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Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
Architect of the Universal Exchange Layer for the Energy Grid
London (Hybrid, 3+ days in office) · Full-time · Executive
ABOUT ZEAL
ZEAL is building Open Banking for the Energy Grid - the universal exchange layer connecting DNOs, NESO, grid operators, and thousands of energy assets (data centres, C&I, BESS) into a single unified platform. The data infrastructure that turns idle grid capacity into fast, flexible connections.
Every era of technology produces a layer everything else is built on. Payments have one. Communications have one. The energy grid - the machine that decides how fast the AI era gets built - doesn’t have one yet. 283 GW sits stuck in the UK connection queue, more than 2,600 GW in the US - twice the country’s installed capacity - and the $600bn+ a year now flowing into AI data centres waits 5-10 years for power that already exists.
We think this is a market problem, not an engineering one: the capacity exists and the demand exists, but there is no mechanism for pricing one against the other. Open Banking solved the same problem for bank data, and an entire industry was built on top of it.
The convergence of AI, FinTech, and energy is inevitable. The future is energy and information transacted at speed.
THE PROBLEM
- Connection queue: 700+ GW pre-reform to 283 GW post-reform. Oversubscription persists.
- Lead times: 5-10 years to connect a data centre. Capital flows to faster jurisdictions.
- Utilisation gap: 65-80% of contracted grid capacity sits idle - roughly 10 GW of untapped C&I flexibility in the UK today.
The bottleneck is not power. It is information. The same structural gap exists in the US, Japan, Australia, and the UAE - wherever AI demand outruns the grid.
THE PLATFORM
Model → Price → Connect. Ingest live facility and network data (metering, power, cooling, constraint zones) and map grid headroom hour by hour. Price connections in a firm tier and a conditional tier - from estimate to bankable quote in weeks, not months. Issue the Flexibility Passport: a portable, auditable connection artefact with day-ahead operating limits.
THE ROLE
As CTO you join the Leadership Team and own the architecture, build, and deployment of ZEAL’s platform. You will:
- Define the end-to-end technical vision and the 12-24 month product and platform roadmap.
- Lead engineering across data ingestion, standardisation, simulation, pricing, and the API surface.
- Own bank-grade security as a product feature: end-to-end encryption, authentication, FAPI-grade consent management.
- Embed ML as a first-class capability - feature stores, real-time inference, scenario simulation at scale.
- Build AI-native from day one: agentic development and AI-accelerated engineering are how a small team here ships at the pace of an organisation ten times its size.
- Ship production code. You are in the codebase for the first 12-18 months.
- Recruit and grow a top-tier engineering team across platform, data, and AI/ML - post-Seed.
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RESPONSIBILITIES
Platform Architecture & Delivery (50%)
- Architect ZEAL’s API-first market infrastructure: ingestion from DNO source systems and facility systems (metering, power, cooling), standardisation, simulation, and the two-tier pricing engine that turns raw grid data into bankable quotes.
- Build secure, low-latency engines for real-time telemetry, consent-based data exchange, and connection pricing - and the Flexibility Passport pipeline: portable, auditable, contract-grade artefacts with day-ahead operating limits.
- Own bank-grade security as a product feature - end-to-end encryption, authentication, FAPI-grade consent management. We sit between regulated networks and critical infrastructure: trust is the moat.
- Embed ML as a first-class capability - feature stores, real-time inference, model governance, scenario simulation at scale.
- Build AI-native from day one. Agentic development, AI-accelerated research, prototyping, and design are how a small team here ships at the pace of an organisation ten times its size. You ship faster because you master the tools, not in spite of them.
- Ship production code.
Technology Strategy & Roadmap (20%)
- Own the systems architecture and platform roadmap; make the build-vs-buy and defensibility calls that compound.
- Run sprints and technical workshops with the team - set the agenda, break down the work, ship to priorities.
- Translate regulation and market signals (Connections Reform, MHHS, RIIO-ED3) into product decisions and prioritisation.
- Act as the technical authority in regulator, DNO, and partner conversations led by the CEO - credible with network operators, NESO, Ofgem, and data-centre operators when called in.
MVP & Prototyping for Investors and Clients (20%)
- Build and ship working prototypes that turn the ZEAL thesis into something investors can see and clients can test - fast.
- Own the demo platform: live data, working simulations, screen-ready for any board, VC, DNO, or procurement meeting.
- Convert pilot conversations into signed contracts on the strength of platform performance.
- Iterate weekly on what investors and clients actually respond to. Speed of learning is the metric.
Team & Culture (10%)
- Recruit and grow a top-tier engineering team across platform, back-end, data, and AI/ML - post-Seed.
- Set engineering principles and review standards; build a culture of shipping.
- Run weekly and monthly retrospectives on work shipped and lessons compounded.
WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE
- Q3 2026 - MVP built and tested; technical scoping complete with a Tier-1 UK data-centre operator; demo-ready for the Seed roadshow.
- Q4 2026 - live BMS and metering integration at the first operator site; first Flexibility Passport issued.
- 2027 - grid-innovation proof-of-concept delivered with a major UK DNO; second data-centre operator onboarded with no architectural rework; founding engineering team hired.
- 2028 - Series A-ready, multi-DC, multi-DNO platform in production.
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RELEVANT EXPERIENCE
Domain depth in at least two of the following:
Energy & Grid
- Worked with DNO, TSO, or NESO data - ingested it, modelled it, or built products on top of it.
- Fluent in the UK regulatory direction of travel - Connections Reform, MHHS, RIIO-ED3, flexibility markets.
- Hands-on with at least one of: load forecasting, grid simulation, demand-response, flexibility trading, constraint management.
Data Centres & C&I
- Hyperscale or colocation data-centre experience, or site-level integration with industrial and DC systems - BMS, SCADA, DCIM, or equivalent telemetry.
- Understands uptime SLAs and the commercial reality of asking a large operator to curtail.
AI, ML & Data Platforms
- Architected a production AI/ML platform - real-time inference, model governance, reproducibility.
- Forecasting, optimisation, or simulation in commercial deployment, not research.
Open Banking & Market Infrastructure
- Built or integrated Open Banking / PSD2 platforms, FinTech or Tier-1 bank deployments - or trading, clearing, and exchange infrastructure.
- Multi-tenant, API-first platforms shipped from zero to production that other engineers built on.
- Consent-based data exchange and FAPI-grade security as first-class concerns.
COMPENSATION
Competitive base salary, equity (EMI options) with step-ups at Pre-Seed and Seed close, and a Leadership Team seat with joint sign-off on product, technology, and roadmap.
CULTURE FIT IS NON-NEGOTIABLE
- Great Energy - we bring and share great energy.
- Be Genius - we believe everyone is a genius at something.
- Thinker & Doer - deep thought and bold action, in the same person.
- Intention & Attention - every action deliberate, every detail matters.
- Trust = Speed - high trust enables bold action and faster decisions. Low trust kills companies.
- First-Principles Thinking - we reason from first principles, not received wisdom.
- Make a Dent in the Universe - our work will change the future of energy for billions.
If you want to build something great that matters and scales to the lives of billions of people, this place is for you.
THE TEAM YOU JOIN
Built by operators, backed by market experience. We built Open Banking for banks and scaled to 55M users in the UK - now we are building it for energy.
HOW TO APPLY
Apply here on LinkedIn, or write directly: Nadal Sarkytbayev, Founder & CEO - nadal@zealpower.co.uk
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