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Michal K. Interim CTO · CTO as a Service · AI Agent Consultant

Michal K.

  • $150/hour
  • Prague Metropolitan Area
  • Part-time (less than 40 hrs a week)
Michal is now available for hire Hire Michal

I'm an interim CTO and CTO consultant for companies that build AI products. I bring 17+ years of hands-on software engineering, from full-stack apps and distributed backends to AI agents built with LangGraph and MCP. I work with startups and product teams as an interim CTO, through CTO as a service, or on shorter CTO consulting projects.

What I help with as an interim CTO

  • Tech strategy and architecture for new AI products
  • Taking a product from MVP to a stable production system
  • Building and leading small engineering teams
  • Architecture and code reviews as a software architecture consultant
  • Technical due diligence
  • Advising founders as a CTO advisor when there is no tech leader yet

AI strategy and agentic systems

I help companies decide where AI agents make sense and then build them. Some clients use me as a fractional chief AI officer. My focus is agent orchestration, durable and stateful execution, tool use and MCP, structured outputs, human-in-the-loop workflows and Generative UI. I work with LangGraph, LangChain, Rivet, CopilotKit, AG-UI, TypeScript and Effect. I also use coding agents in my own work through Spec-driven Development, so teams ship faster without losing control over quality.

How we can work together

  • Interim CTO: I lead your tech team for a few months, for example until you hire a full-time CTO.
  • CTO as a service: a few days a month of tech leadership for a startup that does not need a full-time CTO yet.
  • CTO consulting: a one-off project, such as an architecture review or an AI strategy for your product.

Background

Underneath the AI focus is a broad full-stack background: TypeScript/JavaScript, React, Next.js, React Native, Node.js, Bun, NestJS, APIs and enterprise integration, distributed systems, PostgreSQL, Redis, Elasticsearch, cloud infrastructure and CI/CD. I have delivered software for automotive, finance, IT, gaming, e-commerce, healthcare, travel and geospatial projects, for brands like Warner Bros Games, Lotus Cars, Zooplus, Johnson & Johnson and ŠKODA AUTO. I work remotely from Prague with international teams and prefer long-term B2B engagements.

Current areas of focus: Interim CTO • CTO as a Service • AI Strategy • AI Engineering • Agentic Systems • Agent Harness Engineering • Spec-driven Development • Generative UI • MCP • LangGraph • Effect • TypeScript • React / Next.js • NestJS • Distributed Systems • Product Engineering

Skills

Experience

Interim CTO / CTO Consultant

Independent Present

Interim CTO, CTO as a service and CTO consulting for startups and product teams building AI products: tech strategy, software architecture, AI agent strategy, technical due diligence and engineering team setup.

Independent AI R&D - Agentic Systems

Independent Ongoing

Ongoing R&D on AI-native app architecture: agent runtimes, Generative UI, MCP tools and AI-supported software development. Used to test new patterns before using them in client work.

Senior Software Engineer & Technical Lead

MVP Match 5 yrs 8 mos

Senior engineering and technical lead role on client projects:

  • 2022 Warner Bros Games / NetherRealm Studios - Mortal Kombat 30th Anniversary website
  • 2022 Zooplus - new white-label e-commerce solution
  • 2022 Lotus Cars - new model site
  • 2021 Heycar - used cars search engine
  • 2021 Johnson & Johnson - NestJS GraphQL backend for an internal system

Software Engineer

Whirr Crew s.r.o. 7 mos

Software Engineer (BEKAST IT CONSULTING GMBH)

ŠKODA AUTO a.s. 3 yrs 2 mos

Projects: SKODA-CONNECT & Car Data Brokerage

Team Leader & Angular/TypeScript Developer

Konica Minolta Business Solutions Czech, spol. s r.o. 10 mos

Led and developed the WorkplaceHub platform team.

Javascript & Java Developer

Hewlett Packard Enterprise 10 mos

Enterprise Maps & Systinet (D3, Typescript, Webpack, Maven)

Java Developer

EmbedIT 7 mos

Java Developer

Česká spořitelna, a.s. 7 mos

Implementation of banking systems (Spring Framework & JAX-WS, AngularJS, ElasticSearch)

Java & AngularJS Developer

Audatex Systems s.r.o. 11 mos

Implementation of next-generation AudaNext Platform. (Play Framework, AngularJS)

Java Web Developer

Hönigsberg & Düvel Datentechnik Czech s.r.o. 2 yrs 7 mos

Development, analysis & design of web and mobile applications. Various technologies used.

Java Developer

Ap-Connect a.s. 4 mos

Co-founder

Scalprs - The Forex Scalping Network 6 mos

Co-founded a forex scalping network. Built the platform on Elgg and ran SEO and marketing.

Web Application Developer

ABOUT:BLANK s.r.o. 4 mos

JavaServer Faces developer

PRESTO - PŘEKLADATELSKÉ CENTRUM s.r.o. 5 mos

Development of JSF applications for internal use.

Short-term internship

CEZ 1 mo

ČEZNet (now ČEZ ICT Services) - mandatory work experience required by highschool curriculum.

Education and Certificates

Cosmopolitan Institute of Education, s.r.o.

MSc. Nov 2020 - Nov 2021

College of information Management, Business Administration and Law

2012 - 2015

Czech Technical University in Prague

2009 - 2011

Private Secondary School of Information Technology (SSŠVT)

2004 - 2008
Want to hire Michal K. or just want to talk? Schedule chat with Michal

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