Field Chief Technology Officer (Field CTO)

Location: Washington, DC Metro (preferred) / CONUS (remote) with significant CONUS and classified travel

Role Overview

Kamiwaza AI is seeking a Field Chief Technology Officer (Field CTO) to serve as the senior-most customer-facing technical executive supporting U.S. Department of Defense and Intelligence Community customers. This role is designed for a seasoned technologist with deep, credible government experience who can operate fluently across classified mission environments, executive customer engagements, and high-stakes competitive pursuits.

The Field CTO blends executive technical advisory, technical go-to-market leadership, and field-to-product strategy. You will shape how Kamiwaza’s AI orchestration, distributed data, and edge-capable platform is understood, adopted, and operationalized for national security missions—and you will ensure what we build aligns with real mission constraints.

This is not a sales engineer or solutions architect role. It is a field-facing technical executive role comparable to senior Field CTO, Deputy CTO, Chief Architect, or Distinguished Engineer positions at elite defense-focused technology companies.

Core Mission

Own the technical narrative, mission alignment, and external technical credibility for Kamiwaza Federal—ensuring the platform is positioned as mission-ready, secure, and operationally decisive from strategic headquarters to the tactical edge.

Key Responsibilities

Senior Federal Technical Leadership

• Act as the authoritative technical voice for Kamiwaza Federal with DoD and IC customers.

• Serve as a trusted technical and mission advisor to senior government leaders (GO/FO, SES), program executives, and operational stakeholders.

• Lead classified and unclassified executive briefings, architecture reviews, and mission workshops; facilitate technical decision-making.

• Own technical escalation for complex customer situations, pilots, and competitive bake-offs.

AI & Platform Authority

• Demonstrate mastery of:

  • AI/ML systems including LLMs, SLMs, VLMs, agentic frameworks, and evaluation/guardrails

  • AI orchestration and inference at scale across cloud, core, and edge

  • Distributed data platforms, streaming/event-driven architectures, and real-time situational awareness systems

• Retrieval and data orchestration patterns for mission data (RAG, entity resolution, polystructured data)

• Model evaluation, governance, and trustworthy AI in operational settings

• Secure deployments in classified, air-gapped, denied, degraded, intermittent, and limited (DDIL) environments

• Guide customers on secure AI adoption with full data containment and mission-based access control.

• Define federal reference architectures, deployment patterns, and “how-to” guidance that accelerates pilots → production.

DoD & IC Go-To-Market Enablement

• Partner with Sales, Capture, and BD leadership to:

  • Shape technical win strategies and differentiated solution narratives

  • Qualify opportunities and influence bid/no-bid decisions

  • Support OTAs, rapid prototypes, pilots, and transition-to-production pathways

• Serve as the technical closer in high-value, technically complex pursuits.

• Build repeatable GTM assets: reference architectures, demo flows, competitive positioning, and enablement for account teams and partners.

Bridge Engineering and Mission Reality

• Translate operational mission needs into clear, actionable product and engineering priorities.

• Provide continuous feedback to platform, security, and infrastructure teams based on real-world government constraints.

• Ensure internal teams understand classification, deployment, and sustainment realities.

• Help drive internal alignment on packaging, deployment automation, documentation, and supportability for federal environments.

Ecosystem & Partner Leadership

• Engage and align with systems integrators, defense primes, hyperscalers, and hardware/edge vendors (compute, GPU, ruggedized platforms).

• Drive joint reference architectures, integrated demos, and co-sell motions that extend Kamiwaza’s reach into programs of record.

• Enable partner technical teams with repeatable architectures, demos, and deployment guidance that reduce delivery risk.

• Represent Kamiwaza Federal at classified program reviews, defense industry forums, technical advisory venues, and partner events.

Thought Leadership & Evangelism

• Serve as a visible technical spokesperson for Kamiwaza Federal through conference speaking, executive roundtables, webinars, and published technical content.

• Translate complex AI and data topics into mission-relevant narratives that build trust, urgency, and adoption.

• Build and nurture practitioner communities (working groups, user groups, partner enablement sessions) that expand technical influence.

First 180 Days - Mandate for Success

Days 0–60: Foundation & Credibility

• Achieve deep mastery of the Kamiwaza platform, roadmap, differentiators, and federal deployment patterns.

• Establish technical credibility with priority DoD/IC customers and key integrator partners.

• Audit active pipeline opportunities; assess technical win probability and document top risks/gaps with mitigation actions.

• Build strong working relationships and operating cadence with Sales, Capture, Engineering, Product, and Marketing/Communications.

Days 61–120: Influence & Differentiation

• Define and standardize Kamiwaza’s federal technical narrative, reference architectures, and demo storylines.

• Actively shape 3–5 priority pursuits with measurable impact on win strategy, competitive posture, and solution design.

• Influence near-term product roadmap and packaging to close mission-critical gaps (security, deployment, sustainment).

• Strengthen partnerships with key integrators and ecosystem players through joint architectures and aligned use cases.

Days 121–180: Scale & Impact

• Increase technical win rate and deal velocity across priority accounts by creating repeatable playbooks and enablement.

• Establish Kamiwaza Federal as a trusted technical authority within targeted commands and agencies; earn repeat invitations for deep dives.

• Help transition at least one prototype or pilot toward production alignment (architecture, security/ATO path, and sustainment).

• Execute an external thought leadership plan (speaking/content) aligned to federal GTM priorities for secure, mission-ready AI.

Minimum Requirements

Industry & Government Experience

• 15+ years total experience across industry and government.

• 7+ years in customer-facing technical leadership roles in the federal market (Field CTO, Deputy CTO, Chief Architect, Distinguished Engineer, Principal SA/SE leader).

• Demonstrated experience supporting DoD and/or IC missions as an industry technologist serving government customers and/or as a former government technologist who has transitioned into industry.

• Experience supporting OTAs, rapid prototypes, pilots, and transition-to-production pathways; familiarity with federal acquisition and program stakeholders.

• Proven track record operating in classified environments and communicating effectively within security constraints.

Technical Depth

• Strong, practical understanding of applied AI/ML systems, data orchestration (RAG/streaming), distributed systems, and secure data architectures.

• Experience deploying software into classified, air-gapped, hybrid, and edge environments—including disconnected/DDIL conditions.

• Working knowledge of DoD/IC security, RMF/ATO processes, and compliance frameworks (e.g., NIST 800-53); ability to partner with cyber and accreditation teams.

• Ability to assess AI system trustworthiness in operational settings (evaluation, model risk, data governance, and auditability).

Executive Presence & Influence

• Ability to engage credibly with senior military officers (GO/FO), SES, and IC executives.

• Strong communication skills across technical and non-technical audiences; able to lead executive workshops and influence technical decisions.

• Ability to influence outcomes without direct authority across Sales, Capture, Product, Engineering, and partners.

Thought Leadership & GTM Impact

• Demonstrated impact on revenue outcomes through technical leadership (win strategy, competitive differentiation, and risk reduction).

• Demonstrated thought leadership (public speaking, panels, webinars, publications/whitepapers, community leadership) is strongly preferred.

• Experience enabling internal and partner teams with repeatable narratives, reference architectures, and demo assets.

Security & Travel

• Active TS/SCI clearance required

• Ability to travel as required, including to secure locations and customer sites across CONUS.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior military service or direct government technology leadership (e.g., command/agency CTO, senior technical advisor).

• Relevant certifications (e.g., CISSP, PMP) and/or published work (technical articles, standards contributions, whitepapers).

• Established credibility with key DoD/IC communities, integrators, or mission partners in the DC Metro and CONUS.

Why Join Us?

• Purpose & Impact: Be a key contributor to the GenAI revolution, shaping how enterprises adopt next-generation technology.

• Remote-First Culture: Based in Colorado, but work from anywhere with the tools and support you need.

• Expert Founders with Successful Exits: Our leadership team brings experience and a relentless enthusiasm for GenAI innovation.

• High-Autonomy Environment: Flat organizational structure, transparent communication, and minimal red tape.

• Competitive Compensation & Equity: Own a piece of our high-potential, well-funded startup.

• Comprehensive Benefits: Health coverage, remote workspace support, and more.

Who We Are

• We're a small, driven team building a platform that makes GenAI deployment feel like magic.

• Our approach: curious, humble, but relentless.

• We're fun, kind, and exceptional—serious about making an impact but never taking ourselves too seriously.

• We operate with high urgency but think for the long term—action creates clarity.

How to Apply

Ready to build the foundation of the GenAI revolution? Please include a short write-up of a customer problem you solved end-to-end and a link to any reusable asset or press release that came out of it.

P.S. If you use GenAI to craft your application, we'll probably find out—and we'd love to learn more about how you did it!

This role offers a base salary between $190,000 and $230,000, plus equity and benefits. Actual compensation will reflect an individual’s experience, impact, and location. Our benefits include low-deductible medical plans, flexible time off, and supportive family leave policies.