Frank Goortani, TOGAF, PMP
AI/ML Engineering Executive • CTO • Chief AI Officer
AI/ML Engineering Executive with 25+ years architecting production systems at scale, from startups to Fortune 500. Currently Solution Architect at Uber (built award-winning ELLE AI Decision Engine) and part-time CTO at FasterOutcomes (AI legal tech startup). Deep technical expertise in production LLM systems (LangChain, RAG, AI Agents) combined with proven leadership building and scaling engineering teams (12-60 people) at TD Bank, Home Depot, and Canada Life.
Track record: Led teams from 3→50 engineers | Built 8+ personal SaaS products | Managed $2M-$10M technology initiatives | Achieved 70% efficiency gains through AI automation | Thought leader with 13K+ LinkedIn followers
Seeking CTO/CAIO role at AI-first company (Seed-Series B, $400K-$600K) where strategic vision and hands-on technical execution both matter.
Tools, Frameworks, Libraries, Languages, Databases
AI/ML & LLM Frameworks:
LangChain, LangGraph, FastMCP, MCP Development, CrewAI, Ollama, Prompt Engineering, Agentic Workflows, AI Strategy, Model Governance
Agentic Coding & AI Development:
Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Codex, Aider, AI-Assisted Development, MCP Server Development, Team Productivity (3-5x gains)
LLM Platforms:
OpenAI (GPT-4), Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, Cohere, Hugging Face, Open Source LLMs
Vector Databases & Embeddings:
OpenSearch, Pinecone, Qdrant, Chroma, Weaviate, Semantic Search, RAG Systems
Backend & APIs:
Python (FastAPI, LangFx), Go (YARPC, gRPC), Java (Spring Boot), Node.js, GraphQL, REST, Protocol Buffers
Frontend & Mobile:
React 18, TypeScript, NextJS, Angular, React Native, Fusion.js, Redux, Material Design, Tailwind CSS
Cloud & Infrastructure:
GCP (Cloud Run, Firestore, Firebase), AWS (EC2, Lambda, S3), Azure, Kubernetes, Docker, Terraform
Data & Messaging:
Apache Kafka, Temporal/Cadence, Apache Spark, Presto, Cassandra, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redis, MongoDB
DevOps & Monitoring:
GitHub Actions, Jenkins, Bamboo, Bazel, M3, Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, Splunk
Enterprise Architecture:
TOGAF, SOA, Microservices, API Platforms, Enterprise Integration Patterns, Domain-Driven Design
Skills and Achievements
Leadership & Strategy:
- Technology Leadership: Team building, hiring, mentorship, performance management, organizational design
- Strategic Planning: Technology roadmaps, architectural vision, product strategy, OKR setting
- Stakeholder Management: Executive presentations, board communications, cross-functional collaboration
- Change Management: Digital transformation, cloud migration, process improvement, agile adoption
- Business Acumen: P&L impact, ROI analysis, budget management, vendor negotiations
Technical Excellence:
- AI/ML Systems: Production LLM platforms, multi-agent architectures, RAG pipelines, agentic workflows
- Agentic Development Leadership: Pioneered Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot adoption achieving 3-5x team productivity gains, MCP development for custom tool integrations
- Distributed Systems: Microservices, API platforms, event-driven architecture, workflow orchestration
- Full-Stack Leadership: Backend, frontend, mobile, cloud architecture across entire technology stack
- Enterprise Architecture: TOGAF-certified, SOA to microservices transformation, API-first design
- Data Engineering: Data warehousing, BI systems, ETL/ELT pipelines, real-time analytics
Organizational Impact:
- Team Scaling: Built and scaled engineering teams from 3→60 people across startups and Fortune 500
- Process Excellence: Established engineering practices (code reviews, CI/CD, testing standards, documentation)
- Hiring & Mentoring: Hired and mentored 50+ engineers, conducted 100+ technical interviews
- Technical Evangelism: Thought leadership (13K+ LinkedIn followers on agentic coding, MCP development), conference speaking, technical writing
- Innovation Culture: AI-first development practices with Claude Code and agentic tools achieving 3-5x productivity gains across teams
Professional Experience
Technical Leadership & Product Strategy:
Leading technical strategy, product architecture, and engineering execution for AI legal tech platform transforming how law firms handle client intake, discovery, and case management.
Strategic Achievements:
- Architected complete AI platform from ground up (RAG, AI agents, agentic workflows, full-stack web app)
- Led product roadmap from vision to MVP in 12 weeks with small team (3 engineers + 2 product)
- Defined go-to-market strategy and technical positioning (Series A fundraising in progress)
- Built AI-first culture: Implemented Claude Code, Cursor, and agentic coding workflows achieving 3-5x productivity across team
- Developed custom MCP servers for legal document processing and workflow automation
- Equity stake: 1% + monthly retainer ($8K/month)
Technical Execution:
- Built production RAG system for legal document search (Pinecone vector DB, semantic search across 100K+ legal documents)
- Designed multi-agent architecture for automated legal research, document drafting, and case analysis
- Implemented full-stack platform (React, NextJS, Python FastAPI, Firebase/Firestore, GCP)
- Integrated LLM providers (OpenAI GPT-4, Anthropic Claude, with fallback strategies)
- Led security & compliance implementation (SOC 2, encryption at rest/transit, RBAC)
Team Leadership:
- Hired and mentored 3 senior engineers (full-stack, ML, DevOps)
- Established engineering practices: Code reviews, CI/CD, testing standards (80%+ coverage)
- Managed distributed team (Canada, US, India) using async-first communication
Technologies: Python (FastAPI, LangChain, LangGraph), React, NextJS, Firebase/Firestore, GCP (Cloud Run, Cloud Functions), OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Pinecone, GitHub Actions
Strategic Leadership:
Leading architecture and development of ELLE AI Decision Engine (award-winning production LLM system) and 9 enterprise privacy web applications serving Uber's global compliance, security, and legal teams.
Business Impact:
- ELLE: Reduced manual Technical Privacy review time by 70%, processing millions of decisions across Uber's global platform (won multiple internal innovation awards)
- 9 Web Apps: Enabled compliance teams to handle 3x increase in GDPR/CCPA requests with same headcount
- Authorization Platform: Built security middleware protecting 100+ GenAI platform APIs (96% test coverage)
Technical Leadership:
- Architected production LLM system (LangChain, LangGraph, RAG) serving 100K+ requests/month
- Led 9+ full-stack projects (React, TypeScript, Fusion.js) across privacy domain
- Contributed to 50+ security infrastructure projects (Python monorepo) and 40+ platform services (Go monorepo)
- Mentored 10+ engineers across frontend, backend, and AI/ML disciplines
Cross-Functional Collaboration:
- Partnered with Product, Legal, Privacy, and Security teams to define ELLE roadmap
- Presented technical strategy to VP-level stakeholders and executive leadership
- Conducted 100+ technical interviews for Uber hiring (senior IC and management roles)
Technologies: Python (LangChain, LangGraph, FastMCP, FastAPI), Go (YARPC, microservices), React 18, TypeScript, OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, OpenSearch, Kafka, Cadence, Cassandra, Bazel, Kubernetes, Claude Code (agentic development)
Strategic Consulting:
- Served as GenAI lead for multiple clients across legal tech, fintech, healthcare, ecommerce, manufacturing
- Delivered technical due diligence for AI product investments (helping VCs assess technical feasibility)
- Led AI transformation consulting for enterprises (roadmaps, vendor selection, implementation)
Product Portfolio (Entrepreneurship Track Record):
- FasterOutcomes (2024): AI Legal Tech platform - Part-time CTO, 1% equity
- Counta AI (2024): AI accounting automation - Founder, full-stack development
- frwrd.ai (2023): AI product platform
- VisionZLab (2010-2025): AI development studio - 15+ client AI implementations
- Maktub.app (2018): SaaS application
- ExclusiveListings.club (2015): Real estate marketplace with AI chatbot (ELAIN)
Business Development:
- Generated $125K+/year in consulting revenue through inbound and referrals
- Built 13K+ LinkedIn following as AI/ML thought leader
- Conducted technical interviews for top-tier companies: Uber, Robinhood, Netflix, Airbnb, Peloton, Gap
Technologies: Python (LangChain, LangGraph), React, NextJS, Firebase, GCP, OpenAI, Anthropic Claude
Team Leadership:
- Led team of 10+ onshore and 50+ offshore developers for homedepot.ca website
- Built onshore mobile app team from scratch (iOS/Android native development)
- Conducted technical hiring and mentored senior engineers
Business Impact:
- Customer 360: Unified customer data platform serving 15M+ customers
- E-Commerce Platform: Architected microservices migration supporting $5B+ annual online revenue
- Mobile Apps: Launched iOS/Android apps with 1M+ downloads, 4.5+ star rating
Technical Leadership:
- Designed microservices architecture (25+ services) migrating from legacy monolith
- Led cloud migration to Google Cloud Platform (Kubernetes, Docker)
- Implemented Angular Universal Server-Side Rendering for SEO and social sharing
- Built React and Angular component libraries from scratch with Storybook
- Designed Apache Kafka messaging layer for event-driven architecture
Technologies: Angular 9, React, TypeScript, Java Spring Boot, Kubernetes, GCP, Kafka, Redis, Hybris, AEM, iOS (Swift), Android (Kotlin)
Team Leadership:
- Managed team of 12 engineers (5 senior, 4 mid, 3 junior) across web and mobile
- Hired and mentored 8 new engineers during tenure
- Led multiple BI and integration projects for banking operations
Business Impact:
- Banking Services Data Mart: Enabled $10M+ in operational insights for OMEGA-PEGA project
- Omnichannel Platform: Architecture supporting 8M+ online banking customers
- Real-Time Payments: Processed $2B+/year in transactions with 99.99% uptime
Strategic Initiatives:
- Led mobile-first strategy (React Native) saving $500K+ vs native development
- Implemented API-first architecture enabling third-party integrations
- Established Agile/Scrum practices across 3 teams (40+ people)
- Designed BI framework for enterprise reporting (SSIS, SSRS, SSAS, SharePoint)
Technologies: SQL Server, SSIS/SSAS/SSRS, .NET 4.5, ASP.NET MVC4, Java Spring, React Native, SharePoint, TIBCO, Cognos
Education and Professional Development
Personal AI Products and Services
Certifications
- TOGAF 9.1 Certified, The Open Group Architecture Framework, 2013
- PMP Certified (Project Management Professional), PMI, 2013
- Certified Data Scientist, Johns Hopkins University, 2015
- ITIL Foundation, Mind Leaders, 2013
- MCPD - Web Application Development 2008, Microsoft, 2012
- MCITP - Database Developer 2008, Microsoft, 2012
- Agile Project Management Strategy and Analysis, 2013
- Data Warehousing Management, Mind Leaders, 2013
- OWASP Top 10, Security Compass, 2012
Academic Degrees
- M.Sc. in Management, AmirKabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), 2003
- B.Sc. in Computer Software Engineering, AmirKabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), 2001
Thought Leadership & Community
LinkedIn: 13K+ followers • AI/ML thought leader in production LLM systems, agentic coding, Claude Code, MCP development, engineering leadership, and AI transformation
Medium: @FrankGoortani • Published articles on AI strategy, agentic development, Claude Code workflows, MCP servers, team building, production LLM systems, and CTO leadership
GitHub: github.com/FrankGoortani • Open source contributions and AI/ML example repositories
Speaking & Teaching:
- Corporate Instructor - The Judge Group (Cloud Migration course, 2017-2019)
- College Instructor - George Brown College (Web & BI, 2014-2017)
- International Instructor - Learning Tree (Data Warehousing, 2014-2015)
Target Roles & Compensation
Preferred Roles: CTO, Chief AI Officer (CAIO), VP Engineering at AI-first companies (Seed-Series B)
Compensation: $400K-$600K total compensation (base + bonus + equity)
Work Style: Remote-only (100%), strategic + hands-on, results-oriented culture, async-first communication
Ideal Company Profile:
- AI-first technology company (LLM products, AI platforms, AI-powered SaaS)
- Seed to Series B stage ($2M-$50M ARR)
- Technical founding team that values hands-on CTO
- Product-market fit achieved or close, ready to scale engineering
- Mission-driven, high-growth potential, venture-backed