{"id":724552,"url":"https://alion.io/job/hottopic-chief-technology-officer","title":"Chief Technology Officer","company":{"id":678703,"name":"Hot Topic","domain":"hottopic.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/hottopic","size_band":"5000+","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Lever","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":76,"open_postings":4,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.75,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":62,"computed_at":"2026-11-03T05:54:40Z"}},"role":"Leadership","role_family":"Leadership","seniority":"head","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"hybrid","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["City of Industry, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":300000,"max":350000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":350000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"AIOps","optional":false},{"name":"Copilot","optional":false},{"name":"LLM","optional":false},{"name":"Machine Learning","optional":false},{"name":"PCI DSS","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2020-01-10T23:10:56Z","employer_posted_date":"2020-01-10","last_verified_at":"2026-11-04T01:11:50Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":2489,"trust":{"level":"stale","repost_count":0,"flags":["stale"],"days_open":2488},"description":"Technology keeps the world moving - It’s no different here at Hot Topic. We are on the hunt for a CTO who is responsible for overseeing all technical aspects of the company. The Chief Technology Officer (CTO) is the senior executive responsible for the strategic direction, governance, and operational execution of all technology functions across the enterprise. This includes cybersecurity, enterprise applications, infrastructure and hardware, IT operations, help desk, end-user support, artificial intelligence and data science and the full portfolio of technology projects across all three brands. This role requires a leader who can operate at both the strategic and operational level - shaping long-term technology vision, including how artificial intelligence and machine learning are applied to create measurable business value, while ensuring day-to-day reliability of systems that directly impact store operations, customer experience, and revenue.\nWHAT YOU'LL NEED\nIn partnership with company leadership team, the CTO will be actively involved and lead in developing the vision and a road map to execute current and future company goals and objectives.\nSupport and refine current plan for the product roadmap including setting time frames and successfully drive to fruition and release. Develop plans for new products and enhancements including time frames, release and time to market.\nOwn the IT capital and operating budget, ensuring effective allocation of resources across infrastructure, applications, security, and support functions.\nDirect the full software development cycle. Establish, refine and supervise the software development process, setting short-term objectives and assessing progress as defined by the selected software development methodology.\nManage activities so that products are developed on schedule, maximum efficiency and within quality standards and cost objectives that meet market demands.\nProduct Quality Assurance\nPromote achievement of high-quality products through extensive and fool-proof yet efficient quality assurance process.\nIntegrate review and quality testing in the development cycle to ensure efficiency, avoid repeated errors and rejects, and ensure all the requirements are appropriately addressed.\nEnsure that products and enhancements provide optimum solutions consistent with what customers need and improve their workflow and usage experience.\nStrategy & Planning\nIdentify technology trends and evolving social behavior that may support or impede the success of the business. Evaluate and identify appropriate technology platforms (including web application frameworks and the deployment stack) for delivering the company’s services.\nEstablish a governance process that meets government, partner, and company expectations for customer information privacy and other regulatory compliance.\nAcquisition, maintenance and cost-effective technology including internal infrastructure, systems and client integration.\nPrepare department budget and resource/infrastructure requirements.\nExecution & Implementation\nDirect management of engineers/developers (on-shore and off-shore), DBAs, QA staff, product management, infrastructure and production support teams as well as technology partners and vendors.\nEnsure high availability and resilience of systems supporting store operations, distribution centers, and corporate functions.\nOversee technology asset lifecycle management, hardware refresh cycles, and vendor/OEM relationships.\nDrive standardization and operational efficiency across store-level technology deployments.\nCybersecurity & Risk Management\nOwn enterprise-wide cybersecurity strategy, governance, and risk management, ensuring protection of customer data, payment systems (PCI compliance), and corporate assets across all brands.\nEnsure compliance with applicable regulatory requirements (PCI-DSS, state/federal privacy laws, data protection regulations).\nEstablish incident response, disaster recovery, and business continuity plans; lead the organization through security incidents when they occur.\nOversee security operations, vulnerability management, identity and access management, and third-party/vendor risk assessments.\nArtificial Intelligence Strategy, Governance and Execution\nOwn the enterprise AI strategy and roadmap, identifying and prioritizing high-value use cases across ecommerce, merchandising, marketing, supply chain, customer service, and store operations and all cross functional areas that drive measurable revenue growth, margin improvement, and cost efficiency across both brands and all three websites.\nChampion the adoption of AI, across the technology team and the entire organization.\nEstablish an AI governance framework covering responsible and ethical AI use, data privacy, model risk management, bias mitigation, and compliance with emerging AI regulations, ensuring AI initiatives are deployed safely and in alignment with customer trust and brand standards.\nEvaluate and select AI platforms, tools, and vendor/partner relationships (cloud AI/ML services, generative AI and LLM providers, AI-enabled SaaS and copilot tools) that accelerate time-to-value while effectively managing cost, security, and risk.\nDrive a culture of AI literacy and experimentation across the technology organization and the broader business, including deploying internal AI tools that improve developer productivity, IT operations (AIOps), and enterprise efficiency.\nCollaboration, Operations & Maintenance\nMaintain up-to-date knowledge of technology standards, industry trends, emerging technologies, and software development best practices\nDefine and communicate company values and standards for acquiring or developing systems, equipment, or software within the company. Ensure the company’s internal technological processes and customer-facing services comply with community expectations and applicable laws and regulations for privacy, security, and social responsibility.\nEnsure that technology standards and best practices are maintained across the organization.\nEnsure company technical problems are resolved in a timely and cost-effective manner.\nDevelop, track, and control the product management, development and deployment of annual operating and capital budgets for purchasing, staffing, and operations.\nDisplay high-performance, high-energy leadership to direct team, collaboration with company leadership team\nProduct Management\nIn partnership with internal business owners, help direct product and enhancement requirements gathering for software, platform, and web-based solutions including workflow, wireframes, mockups and prototype consistent with both strategic intention of the company as whole (sales, marketing, implementation, support and operations) and clients/customers.\nCollaborate with designers (UX/UI), project managers, operations and Product User Groups to successfully achieve high-quality and useful products.\nReview and approve proposed development releases and manage the release process.\nPresent new releases and plans highlighting new products enhancements to existing customers, potential clients and business partners (as well as in trade shows, conferences and user-group meetings).","description_format":"text","description_chars":7207,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Apparel & Fashion Brands","Information 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