Chief Executive Officer (CEO) 100%

Zurich, Switzerland | Full-time | 100%

About Bastionne

Bastionne builds sovereignty infrastructure for critical systems. We help governments, defense organizations, and critical-infrastructure operators maintain sovereign control of their systems, data, and operations in contested, compromised, and disconnected environments, with no dependence on external CAs or PKI. Every device becomes a bastion; together, they form a Bastionne.

The Role:
We're looking for a founder-caliber CEO to lead Bastionne's next phase of growth — scaling sovereign machine-identity and zero-trust infrastructure from early defense and critical-infrastructure deployments into a category-defining platform. You'll own strategy, technical vision, commercial execution, and capital strategy, while staying hands-on with architecture, threat modeling, and identity design.

Requirements

Must have:

• Track record as founder/CEO of a technology company, ideally through to profitability
• A second company built from first principles to self-sustaining revenue
• Hands-on experience architecting security-critical or decentralized identity systems, including threat modeling
• Deep expertise in zero-trust architecture and machine/device identity management
• Full-stack technical fluency (e.g. C++, C, Swift) to engage credibly with engineering
• Experience with IAM integration and DevSecOps
• Background in fintech/payments or other high-assurance regulated environments
• Cryptography or AI/ML security certifications
• Recognition in cybersecurity/defense innovation (awards, publications)
• Based in or willing to relocate to Zurich
• Strong public-speaking and presentation skills, with the ability to communicate complex technical topics clearly to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strong executive presence and professional communication skills, with the ability to represent the company credibly in senior-level customer, investor, government, and industry engagements.
• Resilient and composed mindset, with the ability to operate effectively under pressure and engage credibly with defence, security, law-enforcement, and critical-infrastructure stakeholders.
• First-hand experience of, or demonstrated familiarity with, high-risk, adversarial, or operationally challenging environments is considered an advantage.