Chief Technology Officer

Title: Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

Reporting to: CEO / Director of Growth

Location: Surat

Type: Full-time

1. Role summary

The Chief Technology Officer (CTO) will lead all technology initiatives for an IT company focused on the diamonds business, with a strong emphasis on AI, BI/analytics, infrastructure modernization, and cloud migration. The CTO will translate business growth directions from the CEO / Growth Director into executabletechnology roadmaps and deliver measurable outcomes across products, platforms, and internal systems.

2. Key responsibilities

• Define and own the technology vision and roadmap for the diamond's domain, aligned with business growth, digital transformation, and profitability goals.
• Lead AI and data/BI initiatives (forecasting, pricing, grading/quality analytics, recommendation engines, process automation) that create competitive advantage and improve operational efficiency.
• Translate directions from the Growth Director / CEO into clear technology programs, milestones, and KPIs, and provide regular progress, risk, and benefit realization updates.
• Architect and oversee enterprise data platforms, data governance, and integration between ERP, inventory, manufacturing, CRM, e-commerce, and lab systems.
• Design and execute the cloud migration strategy (assessment, roadmap, security, tools, cutover plans) ensuring business continuity, scalability, and cost optimization.
• Oversee on-premise and cloud infrastructure (servers, networks, storage, endpoints) to ensure reliability, performance, and security across offices and production locations.
• Drive hardware refresh and modernization (production-floor devices, scanners, imaging/grading systems, end-user devices, and network gear) in line with security and performance standards.
• Establish and enforce robust cybersecurity, data protection, backup/DR, and access control practices across on-prem and cloud environments.
• Build and lead a high-performing technology team, including hiring, mentoring, performance management, and vendor/partner governance.
• Evaluate and manage external technology partners (cloud providers, AI platforms, ERP/CRM vendors, diamond-tech vendors) to accelerate delivery and innovation.
• Implement strong IT governance, documentation, and change-management processes balancing speed of innovation with stability and compliance.

Additional responsibilities – organization, AI, and SDLC

• Redesign the IT organization structure and compensation model, including moving the team to a performance-linked variable pay structure tied to clear, measurable KPIs and project outcomes.
• Drive adoption of AI-powered tools in development, testing, DevOps, support, and analytics to significantly improve productivity and enable a leaner engineering team over time without compromising delivery quality.
• Standardize and enforce a company-wide SDLC, including coding standards, branching strategy, code reviews, CI/CD, testing levels, documentation, and release management for all products and projects.
• Establish continuous improvement loops (metrics, retrospectives, tooling reviews) to systematically remove waste from the SDLC and optimize capacity, cost, and quality.

3. Required qualifications

• 15–18+ years of experience in technology leadership roles, including 5+ years as Architect / Head of Technology / CTO.
• Strong background in enterprise application design, data platforms, and integrations, with hands-on exposure to AI/ML or advanced analytics projects.
• Proven track record of leading cloud migration or hybrid-cloud transformations (AWS/Azure/GCP) in mid-size or enterprise environments.
• Experience managing infrastructure and hardware (data centres, networks, endpoints) along with cloud platforms.
• Domain experience in diamonds, jewellery, gems, luxury retail, or manufacturing/supply-chain intensive businesses is highly desirable.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to work closely with business leadership and non-technical teams.
• Strategic and hands-on; comfortable switching between architecture/roadmap and practical problem solving.
• Outcome-oriented with a bias for execution, measurement, and continuous improvement.
• Comfortable in fast-growing, entrepreneurial environments and able to set up processes, standards, and teams from scratch.