Fractional Chief Technology Officer (CTO) — Path to Full-Time
Location: Los Angeles, CA preferred
Job Type: Part-time, Contract
Expected Hours: 8–12 hours per week
Compensation: $125–$175 per hour, plus equity
About the Opportunity
Rex is looking for an experienced Fractional Chief Technology Officer to join the company on a part-time contract basis, with a clear opportunity to transition into a full-time CTO position following financing and mutual fit.
This is not a short-term consulting project or a traditional advisory role. We are looking for someone who wants to become a meaningful part of Rex’s leadership team, take ownership of our technical direction, and help build the company through its next stage of growth.
The right person will be hungry to build, comfortable operating in an early-stage environment, and motivated by the opportunity to help create a category-defining consumer company. We want someone who will roll up their sleeves, make decisions, solve problems, and take real ownership rather than simply advise from the sidelines.
A genuine passion for and strong knowledge of movies and television is also required. Rex is building for entertainment fans, and our technical leader should personally understand the problems surrounding streaming, content discovery, recommendations, and deciding what to watch.
About Rex
Rex is an entertainment discovery platform designed to help people spend less time searching and more time watching.
Our iOS app brings entertainment discovery into one place through personalized recommendations, conversational AI, collaborative decision-making, curated lists, watchlists, and direct connections to streaming platforms.
Rex is currently live on the App Store. We are now focused on growing our audience, strengthening the product, expanding our team, and preparing the company for its next stage of financing.
The Role
The Fractional CTO will work closely with the founder and Rex’s existing iOS and backend development team to lead the company’s technical strategy and prepare the organization for scale.
The ideal candidate combines strong technical judgment with executive-level leadership. You should be comfortable reviewing architecture, managing developers, prioritizing a product roadmap, supporting fundraising conversations, and making thoughtful decisions about what the company should and should not build.
You should also be someone who actively watches and understands movies and television, follows the streaming landscape, and can contribute thoughtfully to conversations about entertainment discovery, user behavior, personalization, and content.
The position will initially require approximately 8–12 hours per week, with flexibility to increase involvement during fundraising, major product decisions, or development sprints.
Responsibilities
- Own and develop Rex’s technical strategy and product roadmap
- Lead, support, and mentor the existing iOS and backend development team
- Review the current codebase, architecture, infrastructure, and development processes
- Identify technical risks, scalability concerns, security needs, and opportunities for improvement
- Establish stronger engineering standards, documentation, testing, and release processes
- Translate business and product priorities into realistic technical plans
- Help determine which features, platforms, and integrations Rex should prioritize
- Contribute to product discussions involving movies, television, streaming, recommendations, and entertainment discovery
- Evaluate future technical partnerships and product opportunities
- Develop the technical hiring plan for the company’s next stage of growth
- Participate in technical due diligence and investor conversations
- Work directly with the founder on product strategy, fundraising preparation, and company planning
- Help establish a strong, accountable, and ambitious engineering culture
- Step in where needed and take a hands-on approach to solving important technical and product challenges
Qualifications
- Previous experience as a CTO, VP of Engineering, Head of Engineering, technical founder, or senior engineering leader
- Strong experience building and scaling consumer-facing mobile products
- Deep understanding of mobile architecture, backend systems, APIs, cloud infrastructure, analytics, security, and scalability
- Experience managing engineers, contractors, or distributed development teams
- Ability to review technical work while also operating at a strategic executive level
- Strong product instincts and an understanding of how technical decisions affect growth and user experience
- Experience supporting fundraising, technical due diligence, or investor conversations
- Excellent communication skills with technical and non-technical stakeholders
- A practical and resource-conscious approach to early-stage product development
- A builder mentality and a willingness to be hands-on
- Comfortable working in an environment where priorities move quickly and not every problem has an established playbook
- Deep personal knowledge of and enthusiasm for movies and television
- Strong familiarity with major streaming services, entertainment discovery products, and how audiences decide what to watch
- Ability to discuss films, television, genres, filmmakers, talent, streaming behavior, and entertainment trends with genuine fluency
Preferred Experience
- Experience with Swift and native iOS development
- Experience with AI-powered consumer products, recommendation systems, or personalization
- Experience in entertainment, streaming, media, social products, or consumer subscriptions
- Experience working with entertainment metadata, content catalogs, or third-party media APIs
- Experience helping an early-stage startup raise venture financing and scale its engineering organization
- Experience recruiting and evaluating technical talent
- Based in Los Angeles or available to meet with the team in person periodically
Compensation and Equity
The hourly compensation range for this position is $125–$175 per hour, depending on experience and the level of involvement.
The role also includes a meaningful equity opportunity. The initial equity package will reflect the part-time nature of the position, with the potential for an expanded equity grant if the candidate transitions into Rex’s full-time CTO.
Specific compensation, equity, vesting, and full-time conversion terms will be discussed with qualified candidates.
Why Join Rex
This is an opportunity to join Rex at an important stage in the company’s development.
The product is live, the initial engineering team is in place, and the company is preparing for its next phase of growth and financing.
You will have the opportunity to influence the product, technical organization, hiring strategy, and long-term direction of the company rather than stepping into a narrowly defined engineering role.
We are looking for someone who is ambitious, resourceful, and genuinely hungry to build. The right person should want more than a fractional consulting engagement. They should be excited about becoming a major part of Rex’s future and helping build the product, team, and technical organization behind a leading consumer entertainment platform.
Application Questions
Please include brief responses to the following:
- What consumer mobile products have you helped build or scale?
- Have you previously served as a CTO, technical founder, or engineering leader at an early-stage company?
- What would you prioritize during your first 30 days with Rex?
- Describe a time when you joined an early-stage company and had to build systems, processes, or a team with limited resources.
- What role do movies and television play in your life, and what are some of your favorite films, shows, filmmakers, or genres?
- Which streaming or entertainment discovery products do you use, and what do you believe they do well or poorly?
- Are you open to beginning part-time and potentially transitioning into a full-time CTO role following financing?
- Are you based in Los Angeles or available to meet periodically in person?
Pay: $125.00 - $150.00 per hour
Work Location: Hybrid remote in West Hollywood, CA 90069
