Why this opportunity stands out
Founding CTO for a Midlands-based blockchain venture. £140,000 to £180,000 base, founding-level equity participation, full ownership of the technology function from day one.
About the role
167 Solutions, a specialist technology recruitment business, is recruiting a Founding Chief Technology Officer on behalf of a Midlands-based venture at the earliest stage of its technology build-out. The successful candidate will become a member of the founding leadership team and will hold meaningful equity participation in the business.
This is a permanent role with hybrid working from the Midlands. The Founding CTO will set the technology vision, build the engineering function from the ground up, and own the delivery of a blockchain-led platform through to and beyond launch. The role requires a hands-on executive who can write code, lead engineers, talk to regulators and report to a board.
The total package includes a base salary of £140,000 to £180,000 plus a founding-level equity participation (terms discussed at offer stage), performance bonus and a comprehensive benefits package. The engagement is contracted between the candidate and the company; 167 Solutions is not the employer of record.
Applicants must be eligible to work in the United Kingdom without visa sponsorship for this engagement.
167 Solutions is an equal opportunity recruiter. We welcome applications from all qualified candidates regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Candidates who require reasonable accommodation to participate in the recruitment process may contact harshil@167solutions.com.
Engagement may be subject to background checks (including directors' due diligence, Companies House checks and standard onboarding requirements) set by the company.
Key responsibilities
• Build, lead and scale the engineering function, including architecture, backend, smart contract, DevOps, security and data.
• Own delivery of the MVP through to production launch and beyond.
• Personally contribute to code in the early stages; transition to a primarily leadership posture as the team grows.
• Represent the technology function to the board, investors and external stakeholders.
• Own technical governance: security policy, risk register, incident response, postmortems and on-call rotation.
• Own data and AI governance in line with UK GDPR, the UK AI Act and any applicable EU AI Act obligations.
• Ensure regulatory readiness for the relevant UK and EU crypto-asset regime (FCA CryptoAsset Register under PS23/6, Travel Rule, MiCA where applicable).
• Drive rigorous security and resilience practice: SOC 2 Type II or ISO 27001, smart contract audits, external pen tests, dependency scanning, on-chain monitoring.
• Own technical hiring, onboarding, performance, retention and engineering culture.
• Manage vendor relationships, infrastructure spend and the technology budget.
• Maintain technical due diligence materials for fundraising rounds.
What they're looking for
• Deep hands-on background in software engineering, with production ownership of at least one of: TypeScript/Node, Python, Go, Rust.
• Strong production experience across modern platform engineering: AWS, Kubernetes, Terraform/Pulumi, observability, CI/CD.
• Deep blockchain and Web3 expertise: Solidity and EVM (Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum, Base, Optimism); Rust on Solana or another L1/L2; account abstraction (ERC-4337); ZK (circom, halo2) and cross-chain messaging (LayerZero, Wormhole, Axelar) as relevant.
• Practical experience with indexers (The Graph), wallets and connect (WalletConnect / Reown), custody (Fireblocks, Fordefi, Anchorage) and on-chain monitoring (Forta, Blocksec, Tenderly).
• Track record of recruiting, leading and retaining high-performing engineering teams.
• Strong financial control, vendor management and budget ownership.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, including the ability to present to a board and to non-technical founders or investors.
• Working knowledge of UK GDPR, ICO obligations, the UK AI Act, EU AI Act (where applicable), and the UK / EU crypto-asset regulatory perimeter.
• Eligibility to work permanently in the United Kingdom without visa sponsorship.
• The role is likely to require a director's background check and Companies House confirmation.
Benefits
• Founding-level equity participation (terms discussed at offer stage).
• Performance bonus linked to platform milestones and commercial outcomes.
• Comprehensive benefits package including pension and private medical.
• Hybrid working from the Midlands.
• Direct influence over the technology vision, the engineering culture and the platform roadmap.
• Board-level exposure and a seat at the founding leadership table.
• Long-term upside tied to company growth and the value of the equity participation.