JOB DESCRIPTION
Tree Goat Media, Inc. is a technology company focused on spoken word audio search advancement.
Our mission is to bring a deeper sense of human connection into something as routine as daily information search through everywhere integrate-able technology that revolutionizes how spoken word is found and consumed in a personalized way.
We are a big idea in the AI space, and we are looking for a Chief Technology Officer who will lead the charge in realizing this mission in the world.
You’ll be joining a start-up executive team. Your entrepreneurial spirit, out-of-the-box creative thinking, and skill as a technical architect ahead of the AI curve will help drive strategy for the company in a cross disciplinary manner.
Come and change the world with us! And own that change.
ABOUT US
Tree Goat Media is developing proprietary technology products to inspire meaning and wellness in humanity. We have secured two patents. Our first product is a complete tech ecosystem called Marbyl.
Marbyl “atomizes” spoken word content to advance audio search at the infrastructure level. It collects, organizes, and makes easily consumable the portions of long-form spoken word media that are most likely to engage users at a personal level.
Marbyl knows how to get people into the heart of what they need to hear across all spoken word media, so that the most readily available medium to support our sense of connection (the human voice) may thrive as a global currency of health and meaning.
Users search for information and are delivered “marbyls” (short-form audio/visual segments) in response to their queries and expressions of topic-based need or interest. By bringing a feeling of human connection into something as routine and basic as daily informational search activity, Marbyl aims to alleviate some of the personal challenges we face with loneliness, isolation, and physical, mental, and emotional wellness on a global level.
WHERE WE ARE IN OUR LIFE CYCLE
Although we’ve been in existence 4 years, we are still “early stage.” We were ahead of our time with a complex solution that required extensive R&D and pivoting, and our funding limitations never permitted enough runway to effectively execute on concurrent product initiatives (nor break from fractional team structure).
We are currently raising $5M to initiate an aggressive 18-month phase of product testing and refinement (6 months) and a 12-month go-to-market push to get firmly established in the market and build initial revenue. It’s time to go all-in, smartly, but quickly!
Our Team consists of our Co-Founding partners (CEO & Chairman) and 9 fractional members. Our fractional team is committed to helping us transition us to a full-time organization, and that includes our current CTO supporting our new CTO hire to step into that role.
THE PROBLEM WE’RE SOLVING
Our US Surgeon General said the country is experiencing an “epidemic of loneliness.” It’s proven that the human voice is a natural antidote to loneliness. This is what gave radio its “superpower” and, in part, accounts for the rising global interest in podcasts.
Yet, time to relevant human-centric content is the currency with today’s consumer (40% of Gen Z, for example, uses TikTok instead of Google for basic search), but there is no distribution system for spoken word content that delivers on this need. So networks, players, advertisers – and most of all, creators – can’t increase their earning potential. Marbyl is set to democratize the spoken word industry at large.
What we’ve built so far:
- Patented AI models that pinpoint and package the most interesting moments in spoken word audio, along with dramatic turning points and subjectivity indicators
- Complex MLOps pipeline that automates continued training and deployment of new models
- App for iOS & Android to serve as an MVP
- Foundational dev work on our Producer Portal
WHERE YOU COME IN
You are a visionary, aggravated by the word ‘impossible.’ You ache for inventions before there’s even the infrastructure capable of supporting them! Yet you look at problems holistically, and your collaborative approach and respect for reason will have you make inspired yet informed decisions for company growth.
Google set out to build “the brain of the world.” We are building “the heart.” Our technology gets people into the hearts of the conversations they need to hear. You will be at the center of building this emotional search engine where spoken word audio dominates the experience of information flow.
You are someone who can think from a product standpoint of meeting people’s needs – maybe needs they don’t even know they have – using technology. You’ll get to direct the course of how our technology will grow by coming up with innovative technology and product solutions to satisfy consumers around identified needs in the audible space.
Rather than fearing the exponential growth rate of AI, you’re someone who wants to ride the wave and leverage it all the way, to benefit mankind. You care about being on the altruistic side of AI, one that is deepening human connection and economy rather than fracturing it.
THE POSITION
Our CTO will take the lead on the MARBYL technology front.
The ideal candidate will have a strong background in technology, artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, cloud technologies, DevOps, and product development. You will not only have excellent analytical skills with a deep understanding of what makes a compelling product, but a creative and inventive approach to problem solving.
This is a highly visible role and a unique opportunity to help shape the future of audio search and human wellness. You will work collaboratively with Tree Goat’s Executive, Business Development, Marketing, Finance, and Data Science Teams to drive technical requirements to launch, package, and deliver ground-breaking products into the marketplace.
CORE EXPECTATIONS
You will become a key member of the Executive Team and will help drive strategy for the company in a cross disciplinary manner.
Early initiatives will include kick off discussions with our engineering and leadership teams to finalize the roadmap for an intensive (and critical) 18-month growth and go-to-market phase, and to then dive in on its execution.
Some of your core responsibilities include:
- Collaborative work style that seeks to find the best solution, not the compromised or sub-optimal solution
- Working with a team that values open communication and self-development
- Expanding the Tech Team
- Consumer Product Testing - Use Cases, Targets, UI
- Building Publisher Portal features and functionality
- Advancing and developing ML models
- Generative tech augmentations
- Building and customizing our API
- Content scaling strategies
- Integrating UI/UX upgrades
- Ad Tech & Web Platform Builds
- Researching clients, competitors, and emerging tech to stay ahead with trends
- Managing documentation to ensure compliance of software and product life cycle processes
- Identifying and stewarding new IP applications for proprietary advancements
- Spearheading initial programmatic efforts
- Helping to create sustainable and effective customer service processes
- Participation in investor meetings
QUALIFICATIONS
- 10+ years seasoned technology professional and highly creative thinker with coding experience, product development experience, and a strong business focus
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
- Deep alignment with our company mission
- Has developed and successfully communicated a product and technology plan to stakeholders, investors, and potential customers
- Maintains a professional and positive demeanor when dealing with internal and external personnel
- Proven ability to manage remote software development teams
- Experience interviewing, hiring, and on-boarding senior tech resources
- Experience with agile
- Experience with machine and deep learning systems
- Well-versed in NLP (Natural Language Processing)
- Well-versed in the spoken word / podcast landscape
- Fluent in mobile
- Familiar with CMS platforms / integrations
- Fluent in digital audio ad serving and technologies
- Experience with programmatic digital audio, having worked in SSPs and/or DSPs and/or trading desks
- Experience creating product strategy documents that describe business cases, high-level use cases, technical requirements, revenue opportunities and costs
- Experience creating product roadmaps and managing them based on cost analysis and feasibility
- Experience translating product strategy documents into epics and stories for the engineering teams
- Proven project management experience, preferably in enterprise-grade software or cloud service deployment
- Superior analytical skills and experience with analytic investigation through gathering of large data sets to identify and explain trends or patterns
- Works well against deadlines and has a clear understanding of how to estimate a project and lead to completion, holding all parties accountable
- Proven track record of business successes
- Experience selling nascent products or services
- Operates with a sense of urgency
- Ability to drive solutions to difficult problems
- Ability to work on multiple concurrent projects
- Thorough understanding of web and app analytics
- Passionate about building functional and engaging user experiences
COMPENSATION & PERKS:
- You have a strong voice in the direction of our company
- Market-based salary plus equity options in an industry-leading company
- True opportunity to build your own technical team from scratch, with their own unique operational procedures
- Flexibility and autonomy
- Working in the leading AI industry and its continuous learning environment required to stay current
- Partially remote (we’ll discuss)
- Intend to build out a full benefits plan when we can, but will work with you to cover various expenses in the meantime
If this opportunity to change the world with the spoken word interests you, and you’d like to be on this exciting journey with us - one with huge upside potential - please contact us: info@treegoatmedia.com.
Thank you!