Phase-0 CTO
DriftlyBelgium1 day ago
OtherInformation Technology
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Driftly is building the default infrastructure for frictionless mobility payments.
We believe paying for mobility - fuel - is still unnecessarily fragmented, card-based, and operationally heavy. Driftly exists to remove that friction entirely.
At our core, Driftly is about making physical-world transactions disappear into software.
No cards.
No terminals.
No manual steps.
Just vehicles, identity, and systems that work reliably in the background.
Phase-0 CTO
As Phase-0 CTO, you will be responsible for turning an idea into a working Proof of Concept, from a blank page.
There is:
• no existing engineering team
• no legacy codebase
• no finished architecture
• no guaranteed salary at the start
What there is:
• a clear problem
• early customer interest
• a founder who owns product & business
• and the opportunity to shape the technical foundation end-to-end
You will personally design, build, and iterate on the initial POC.
Only after validation will we scale the team and formalize structures.
⸻
What You Will Do
• Own the entire technical direction from day one
• Design the system architecture under real-world constraints
• Build the POC yourself (hands-on coding is non-negotiable)
• Make pragmatic trade-offs between speed, quality, and future scale
• Validate assumptions through working software, not decks
• Lay the foundations for future scalability, security, and compliance
• Work closely with the founder to translate product vision into reality
⸻
What This Role Is Not
• ❌ Not an advisory role
• ❌ Not a people-management role (yet)
• ❌ Not a consulting engagement
• ❌ Not a “CTO in name only” position
• ❌ Not suitable if you need immediate cash compensation
If you’re looking for:
• a safe transition
• a part-time experiment
• a side project
• or a fully staffed team from day one
👉 this role is NOT a fit.
⸻
Who You Are
You likely:
• Are a deeply hands-on technical builder
• Have built systems from scratch before
• Are comfortable working with ambiguity and incomplete information
• Enjoy making hard architectural decisions early
• Understand that early startups are messy by nature
• Think in systems, but act pragmatically
• Are willing to take founder-level risk for founder-level upside
Backgrounds that tend to fit well:
• Technical co-founders
• Former CTOs who miss building
• Senior engineers who want real ownership
• Builders with experience in infrastructure, platforms, or complex systems
⸻
Compensation & Commitment (Very Important)
• Cash compensation is deferred until revenue or funding
• This requires real commitment, not spare cycles
• The upside is founder-level ownership and influence
⸻
Why This Might Be Worth It
• You get to build the core, not inherit it
• You shape the product, architecture, and culture from day one
• You work directly with the founder, no layers
• You’re not optimizing someone else’s decisions — you’re making them
⸻
How to Apply
If you apply, expect an early conversation focused on:
• hands-on building
• risk tolerance
• commitment level
• and whether you want to be in Phase-0 again
We prefer honest “no’s” over polite “maybe’s”.
⸻
Final note
If reading this makes you uncomfortable — that’s a signal.
If reading this makes you lean forward — we should talk.
We believe paying for mobility - fuel - is still unnecessarily fragmented, card-based, and operationally heavy. Driftly exists to remove that friction entirely.
At our core, Driftly is about making physical-world transactions disappear into software.
No cards.
No terminals.
No manual steps.
Just vehicles, identity, and systems that work reliably in the background.
Phase-0 CTO
As Phase-0 CTO, you will be responsible for turning an idea into a working Proof of Concept, from a blank page.
There is:
• no existing engineering team
• no legacy codebase
• no finished architecture
• no guaranteed salary at the start
What there is:
• a clear problem
• early customer interest
• a founder who owns product & business
• and the opportunity to shape the technical foundation end-to-end
You will personally design, build, and iterate on the initial POC.
Only after validation will we scale the team and formalize structures.
⸻
What You Will Do
• Own the entire technical direction from day one
• Design the system architecture under real-world constraints
• Build the POC yourself (hands-on coding is non-negotiable)
• Make pragmatic trade-offs between speed, quality, and future scale
• Validate assumptions through working software, not decks
• Lay the foundations for future scalability, security, and compliance
• Work closely with the founder to translate product vision into reality
⸻
What This Role Is Not
• ❌ Not an advisory role
• ❌ Not a people-management role (yet)
• ❌ Not a consulting engagement
• ❌ Not a “CTO in name only” position
• ❌ Not suitable if you need immediate cash compensation
If you’re looking for:
• a safe transition
• a part-time experiment
• a side project
• or a fully staffed team from day one
👉 this role is NOT a fit.
⸻
Who You Are
You likely:
• Are a deeply hands-on technical builder
• Have built systems from scratch before
• Are comfortable working with ambiguity and incomplete information
• Enjoy making hard architectural decisions early
• Understand that early startups are messy by nature
• Think in systems, but act pragmatically
• Are willing to take founder-level risk for founder-level upside
Backgrounds that tend to fit well:
• Technical co-founders
• Former CTOs who miss building
• Senior engineers who want real ownership
• Builders with experience in infrastructure, platforms, or complex systems
⸻
Compensation & Commitment (Very Important)
• Cash compensation is deferred until revenue or funding
• This requires real commitment, not spare cycles
• The upside is founder-level ownership and influence
⸻
Why This Might Be Worth It
• You get to build the core, not inherit it
• You shape the product, architecture, and culture from day one
• You work directly with the founder, no layers
• You’re not optimizing someone else’s decisions — you’re making them
⸻
How to Apply
If you apply, expect an early conversation focused on:
• hands-on building
• risk tolerance
• commitment level
• and whether you want to be in Phase-0 again
We prefer honest “no’s” over polite “maybe’s”.
⸻
Final note
If reading this makes you uncomfortable — that’s a signal.
If reading this makes you lean forward — we should talk.
Ready to apply?
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