Founding Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

Company Overview

PAGRIC is an AI-driven B2B agricultural supply intelligence platform in Nigeria that links smallholder farmers and food factories using WhatsApp and USSD, eliminating the need for smartphones. It leverages satellite yield forecasting, multilingual voice AI, and QR-verified agricultural inputs to address supply chain inefficiencies causing high post-harvest losses and palm oil import reliance. Factories receive verified six-week advance supply forecasts, while farmers benefit from fair pricing and usable credit histories to access financing. The platform deliberately avoids integrating payment rails.

Position Summary

The role involves ownership of multiple key technical components including:

• Building the WhatsApp and USSD MVP that is offline-first, supports multiple languages, and works on all handsets
• Developing the AI advisory layer for pest and disease detection, weather updates, and voice guidance
• Integrating satellite-based yield predictions by local government areas (LGAs) to deliver six-week advance forecasts to factories
• Creating a matching engine aligning farm supply with factory demand ahead of harvest
• Establishing the data infrastructure foundation for credit scoring

This is a broad and pioneering leadership role, with an expectation to prioritize and sequence deliverables rather than simultaneously build all aspects.

Qualifications

• A Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, IT, or equivalent hands-on experience
• Strong expertise in software development and architectural design, notably creating scalable, secure, and resilient systems from the ground up
• Capability to define and execute long-term technical strategies aligned with business goals rather than simply implementing predefined tasks
• Experience with or curiosity about applied AI/ML technologies such as advisory systems, computer vision for pest detection, or geospatial and satellite data
• Comfort navigating the uncertain and dynamic environment of an early-stage startup, including ambiguity and rapid iteration
• Ability to work autonomously, communicate effectively, and later lead and mentor an engineering team as the company grows

Preferred Skills

• Familiarity with USSD or WhatsApp Business API integration
• Knowledge of satellite or remote sensing data (e.g., Sentinel, NDVI) and general agri-tech domain
• Prior experience as a founding engineer or technical cofounder
• Understanding of infrastructure challenges specific to African markets, such as connectivity issues, device diversity, and multilingual user experience

Compensation and Commitment

This is a remote, part-time position initially, with transition to full-time anticipated after securing pre-seed funding. Compensation is offered as founder equity through a standard four-year vesting schedule with a one-year cliff. The startup is currently bootstrapped and unable to provide a salary until pre-seed funding closes, offering instead the rare opportunity to build a critical platform from the ground up.

Future Outlook

Successful pre-seed funding will support an 18-month development runway aimed at reaching 10,000 farmers and securing contracts with five factories, powered by the platform you architect. This role offers the chance to become a key technical leader shaping the infrastructure for Nigerian agriculture.