CTO

Company Description

KadhaiShorts is a digital media and entertainment platform specializing in original scripted content, with a focus on short-form video series tailored for mobile-first audiences. The company empowers emerging creators by providing funding, production infrastructure, and technological support to develop their projects. In addition to original content, KadhaiShorts also offers services like dubbing, localization, content marketing, and live events. The platform is dedicated to bringing compelling storytelling to modern, digitally engaged viewers.

Role Description

We are seeking a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to lead the technological vision and operations of KadhaiShorts. This full-time, on-site role is based in Chennai and involves overseeing the development and execution of the company’s IT strategy, managing software development processes, and leading the architecture of scalable systems. The CTO will collaborate with cross-functional teams to drive product development and ensure that technology aligns with business goals. Daily responsibilities include reviewing and improving existing systems, heading the technology team, and spearheading innovative solutions for our platform and services.

Role Overview

We are looking for a hands-on CTO who can build, ship, and scale a video-first consumer product from the ground up.

This role goes beyond architecture — you will be a co-owner of product, performance, cost, and scale.

In the first 12–18 months, this is a builder role, not a people-management-only role.

Key Responsibilities

1. Product & Technology Leadership

• Own the end-to-end technology roadmap for the OTT platform
• Partner closely with Founder & Content teams to align tech with storytelling, hooks, and binge behaviour
• Translate product vision into fast, scalable, and cost-efficient execution

2. Mobile-First App Development

• Lead development of iOS & Android apps (Native / Flutter / React Native)
• Ensure buttery-smooth vertical video playback
• Optimize for:
• Low-end Android devices
• App size
• Fast load times
• Offline downloads & caching

3. OTT & Video Streaming Architecture

• Design and manage:
• Video ingestion & encoding pipeline
• Adaptive bitrate streaming (HLS/DASH)
• CDN integration & optimization
• Balance video quality vs streaming cost
• Prepare architecture for viral spikes & peak loads

4. Scalability & Cost Control (Critical)

• Build infrastructure that scales from 10K to 1M+ MAU
• Actively manage and optimize:
• Cloud costs
• CDN usage
• Storage & bandwidth
• Ensure infra cost stays within defined revenue benchmarks

5. Monetization & Payments Tech

• Implement and iterate on:
• Subscription plans (weekly/monthly)
• Episode / arc unlocks
• Promotional pricing & experiments
• Integrate India-first payments (UPI, wallets, cards)
• Support future monetization layers (ads, rewards, bundles)

6. Data, Analytics & Experimentation

• Define and track core metrics:
• Episode completion rate
• First-5-second drop-off
• Retention (D1/D7/D30)
• Cost per minute streamed
• ARPU & cohort behavior
• Enable A/B testing for:
• Thumbnails
• Hooks
• Paywalls
• UX flows

7. Security & Content Protection

• Implement:
• API security
• Tokenized streaming URLs
• Watermarking
• Anti-piracy best practices
• Balance content protection with user experience

8. Team Building & Engineering Culture

• Hire and mentor a lean, high-ownership tech team
• Define coding standards, review processes & release cycles
• Decide what to build in-house vs outsource
• Foster a culture of speed, accountability, and learning

What We’re Looking For

Must-Have

• 8–14 years of engineering experience
• Prior experience building consumer-facing mobile apps
• Strong understanding of video streaming / OTT fundamentals
• Hands-on coding ability (still active technically)
• Startup mindset: speed > perfection
• Strong cost-vs-scale decision making

Good to Have

• Experience in OTT, gaming, social video, or media tech
• Experience scaling products to hundreds of thousands or millions of users
• Exposure to payments, subscriptions, or ad-tech
• Prior startup or 0→1 product experience

What Will Make You Successful Here

• You think like a founder, not a service provider
• You obsess over user experience and retention
• You build MVPs fast and improve them weekly
• You are data-driven but decisive
• You’re comfortable with ambiguity and rapid change