culture and leadership depth for growth.
Product, engineering and business teams collaborate effectively around shared outcomes.
Luupli is demonstrably better prepared for user growth, commercialisation, partnerships, investment and regulatory scrutiny.

Why join Luupli?
This is an opportunity to shape the technology, product foundations and engineering culture of an ambitious social media company at a defining stage. The CTO will have substantial influence over Luupli’s strategy and the opportunity to build technology that improves the value social media creates for users, creators and businesses while contributing positively to society and the planet.

Equal opportunity
Luupli is committed to equity, diversity and equality. We welcome candidates from all backgrounds and value different experiences, identities and perspectives. Appointment decisions will be based on the needs of the role, relevant capability and alignment with Luupli’s mission and values.

Application
Please submit a CV or professional profile together with a short note explaining why Luupli’s mission and this stage of the company are compelling to you, and the most relevant example of a platform, technology organisation or product you have helped scale.