Position: Chief Technology Officer

Company Overview:

Exostar is a trusted, innovative leader in the supply chain and identity-controlled information markets for highly regulated industries like aerospace and defense, life sciences and healthcare. Exostar’s unique platform creates trusted communities where companies can manage the complexity and mitigate the risks associated with collaborating with external partners.

Founded in 2000 as a joint venture between some of the world’s leading businesses, including BAE Systems, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Rolls-Royce, and, more recently, Merck, Exostar is now a leading B2B secure collaboration platform that serves over 150,000 organizations in 150+ countries.

Exostar has blue-chip customers across highly regulated verticals and has become a provider of choice to their ever-expanding customer base. They serve distinct market verticals – aerospace and defense, life sciences, compliance, and healthcare –with an opportunity to expand into adjacent customer communities. They serve 98 of the top 100 A&D companies, 5 of the top global 10 global pharma’s and more.

The company has 225 employees across 3 global offices with corporate headquarters in Herndon, VA.

In June 2020, Exostar received a strategic growth investment from Thoma Bravo.

Top Tier Private Equity Ownership:

Thoma Bravo is a leading private equity firm with a 40+ year history, including over $122 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2022, and a focus on investing in software and technology companies. We pioneered the buy-and-build investment strategy, and we first applied this strategy to the software and technology industries 20+ years ago. Since then, our firm has acquired or invested in more than 400 software and technology companies representing over $220 billion of value.* Our investment philosophy is centered around working collaboratively with existing management teams to help drive operating results and innovation. We execute through a partnership-driven approach supported by a set of management principles, operating metrics and business processes. We support our companies by investing in growth initiatives and strategic acquisitions designed to drive long-term value.

Position Summary:

Exostar is seeking a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) with an exceptional track record of success in complex enterprise software sales to lead the company through its next phase of growth. The CTO will report to the CEO, Richard Addi working closely with the executive team and the board in executing Exostar’s technology strategy. The Chief Technology Officer will lead product management, engineering, and IT/Cloud (MS Azure) operations. Experience in a highly regulated industry (e.g. Aerospace Defense) is a requirement.

Chief Technology Officer Responsibilities:

• Establish long-term technical strategy for the organization
  • Responsibility for leading the development, maintenance, evolution and consolidation of a broad range of mission critical applications over their life cycle, primarily in the public and government cloud as well as hosted/on-premise.
  • Responsibility for the underlying security and reliability of mission critical applications within the national defense and healthcare systems.
  • Responsible for stepping in and energizing the ongoing effort of “cloudification” of the suite of Exostar products, including architecture, design, operation in primarily the AZURE commercial and gov cloud.
  • Responsibility for the continual optimization and stability of the development, deployment and operations of these mission critical applications.
  • Responsibility for the product management, engineering, IT/Cloud operations and cybersecurity of the broad suite of Exostar existing product offerings as well as building and delivering net new solutions to the nation’s infrastructure.
  • Responsible for development and sustaining the technical architecture to align with the investment thesis and budget constraints.
• Work cross-functionally with the executive leadership team to develop a long-term roadmap for the technology organization
  • Establishing transparency within and outside of the product and technology organization
  • Prioritization of which products to build as Exostar IP and which to partner/license.
  • Responsible for transparent prioritization of workload across the Exostar product and technology teams to assure best possible outcomes balancing customer satisfaction, revenue, margin, stability and security.
  • Responsible for partnering with the VP of Strategy and other peers in the organization to identify technology solutions to deliver on the vision of the organization
  • Lead successful product management operations and partner closely with the Strategy team to ensure the proper prioritization and creation of detailed and quality product roadmaps, epics and tickets that align seamlessly with advancing vision and quality delivery for customers
  • Lead the ongoing effort to improve delivery and service quality of Exostar services to customers.
• Drive High-Velocity Product Delivery and Predictability
  • Identify, nurture, and retain talent within Exostar, and quickly upscale existing talent where appropriate
  • Accelerate software development lifecycle through empowerment of leaders and key process improvements
  • Integrate acquired businesses and rationalize product portfolio
  • Maintain accuracy on budgets and meeting deadlines
  • Continuously monitor and continuously improve performance, user adoption, daily users, downtime, interruptions etc
• Mentor, Encourage and Lead Organizational and Team Professional Development
  • Implement best practices of the modern SaaS organization and nurture an enhanced culture built on an understanding of success through operating excellence
  • Provide direct leadership to the individual heads of the technology groups who will report directly to the CTO
  • Sustain, enhance and optimize outsourcing partners and capabilities
  • Do what is necessary to attract and retain “A” players
• Cultivate a High-Performance, Innovative Environment
  • Provide motivational leadership and coaching across the technology organization to ensure employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction
  • Establish trust as well as ensure collaboration and transparency across the organization
  • Foster a mission-oriented culture that encourages innovation and idea generation
  • Build a cohesive team that has the ability to work as generalists across product suite

Chief Technology Officer Desired Experience:

Given the importance of the position for Exostar’s planned growth and success, the ideal candidate will bring the following background and experience:

• Experienced Technologist
  • 2+ years as CTO or VP of Software Engineering managing teams from 100 – 250
  • MS Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification or similar is highly desirable
  • FedRamp successful deployment is highly desirable
  • 15+ years total experience in software and IT/Cloud Ops engineering
  • 5+ years of cloud engineering leadership or architecture
  • Solid experience managing and developing enterprise level, software product, quality assurance and hosting for MS Azure cloud technology/SaaS products in a customer government environment
    • Direct experience integrating and managing a large portfolio of third-party software components – message brokers, low/code solutions, logging, security frameworks etc.
    • Development of a modern scaled platform within AZURE, preferably in the gov cloud meeting FedRamp requirements.
    • Experience transforming organizations from an effective form of Agile development
  • Experience in constantly assessing operational issues in all parts of the development cycle and provide thoughtful, effective solutions
  • Experience developing and successfully leveraging outsourcing and offshoring partners
• Experience at a High-Growth Software Company:
  • Experience operating in a project based high-growth, fast-paced, ambiguous environment
  • Experience scaling operational process, capacity, and security for a growing $100M+ company.
  • Experience with a subscription-based, recurring revenue B2B business model
  • Experience working with Aerospace & Defense preferred; Experience in highly-regulated industries required
• Private Equity Experience:
  • Experience working at private equity-backed companies, ideally culminating in a successful sale
  • Ability to develop and operate in a data-driven, metrics-oriented environment
• M&A Experience
  • Examples of successful experience in integration of acquired platforms and technology
  • Has successfully led the team and technology integration of multiple acquired companies.
• Strategic Thought Partner to the CEO, Management Team, and Private Equity Leadership:
  • Experience making actionable, data-driven recommendations for a technology organization
  • Track record of working cross-functionally to develop, deliver and operate a complex multi-product technology roadmap
• Strong, Collaborative Communicator and Leader:
  • Experience inspiring the entire product and technology team and developing and empowering leaders from a servant leader perspective and attitude.
  • Compelling executive presence in front of customers, with strong communication and relationship building skills
  • Experience and examples of hiring, developing, retaining, and leading A+ talent

• Experience in providing motivational leadership and coaching to direct reports and across the technology organization and track record of high retention

Location:

• Exostar Corporate HQ

2325 Dulles Corner Blvd.

Suite 600

Herndon, VA 20171

Opportunity for remote location for the right candidate. Significant travel to home office would be required.

Compensation:

• Competitive base and bonus as well as meaningful equity opportunity

Education

• Bachelors or better