Chief Technology Officer

About the role

This is an executive leadership role for a technology leader who is equally comfortable setting strategy and getting close to the work. As CTO and a member of the executive team, you will own MassChallenge's technology vision and drive its execution across three pillars: data as a strategic asset, platform as a differentiated product, and automation that scales the organization.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a full member of the executive team, contributing to company strategy, board reporting, and organizational performance
• Develop and execute a technology and data strategy aligned to MassChallenge's mission and revenue goals
• Build strong relationships with your team: set clear goals, coach consistently, and create an environment where great work happens
• Translate organizational vision into an actionable technology roadmap with clear priorities, timelines, owners, and metrics
• Believe in iteration: one and done is not how we think
• Data Strategy and Governance
• Make MassChallenge's 16+ years of startup and ecosystem data a strategic asset, for our internal stakeholders, partners, founders, and business development
• Establish a single source of truth across programs, alumni, and partner data in our data warehouse, integrated to tools such as our proprietary platform Accelerate and HubSpot
• Build data governance frameworks and analytics capabilities that inform decisions across the organization
• Work on deeper research projects with our partners at MIT, HBS, Univ. of Colorado, and others
• Responsible AI Strategy
• Define and guide responsible AI use for our employees and community
• Build automation capabilities that let MassChallenge grow revenue and impact without proportional headcount growth
• Champion AI adoption across staff to lift day-to-day productivity, from agentic workflows to assistants like Claude
• Help technical staff get more out of AI tools (coding, data analytics, infrastructure)
• Discover and execute data science projects driven with AI (matching, classifiers, evaluators, embeddings search, and more)
• Platform and Product Lead
• Product development for MassChallenge's core platforms, including the accelerator program platform, community platform, and partner and mentor experience layer
• Own the build-vs-buy decision framework. Default to integration where tools are strong, build where MC has a genuine competitive advantage, with data portability and transparency as core values
• Drive the partner and founder experience: dashboards, reporting, engagement tools, and the connections that make the MassChallenge network valuable
• Infrastructure and Vendor Management
• Ensure MC's technology infrastructure supports operational efficiency and global operations
• Oversee IT security, compliance, and vendor relationships, working closely with Finance and Operations
• Negotiate contracts and hold vendors accountable to performance

Requirements

• 10+ years in technology, with at least 5 in a senior leadership role
• Demonstrated track record of product leadership and technology transformation ideally in a mission-driven or startup-adjacent environment
• Strong product instincts and experience with agile methodologies
• A data-driven mindset: you believe actionable data is not an accident
• Experience leading teams through platform transitions and integrations
• Comfortable in ambiguity -- you can set direction without perfect information and adjust as you learn
• Clear communicator who can translate complex technical decisions for non-technical audiences including the board and senior partners
• Genuinely passionate about entrepreneurship and startups
• Ability to wear multiple technical hats but also delegate strategically to your staff