Key Skills

Job Description

Technical Co-founder / CTO Track – Ambient Intelligence, Sensor Fusion & Edge AI Xtentis | Utrecht, The Netherlands | Part-time initially | Co-founder equity About Xtentis Europe's care systems face a growing challenge: rising care needs and fewer professionals to deliver that care. Care teams need better ways to understand what is happening in residents' rooms, identify safety-critical events and distinguish genuine concerns from everyday activity. Xtentis is developing an ambient intelligence platform for care that combines signals from multiple sensors to understand changes in a room's state and identify care-relevant events. No cameras. No wearables. The aim is to turn environmental signals into reliable, contextual information that helps care professionals focus on people rather than monitoring systems. Our technology combines multimodal sensor fusion, behavioural state modelling, contextual inference and edge intelligence. We are developing a reference sensing device using commercially available components to establish and validate the technology. Our longer-term ambition is a software-led, sensor-agnostic platform that can work across different sensing configurations and existing hardware. The core value lies in the intelligence layer, not in manufacturing proprietary sensors. The opportunity We are looking for a technical co-founder to own the technology roadmap and take the platform from proof-of-concept to a field-validated product, with the potential to become CTO. This is an opportunity to shape the architecture and build the core technology of an ambitious early-stage venture. You will work closely with the founder, specialist technical contributors, care organisations and research partners. The central technical challenge is to build a robust inference platform that can combine heterogeneous sensor data, account for differences in measurement quality and confidence, and interpret changes in environmental state over time. What you will own Technical architecture: Define and lead the development of the sensing and software platform. Sensor fusion: Develop the architecture for combining spatial, motion and other environmental signals from different sensing modalities. State modelling and inference: Build the temporal and contextual intelligence that distinguishes meaningful events from normal activity and helps reduce false alarms. Edge intelligence: Ensure processing is efficient, reliable and privacy-preserving, with inference running locally. Sensor portability: Progressively validate the platform with alternative sensors and third-party hardware, reducing dependence on a single sensing configuration. Product validation: Lead technical development and performance validation through pilots in real care environments. Engineering leadership: Plan and direct prototype development with specialist contributors, whether employees or contractors. Technical representation: Contribute to discussions with research partners, care providers, investors and regulatory stakeholders. Who we're looking for You have a strong technical foundation and have previously helped build and ship hardware-enabled software products. You understand the interaction between physical sensing, embedded systems and software, and can translate complex technical challenges into a practical development roadmap. Ideally, you bring experience in several of these areas: Software architecture, AI systems or sensor-based platforms, with hands-on experience in embedded or edge environments. Multimodal sensor fusion, radar, spatial sensing or signal processing. Deploying or directing deployment of ML models on resource-constrained hardware, such as embedded Linux, edge devices or microcontrollers. Real-time data processing, temporal modelling or probabilistic systems. Integrating different sensors and working with heterogeneous data sources. Leading technical development with specialist engineers or external contractors. You should be comfortable evaluating embedded software and firmware work, even if you are not personally writing every component. Healthcare, medtech or other regulated-environment experience is useful, but not essential. Most importantly, you are an entrepreneurial builder: comfortable with uncertainty, willing to work hands-on, and motivated by creating a product and company rather than simply delivering a technical project. What we're not looking for Someone whose experience is limited to cloud infrastructure, web platforms or generative AI, without exposure to physical systems, embedded environments or real-time data processing. Someone looking for a conventional salaried CTO position from day one. Someone who prefers to remain purely at research or conceptual level without taking ownership of implementation and product validation. What we offer A genuine co-founder position with meaningful equity and a vesting arrangement tied to time and performance milestones. A seat at the table on strategic and company-building decisions. Ownership of the technical vision, architecture and roadmap. The opportunity to build a differentiated technology platform with potential applications across care settings. Direct collaboration with care organisations and research partners. A modest founding salary once bridge funding is secured. The role starts part-time, with the ambition to grow alongside the company and funding. Location and practicalities Location: Utrecht, The Netherlands. Working model: Part-time initially, hybrid, with regular in-person collaboration. Dutch: Working knowledge is strongly preferred, but not an absolute requirement. Eligibility: You must already be based in the Netherlands and able to work regularly from Utrecht. Interested? If you have the technical experience, entrepreneurial mindset and ambition to build something meaningful in healthcare, we'd like to hear from you. Let's build Xtentis together.

Core Responsibilities

Own the technical roadmap and architecture, developing a sensor-fusion and edge-intelligence platform that interprets environmental signals and identifies care-relevant events. Lead prototype development, sensor portability, and technical validation in care settings, while coordinating specialist contributors and representing the technology to partners and stakeholders.

Requirements

The ideal candidate has helped build and ship hardware-enabled software products and has experience with embedded or edge systems, sensor-based platforms, and real-time or multimodal data. They should be an entrepreneurial, hands-on technical leader comfortable with uncertainty and product validation; healthcare or regulated-environment experience is useful but not essential.

Benefits

• Co-Founder Equity
• Strategic Decision-Making Participation
• Ownership of the Technical Vision, Architecture, and Roadmap
• Modest Founding Salary Once Bridge Funding Is Secured