Staff Engineer - Office CTO; m​/f​/d

Introduction:

Ready to build the future of parking from zero to one - without the constraints of feature team roadmaps? At Peter Park, we are creating a new structure to tackle our most ambitious technical challenges: the Office of the CTO (OCTO). This is not a traditional Staff Engineer role. You will not be optimizing existing systems or shepherding incremental improvements. Instead, you will bootstrap entirely new product lines, unblock mission‑critical projects that are stuck, and tackle high‑impact technical debt that would otherwise never see the light of day.

As the founding member of OCTO, you will report directly to the CTO and work with near‑total autonomy on problems that matter. One week you might be designing the architecture for a confidential zero‑to‑one bet. The next, you could be embedded in a team firefighting a production crisis or eliminating a systemic bottleneck. This role combines the intellectual satisfaction of greenfield engineering with the operational intensity of crisis management.

If you thrive in ambiguity, ship fast under pressure, and want to see your work shape the technical direction of a European scaleup, this is your role.

• Bootstrap New Bets from Zero to One:
  You act as the founding technical lead for net‑new initiatives outside our current product lines. You take a strategic vision, translate it into technical architecture, build the first working version, and hand it off to a dedicated team once validated. You own the entire early‑stage lifecycle: from proof‑of‑concept to production‑ready MVP.
• Unblock Mission‑Critical Projects:
  When delivery is at risk – whether due to technical complexity, architectural uncertainty, or team capacity – you embed short‑term in the affected team. You diagnose root causes, propose solutions, and drive execution without changing reporting structures. You parachute in, stabilize the situation, and leave the team stronger than you found it.
• Tackle High‑Impact Opportunistic Work:
  During downtime between major initiatives, you focus on cross‑functional technical debt, customer escalations, and internal tooling improvements that would otherwise never make it to any roadmap. Examples: fixing live occupancy accuracy, resolving tablet reliability issues, or building frameworks that accelerate other engineers.
• Build & Lead Small Teams When Needed:
  As initiatives scale, you may hire and manage a very small team (1–3 engineers) to help you execute. This is not traditional people management – you remain hands‑on and technical – but you provide light mentorship, delegation, and direction. You know when to bring in help and when to stay solo.
• Operate with Radical Autonomy:
  You meet with the CTO once per week for less than 30 minutes in a fully agenda‑driven session. Beyond that, you own your priorities, execution, and impact. You proactively identify what needs to be done, align with stakeholders (tech team leads, Head of Product, lead engineers), and ship results without hand‑holding.
• Translate Technical Decisions into Business Outcomes:
  You articulate how your work impacts ARR, margin, or velocity. You write clear RFCs, communicate trade‑offs to non‑technical stakeholders, and ensure leadership understands the "why" behind every architectural decision. Your technical excellence is matched by your ability to influence strategy.

• Proven Zero-to-One Track Record:
  You have built systems from scratch and shipped them to production. You know the difference between a prototype and a product. If you have never taken a greenfield project from idea to production, this role is not for you.
• High-Pressure Technical Leadership:
  You have been the most senior engineer in the room during a crisis. You stay calm under pressure, make decisions with incomplete information, and take ownership of outcomes.
• Backend-Heavy or Full‑Stack Depth:
  Exceptionally strong in backend systems (Python, Node.js/NestJS, Type Script) with experience in distributed systems, event‑driven architectures, and AWS (RDS, Dynamo
  
  DB, S3, Lambda, SQS). You understand…