CTO Guide, Advisor and Auditor for SaaS platform

Looking for a CTO advisor and guide to mentor and audit SaaS platform. Needs to be extremely sophisticated resource. This can be a full time of part-time role depending on your availability.About SimplifyVMSSimplifyVMS is a next-generation Vendor Management System (VMS) and Contingent Workforce Management Platform designed for global enterprises and Managed Service Providers (MSPs). Our multi-tenant, cloud-native SaaS platform helps organizations manage contingent labor, SOW engagements, and service procurement with agility, compliance, and intelligence.With customers across North America, EMEA, and APAC, SimplifyVMS is building a scalable, secure, and globally compliant platform that supports multi-region data storage, GDPR compliance, multi-currency transactions, and localization across multiple hierarchies and organizational levels.We are seeking a visionary CTO Advisor/Auditor and Guide for our Engineering team with extensive experience in PHP/Laravel-based SaaS architectures, global-scale system design, and hands-on leadership across architecture, data engineering, performance, and delivery management.Position OverviewThe CTO Advisor/Auditor and Guide of Engineering will lead all aspects of software engineering and platform architecture for SimplifyVMS, overseeing product development, data architecture, scalability, and technology excellence.This executive will guide a distributed engineering team to deliver high-performing, secure, and compliant global SaaS products, while ensuring strong collaboration with Product Management, Customer Success, and Operations.This is both a strategic and hands-on technical leadership role — ideal for a leader who combines deep architectural experience with a passion for building enterprise-grade SaaS platforms that scale globally.Key Responsibilities1. Technical Strategy & Architecture- Define and own the technical vision and roadmap for the SimplifyVMS platform.- Architect and guide the evolution of a PHP/Laravel-based global SaaS solution, ensuring scalability, modularity, and maintainability.- Lead architectural modernization efforts including containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), microservices adoption, and API-first design.- Oversee multi-region data residency, GDPR compliance, and data partitioning strategies across EMEA, APAC, and North America.- Design and manage multi-currency, multi-language, and localization frameworks across organizational hierarchies and workflows.- Define best practices for performance optimization, caching, load balancing, and distributed systems management.2. Engineering Leadership & Delivery- Lead, mentor, and scale a high-performing global engineering team (developers, architects, QA, DevOps, data engineers).- Establish engineering excellence frameworks — coding standards, CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and release governance.- Oversee end-to-end delivery of platform enhancements, ensuring on-time and high-quality releases aligned with product roadmap goals.- Implement DevSecOps practices ensuring security, compliance, and continuous monitoring throughout the SDLC.- Collaborate with product leadership to translate business goals into scalable and sustainable engineering solutions.3. Data Engineering, Reporting & Analytics- Oversee data architecture design, data flow management, and high-performance data pipelines across multi-tenant environments.- Drive development of real-time reporting, analytics, and business intelligence capabilities within the VMS platform.- Ensure accuracy, performance, and compliance in handling sensitive workforce, financial, and supplier data.- Implement data retention, encryption, and anonymization policies aligned with GDPR and regional compliance standards.4. Global Platform Management- Manage and optimize multi-region deployments, ensuring uptime, reliability, and performance SLAs.- Oversee cloud infrastructure strategy (AWS / Azure / GCP) including load balancing, redundancy, and cost optimization.- Establish standards for disaster recovery, monitoring, and incident management.- Lead initiatives for workflow localization — ensuring process, currency, and language variations function seamlessly across regions and organizational hierarchies.5. Stakeholder & Cross-Functional Leadership- Collaborate with Product, UX, and Customer Success teams to align technology with customer outcomes.- Partner with executive leadership on product vision, innovation strategy, and technology investment planning.- Represent Engineering in customer-facing discussions for enterprise clients and strategic partners.- Build a culture of ownership, transparency, and continuous learning across engineering teams.Required Skills & QualificationsTechnical Expertise- 15+ years of software engineering experience, with 8+ years in a senior engineering leadership or VP role.- Deep hands-on experience in PHP, Laravel, MySQL/PostgreSQL, and modern web application architectures.- Proven experience building and scaling complex B2B SaaS platforms supporting global enterprise customers.- Strong expertise in:- Microservices and containerization (Docker, Kubernetes).- Multi-tenant architectures with role- and hierarchy-based access.- Multi-region data storage and GDPR compliance frameworks.- Multi-currency, multi-language, and localization management.- API-first integration frameworks with HRIS, ERP, and third-party SaaS platforms.- Strong background in data engineering, ETL pipelines, and reporting frameworks.- Solid understanding of cloud infrastructure (AWS), DevOps automation, and CI/CD.- Experience with performance engineering, load testing, and high availability systems.Leadership & Management- Proven ability to build, scale, and mentor large engineering teams across multiple time zones.- Experience managing agile delivery organizations with rapid iteration and continuous deployment.- Strong communication and stakeholder management skills — able to collaborate effectively with product, business, and client executives.- Track record of transforming legacy systems into modern, cloud-native architectures.Education- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related technical discipline.- Advanced degree (MBA, M.Tech) preferred but not required.Preferred Experience- Prior experience in HR Tech, Procurement Tech, or Workforce Management platforms.- Exposure to AI/ML integration for analytics and intelligent automation.- Experience with SOC 2 / ISO 27001 compliance, and secure data handling practices.- Thought leadership in modern PHP/Laravel architectures, open-source contributions, or technical publications.Why Join SimplifyVMS- Lead technology innovation for a global SaaS company revolutionizing workforce management.- Architect and scale a modern PHP/Laravel-based enterprise platform serving multinational clients.- Build and mentor a world-class engineering team with cutting-edge technologies (containerization, DevSecOps, AI-driven reporting).- Competitive executive compensation, performance incentives, and leadership visibility.