CTO (m/w/d)

Our partner is an international SaaS platform builder, focused on ease of use, stability, and extensibility.

Supported by a fast-growing global community and an international team, the platform is used in nearly 150 countries ranging from local governments to small businesses and publicly traded enterprises.

To lead their next phase of growth and product modernization, we are looking for an experienced CTO (m/f/d) Europe-wide. In this pivotal leadership role, you will professionalize the engineering division, drive the evolution of the SaaS platform, and align technical execution with business strategy.

• Team Leadership & Scaling: Lead, mentor, and grow the engineering team (initially 5–8 direct reports, including Team Leads, Senior Engineers and QA) and establish efficient workflows without unnecessary bureaucracy
• Technical Strategy & Modernization: Pragmatically modernize a successful open-source SaaS product, improve software architecture, reduce technical debt, and ensure long-term product health
• Delivery & QA Discipline: Implement strong structures for product roadmaps, scoping, planning, quality assurance and major releases (including next-generation rollouts)
• Security & Compliance: Strengthen security standards and mature engineering processes toward ISO certification (e.g., ISO 27001)
• Budget & Stakeholder Management: Full responsibility for the engineering budget (hiring, cloud infrastructure, external services, tooling) while you work closely with the CEO, Product and Sales teams

• Pragmatic, direct leader who thrives in a flat-hierarchy environment and balances strategic vision with technical credibility
• Proven track record in leading and scaling engineering teams of 10–50+ people within a B2B SaaS, platform, or product-led digital environment
• Strong background in product engineering, enabling you to challenge architecture decisions and remain close to product reality
• Comfortable managing and upgrading legacy systems efficiently while keeping business goals in mind
• High commitment to quality assurance, delivery discipline and structured release processes
• Fluent in English, German is considered a plus, combined with a highly collaborative mindset to work directly with the CEO
• Experience with open-source software, PHP/Yii framework, ISO 27001 standards or AI/product innovation is a strong plus

• The opportunity to shape a globally recognized open-source product with millions of users
• High autonomy, budget responsibility, and a key role in company strategy
• A creative, international team and an active global community
• Modern office in Hamburg with flexible working all over Europe

Through the exclusive collaboration with our contact partners, we guarantee you a swift, efficient, and tailored process.

Your contact person is Florian Grambow (florian.grambow@paltron.com).

We look forward to receiving your application and getting to know you!