Job Title
Technical Lead/CTO
Salary
Not Disclosed + Equity
Company Description
Fortalis is a London-based security technology company building a modular, interoperable platform to detect and respond to complex cross-domain threats across national security, defence, and critical infrastructure sectors.
Job Description
As the first technical hire at Fortalis, you will architect and build a foundational software platform for national resilience from the ground up. You will integrate disparate data sources and specialist technologies into a unified operational picture, translating complex, real-world security challenges into robust code for high-consequence government and infrastructure clients.
Location
London, UK
Why this role is remarkable
- Foundational ownership as the first technical hire with a completely blank slate to design architecture, select the tech stack, and shape product direction.
- Mission-critical impact building the integration layer for national resilience, tackling sophisticated threats that bridge cyber, physical, and information domains.
- Exceptional upside with co-founder-level equity available, offering significant skin in the game for an early-stage venture focused on high-consequence sectors.
What You Will Do
- Architect and build the entire modular platform from scratch, ensuring it can ingest and synthesise signals from multiple external specialist technologies.
- Collaborate directly with the CEO to define the product roadmap and translate abstract national security problems into scalable, production-ready software.
- Lead all engineering efforts, from hands-on development and API integrations to establishing the long-term technical vision and development culture of the company.
The ideal candidate
- Has 5–10 years of experience as a hands-on builder who has successfully designed and scaled complex, integration-heavy, or distributed systems.
- Possesses strong architectural judgment and the ability to work comfortably across the full stack while navigating the ambiguity of a zero-to-one environment.
- Is a mission-driven engineer with existing UK work rights who is excited by the challenge of securing critical infrastructure and national defence systems.
