Coding AI IDEs changed how software is built. Catio is reinventing how software is decided and governed.
As AI accelerates code, the real bottleneck has moved upstream: what to build, what to modernize, and how to make architectural decisions with speed and confidence.
Catio is the Architecture IDE https://catio.docsend.com/view/3e5x8wtpw4py8cdq — the control plane for modern software systems. We build a living model of production systems, align business goals with technical reality, and generate decision-grade insights, modernization and optimization plans, and execution-ready feature specs. Catio amplifies architects and engineering leaders the way coding copilots amplify developers. See this Demo https://docsend.com/view/d9pqni5xzwx98bzc.
Backed by Eniac Ventures, RRE, and operators from Databricks, Dropbox, Akamai, and Cerner, we’re defining a new category in software and infrastructure.
THE ROLE
We’re hiring our Founding FDA (Forward Deployed Architect) to create the technical backbone of Catio’s commercial motion.
This is a foundational role. You are the owner of proof and outcomes — responsible for taking customers from ambiguous business and product objectives and constraints to validated, production-ready architectures, establishing a new product category in the process.
You will work end-to-end with customers — from initial architecture discovery through proof-of-value and into real production impact. Your job is to establish deep technical trust, map complex systems and constraints, and translate them into decision-grade artifacts that unlock meaningful outcomes in real production systems.
This is a hybrid motion:
- You will directly engage senior engineering users (architects, staff+ engineers, platform teams) through both product-led entry and field-driven demand creation in close partnership with a Founding AE
- You will convert technical usage and discovery into credible proof — and carry that through to real, production-grade architectural outcomes
- You will drive that proof upward — enabling the AE and CEO to multi-thread to executive stakeholders with clear success criteria and a credible path to achieving their goals
You will operate across both technical and executive layers — working with engineers to understand real systems, and with leadership to align on modernization strategy, developer productivity, and architectural tradeoffs.
The work is deeply consultative and system-oriented — mapping real production environments, surfacing architectural tradeoffs, and guiding early implementations that prove value in production.
This role blends forward-deployed architecture, technical consulting, and early product/GTM shaping.
If you’ve taken ambiguous, high-stakes business and architecture problems inside complex enterprise systems — and turned them into real-world outcomes and then into repeatable patterns — you’ll be set up to have outsized impact here.
WHAT YOU’LL DO
- Lead architecture discovery with technical prospects and customers to map production realities — topology, dependencies, constraints, and modernization goals
- Translate ambiguous business objectives and constraints into structured engineering plans — defining success criteria, proof-of-value approaches, and decision-grade artifacts
- Design and execute repeatable proof-of-value engagements that validate Catio in real customer environments and establish a clear path to production
- Create decision-grade artifacts — architecture summaries, risk/trade-off analyses, modernization plans, and credible paths to production
- Work alongside customer teams to deliver real outcomes with Catio across the full lifecycle — embedding when needed to ensure production impact
- Partner with Account Executives to multi-thread complex deals and elevate engagement to executive sponsors (CTO, VPE, platform leadership)
- Build and standardize repeatable assets — reference architectures, POV frameworks, and implementation patterns that scale
- Feed high-fidelity insights from customer work back into product, deployment strategy, and architectural methodology
- Help shape how Catio is deployed, validated, and adopted across modern enterprise software environments
WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR
EXPERIENCE
- Demonstrable experience in Solutions Architecture, Sales Engineering, Forward-Deployed Engineering, or Technical Consulting within high-growth SaaS, infrastructure, AI/ML, DevTools, or cloud-native environments
- Experience operating across both technical validation and delivery, taking ambiguous problems from framing → plan → production outcome
- Experience supporting complex, multi-stakeholder enterprise sales cycles as the technical authority alongside an AE or sales leader
- Demonstrated success leading proof-of-value or pilot engagements that converted into production deployments and closed enterprise deals
- Hands-on experience integrating platforms into enterprise systems — APIs, cloud providers, orchestration layers, CI/CD pipelines, data platforms
- Experience operating in early-stage or founder-led environments where solution frameworks and technical playbooks were still being built
- Exposure to modern data, cloud, AI-native, and infrastructure ecosystems (hyperscalers, data platforms, container orchestration, developer infrastructure)
WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE (HOW YOU OPERATE)
- Technical peer, not a performer — you earn trust with CTOs, Principal Engineers, and platform teams through real systems understanding and crisp thinking
- Structured + diagnostic — you bring structure to ambiguity and can reflect the problem, constraints, and trade-offs clearly
- Outcome-oriented — you focus on delivering meaningful customer results, not just validating technology
- Repeatability builder — you turn early customer work into scalable assets and implementation patterns
- PLS-native (sales-assisted) — you move quickly on intent signals and package proof that helps the AE multi-thread to the economic buyer
- High-trust operator — low ego, crisp follow-through, strong written artifacts, and thoughtful communication
- Grit through 0→1 — you stay present through messy early-stage phases, iterate, and keep producing
- Commercially aware — you connect technical validation to deal progression and business outcomes
SHAPE THE FUTURE WITH CATIO
Category Creation
We are defining a new layer in the modern software stack — the system of work for architectural reasoning. This is not incremental tooling. It’s foundational.
Cutting-Edge AI
Catio sits at the intersection of AI, infrastructure, and enterprise systems — empowering architects and engineering leaders the way coding copilots empower developers.
Ground-Floor Impact
You will help shape our foundation — and in doing so, define the company’s trajectory.
Team & Ambition
We bring deep experience across AI, enterprise systems, and high-growth environments — we’re building a durable, category-defining company with the ambition to set the standard for how modern software systems are designed and governed.
Principled Culture
We operate with high trust and integrity — internally and externally.
We work with senior technical leaders who expect rigor, clarity, and principled communication; we hold ourselves to that same bar.
We move with urgency, but optimize for long-term, principled outcomes — never short-term gains that compromise trust.