Technical Co-founder & CTO

Technical Co-Founder & CTO (Founding Team) Location: Greater Toronto Area (preferred) / Remote (Canada) Commitment: Full-time Compensation: Founder equity (pre-funding) About Zleni Robotics Zleni Robotics is building intelligent humanoid robots for healthcare, beginning with assisted living and long-term care. Our mission is to augment—not replace—caregivers by developing AI-powered humanoid robots that perform practical, repetitive tasks, allowing staff to spend more time providing meaningful care to residents. We believe the convergence of modern robotics, embodied AI, foundation models, and declining hardware costs will transform healthcare over the next decade. We're currently in the pre-seed stage, validating our first customer pilots and building the founding team. The Opportunity We're looking for a Technical Co-Founder & CTO to help build one of Canada's most ambitious robotics companies. This isn't a traditional engineering role—it's a chance to build a company from day one. You'll own the technical vision, shape the product roadmap, recruit the engineering team, and make the key architectural decisions that define the future of Zleni. What You'll Be Building Initially, you'll focus on developing software for commercially available humanoid robot platforms before helping guide our long-term hardware strategy. Areas you'll work across include: Embodied AI and Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models NVIDIA Isaac Sim, Isaac Lab, and Project GR00T Robot perception, navigation, and manipulation Simulation, digital twins, and reinforcement learning Robotics software architecture Real-world deployment in healthcare environments Ideal Background We're looking for someone who is excited by hard technical problems and wants to build for the next decade—not just the next funding round. You may have experience in: Robotics Mechatronics Computer Engineering Electrical Engineering Computer Science Machine Learning Autonomous systems AI infrastructure Experience with ROS 2, NVIDIA Isaac, reinforcement learning, robot manipulation, computer vision, or humanoid robotics is a significant advantage, but curiosity, execution, and learning ability matter just as much. Who You Are Entrepreneurial and ambitious Comfortable with uncertainty Builder first, manager second Willing to work hands-on across software and hardware Passionate about robotics and AI Excited by the challenge of building a company from scratch Important Zleni Robotics is currently unfunded. This is a founder role with meaningful equity, not a salaried position. We're actively working toward securing our first pilot customers and raising our initial round of funding. Because of this, applicants should be financially able to commit to an early-stage startup where compensation is tied to long-term value creation. Why Join? The next generation of robotics will reshape healthcare. If you want to build technology that addresses one of society's biggest workforce challenges while creating a category-defining company, we'd love to talk. If this resonates with you, apply or reach out—we're looking for someone who wants to build something extraordinary.

As CTO, you will own the technical vision, shape the product roadmap, and recruit the engineering team. You will focus on developing software for humanoid robot platforms and guiding long-term hardware strategy.

The ideal candidate has a background in robotics, computer science, or machine learning and is comfortable with the uncertainty of an early-stage startup. Experience with ROS 2, NVIDIA Isaac, or reinforcement learning is a significant advantage.

• Founder equity

Identified from the job description. Confirm important requirements above.

• Embodied AI
• Vision-Language-Action Models
• NVIDIA Isaac Sim
• NVIDIA Isaac Lab
• Project GR00T
• Robot Perception
• Navigation
• Robot Manipulation
• Reinforcement Learning
• Robotics Software Architecture
• ROS 2
• Computer Vision
• Mechatronics
• Machine Learning
• Autonomous Systems
• Digital Twins

• Engineering
• Technology
• Management & Leadership
• Software
• Healthcare

Minimum experience

10+ years

Apply by

Jan 18, 2027

Posting language

English

Working hours

40 hours per week

Seniority

Executive

Application method

Direct apply is available