AI-Driven UAV Navigation Tech Startup

After raising $2.7M in seed funding, an AI-driven UAV navigation startup faced a complex hiring challenge: finding a CTO with deep AI/ML and software architecture expertise. Due to the specialized skill set and budget constraints, the company turned to DOIT Software to source this high-impact position.

Following the successful CTO placement, the DOIT team helped the startup in hiring three new experts: an embedded software engineer, a hardware/electronics engineer, and a machine learning engineer.

About the Client

Industry: Security
Stage: Seed-funded startup
Funding: $2.7M seed round

The client specializes in navigation hardware for aerial vehicles in the security sector. Their AI-powered systems integrate into various UAV platforms, including vertical take-off, fixed-wing, and multirotor drones. The company addresses core challenges in autonomous flight, focusing on reliable solutions for orientation, timing, and trajectory estimation in dynamic and signal-limited environments.

The Challenge

After securing US$2.7 million in seed funding, the UAV navigation tech company was seeking a CTO to strengthen its team. With the aim of scaling from 5 to 500 clients in a short period, they planned to hire someone who could guide both architectural and managerial aspects during the startup’s rapid growth.

However, the company faced barriers in its search for the right technical leadership:

● Budget constraints as a startup with limited funding allocation
● Geographic limitations for managing team roles requiring hybrid work arrangements
● Hard-to-find specialized skill set requirements

With founders from Eastern Europe and the USA, the company understood that hiring in the USA would be too expensive for their seed funding allocation. As they had budget constraints, they decided to look for talent worldwide to access the expertise they needed within their financial limits.

Technology

Frontend

JavaScript
Vue.js

Backend

Python
REST APIs

Cloud & DevOps

AWS, Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform

Data Engineering & ML/AI

ETL / ELT, Datalakes, NumPy, Pandas, TensorFlow

Beyond budget considerations, the most significant challenge was finding a CTO who could define the overall software architecture for the system. They needed someone with truly full-stack expertise in diverse areas:

● Backend development (Python, REST APIs)
● Frontend technologies (JavaScript, Vue.js)
● Cloud infrastructure management using (AWS, Docker, Kubernetes)
● Extensive experience in data engineering and ML/AI (ETL processes, data lakes, neural networks, MLOps)
● UAV systems integration and navigation technology knowledge

The startup required a CTO who could bring proven expertise in AI/ML and cloud/edge data pipelines. The ideal candidate needed to solve complex architectural challenges and integrate diverse systems.

Moreover, a CTO had to possess strong leadership capabilities to guide a multidisciplinary development team. The role demanded a proven track record of project management, strong communication skills, adaptability, and a continuous learning mindset.

To find this rare skill combination, the UAV navigation company turned to DOIT Software for domain-specific expertise in hiring global ML-focused technical leadership.

The Solution

After analyzing the role requirements, DOIT first addressed the scope challenge. As the client wanted the person to be an engineer, architect, manager, CTO, and much more, it was unrealistic to find someone with all the needed skills within budget.

To optimize the candidate pool and ensure expense alignment, the recruitment team analyzed the market and helped define the must-have requirements for the role.

DOIT recommended focusing on candidates with strong technical backgrounds in ML and AI development, as well as UAV systems integration, rather than traditional management skills.

This approach made sense because the role covered many aspects of software architecture, and including management experience in this skill set would significantly increase salary expectations. It proved more cost-effective to hire a technical specialist with the rare expertise they needed and develop their leadership capabilities over time.

Here’s how DOIT's targeted recruitment process for the CTO role worked:

Screening

First, DOIT started the talent pool analysis and assessed the experience of suitable candidates. The team reviewed portfolio submissions, code samples, tech docs, and video samples to verify practical experience with UAV navigation systems and machine learning projects.

Test tasks

Instead of take-home assignments, DOIT conducted live technical meetings to evaluate real-time thinking. Candidates walked through their code samples during video calls, followed by live Q&A sessions about technical decisions.

Technical interviews

Next, DOIT conducted in-depth technical discussions with shortlisted candidates. The team arranged these sessions in collaboration with the client's VP and tech leads to ensure candidates possess the necessary UAV navigation expertise and meet technical standards.

Behavioral interviews

As the final step, DOIT facilitated direct conversations between candidates and the client leadership team. Together, we assessed their communication skills and must-have management traits, as well as a cultural fit for a fast-paced startup environment.

Next Steps in Collaboration

Satisfied with the quality of the CTO placement, the client expanded its collaboration with DOIT Software to fill three new engineering roles:

Machine Learning Engineer

This role focused on data analysis, ML model development, and optimization for UAV navigation systems. The client specifically wanted someone who could work with sensor data and preprocess datasets to ensure best practices for model generalization. DOIT searched for candidates with: