Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

As data and digital sovereignty are rapidly becoming defining forces of the future, House of Data is building the next-generation digital infrastructure. Leveraging a proprietary AI tool, the company identifies prime locations across the Netherlands and Europe for sustainable, scalable data centers. The CTO establishes the technical foundation and drives the company’s growth.

About House of Data

European demand for data processing capacity is growing faster than the infrastructure can keep up with. At the same time, industrial sites across Europe hold a valuable but vulnerable asset: a heavy-duty grid connection that is lost the moment a company leaves the site. House of Data proactively capitalizes on this with a proprietary AI tool that identifies these sites at an early stage.

The company then enters into discussions with owners, typically one to two years before the current user departs or closes down, so that the grid connection is preserved and redevelopment can begin in time. Depending on the site, the existing buildings are fully or partially demolished, or part is repurposed as a data center. The result: colocation data centers of 2 to 25 MW on sites with proven power capacity and a clear development path.
The company was founded by Thijs Algra (former director at Otrium, valuation of 750+ million euros), Max van Eck, and Maarten den Hartoog (founder and managing director, respectively, of Today Real Estate Development, with over forty projects and more than five hundred million euros in European real estate projects). Together they bring venture building, capital markets, and complex real estate development under one roof. The first site is financed and in active development, and the pipeline is well filled. In addition, several sites are at various stages of acquisition and due diligence, forming the basis for further scaling in the Netherlands and then Europe.

Vacancy: Chief Technology Officer

The CTO owns the data center as a product. Not just the design or the construction, but the whole: from the first sketch to the management and further development of every House of Data facility. She/he defines the Basis of Design for the platform, including the architecture, standards, and technical specifications for power, cooling, redundancy, connectivity, and sustainability that apply across the entire portfolio. The concept must be repeatable, across sites and countries. Every facility delivered makes the next one faster and better.

The CTO then brings that concept to execution. She/he leads the full development cycle from conceptual design to delivery, in collaboration with external engineers, contractors, and suppliers, making technical choices that balance quality, cost, and time-to-market. Once a site is live, the CTO builds the operational organization from scratch: uptime, SLA management, capacity planning, and monitoring. This effectively makes the role a combined CTO/COO position, with final responsibility for both technology and operations. The commercial side sits elsewhere in the organization, but both domains work closely together on technical design and the onboarding of new clients.
For House of Data, sustainability is a precondition from the very first design. The CTO keeps the platform future-proof, with next-generation cooling, waste heat utilization, energy efficiency, and AI-driven operations. The European data center market is imposing increasingly strict sustainability requirements, and the CTO ensures that House of Data stays at the forefront.

“We have a first site, a concrete construction plan, and growing traction in the market. This is the moment to step in and have a direct impact on how the platform takes shape technically.” – Thijs Algra, CEO

The role suits a builder with vision: someone with deep roots in the data center industry and a track record in designing, building, and managing data centers, preferably including greenfield development. A background at established international data center operators is valuable for the knowledge and the network, but the right candidate can also operate outside those structures. She/he is comfortable with ambiguity and limited resources, hands-on where needed and strategic where it counts. This is a role for someone who does not want to be purely an executive, but wants to take on the role of co-owner, with equity as a substantial part of the compensation.

Interested?

House of Data is working with Top of Minds to fill this vacancy.
To express your interest, please contact Jessica Lim at jessica.lim@topofminds.com.