Co-Founding Chief Executive Officer | Dew Point Systems in Portsmouth

Company: Dew Point Systems: Cooling Tech Company

Role type: Full-Time

Location: Remote – UK. Must be able to travel

We are launching a cooling technology venture built on a patented dew point cooling system developed over more than a decade of academic research at the University of Hull. The technology offers two attributes uncommon in conventional evaporative cooling: the ability to cool below the dew point, and direct evaporative cooling without adding humidity to the conditioned air. Data from a 100kW pilot deployment suggests substantial energy savings of up to 90% when compared with mechanical cooling. Building on these impressive foundations, the technology now needs scaling up to target large-scale and hyperscale data centre environments, where the economics of efficiency, power, water and footprint are increasingly under pressure from AI-driven compute growth.

We are seeking a Chief Executive Officer to lead the company through its formative stage, working in close partnership with CFT. The role combines hands-on technical leadership, customer-led product development, and fundraising. It is best suited to someone who is energised by very early-stage, capital-constrained environments and is comfortable doing the work personally alongside directing others.

You will be directly supported by Cambridge Future Tech (CFT), a deep tech venture builder specialising in creating companies around cutting-edge IP, bringing in the best commercial talent to support technical founders. Our team of expert operators and analysts work alongside the incoming CEO to accelerate and de-risk the early stages of company building.

Key responsibilities:

• Own company strategy, vision, and execution.
• Lead the technical development effort to take the dew point cooling technology from current early-stage prototype to a form factor deployable in large-scale data centre environments, hiring and working alongside a small in-house engineering capability and/or managing outsourced resources.
• Maintain a productive working relationship with the academic team at the University of Hull, the originators of the technology, including any continued technical collaboration.
• Own customer discovery and product management: build relationships with end-users, specifiers and other relevant stakeholders, refine the performance thesis (cooling below dew point, evaporative cooling without humidification), adapt the product strategy for real deployment requirements, and build early commercial traction in the form of letters of intent, paid pilots or partnership MoUs.
• Drive fundraising across grants, strategic and venture capital, with support from CFT.

Skills & Requirements:

• Engineering or hard-science background (degree level or equivalent through practice) sufficient to lead a small technical team and engage credibly with third-party engineering partners. Direct HVAC or thermal engineering experience welcome but not required.
• Demonstrable commercial experience, ideally including B2B hardware sales, product management, or partnership development in a complex technical environment.
• Comfortable operating at very early stage: making decisions with incomplete information, stretching limited capital, and wearing multiple hats across engineering, commercial and operational work.
• Excellent leadership, communication, and stakeholder management skills.

Ideal candidates will demonstrate at least two of the following:

• Track record of raising early-stage capital.
• Proven experience in hardware or engineering-led ventures, with a strong preference for backgrounds in HVAC, thermal systems, building services, or adjacent hard tech fields.
• Strong network and commercial background in potential target markets, including data centres, hyperscale compute infrastructure, or energy efficiency and sustainability sectors.

The Opportunity

The position carries a meaningful equity stake, though candidates should expect a need for flexibility around cash compensation prior to the completion of fundraising.

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If this opportunity doesn’t align with your expertise, but you’re interested in founding a deep tech venture, we still want to hear from you. Get in touch with us, and we will add you to our CXO bench so we can reach out with future opportunities tailored to your expertise.