The best CTOs at Australian tech companies
Best in Tech is published by That's Heaps Pty Ltd, Sydney. Tash Jamieson works at That's Heaps. How the lists work.
A chief technology officer owns a company's technology: its architecture, its engineering organisation and the technical bets that shape the product. This list ranks people in Australia in that role, on what their public record shows.
How this list is scored
To qualify, a person must hold or have held the CTO seat at an Australian tech company. Each person is scored out of 10 on 6 criteria, 60 points in all. Scores measure how much of a person's work is publicly documented, not how good they are at the job: plenty of excellent people keep their results private, and they score lower here for that reason alone.
- Outcomes
- Results tied to the person's own work.
- Verification
- How independently those results can be checked.
- Breadth
- Architecture, platform, team scaling and security work they have documented.
- Teaching
- What they have published or presented for others in the field.
- Peer citation
- Awards, press and peers pointing at them.
- Currency
- Whether they are verifiably working in Australia in 2026.
The list at a glance
| # | Name | Role | Outcomes | Verification | Breadth | Teaching | Peer citation | Currency | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dr Hemant Chaurasia | Chief Technology and Product Officer, Fleet Space Technologies | 7 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 9 | 9 | 41 |
| 2 | Ciaran Hale | Chief Technology Officer, Deputy | 6 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 40 |
| 3 | Doug English | Co-founder and CTO, Culture Amp | 7 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 38 |
| 4 | Kristy Battista | Chief Technology Officer, Jupiter Ionics | 6 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 34 |
| 5 | Tomas Varsavsky | Chief Technology Officer, SiteMinder | 6 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 34 |
| 6 | Jesse Clark | Co-founder and CTO, Marqo | 5 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 34 |
| 7 | Ken Brand | Co-founder and CTO, Restoke.ai | 6 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 33 |
| 8 | Dave Tong | Co-founder and Chief Product and Technology Officer, Employment Hero | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 32 |
| 9 | Patrick Nappa | Co-founder and CTO, Kashcade | 4 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 29 |
| 10 | Yu Liu | Co-founder and CTO, Heidi | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 28 |
| 11 | Tal Rotbart | CTO, me&u | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 22 |
The ranking, with the workings
- 141/60
Dr Hemant Chaurasia
Chief Technology and Product Officer, Fleet Space Technologies · Adelaide
Dr Hemant Chaurasia is chief technology and product officer at Fleet Space Technologies, which Mining Beacon calls an Adelaide-based tech company. He was named Best Technical Leader at the 2026 Startup Daily Best in Tech Awards. The award credits him with building Fleet Space's technology for finding critical minerals faster. It also credits him with helping Astra become the fastest privately funded company to reach orbit. Mining Beacon covered Fleet Space's geophysics survey at a South Australian copper mine in July 2025.
Scores and evidence for Dr Hemant Chaurasia Outcomes 7 Credited with building Fleet Space's technology for finding critical minerals faster Verification 8 Mining Beacon and Startup Daily independently document his role and work Breadth 5 Leads both technology and product at Fleet Space Teaching 3 Named in Mining Beacon coverage of a geophysics survey at a South Australian copper mine Peer citation 9 Won Best Technical Leader at the 2026 Startup Daily Best in Tech Awards Currency 9 Received the award in September 2026 while at Adelaide-based Fleet Space Public sources: Fleet Space speeds geophysics survey at South Australia copper mine (Mining Beacon) · 15 winners at the Startup Daily Best in Tech Awards 2026 (Startup Daily) · Startup Daily Best in Tech Awards (Startup Daily) · Here are the finalists in the 2026 Startup Daily Best in Tech Awards (Startup Daily)
- 240/60
Ciaran Hale
Chief Technology Officer, Deputy · Sydney
Ciaran Hale became chief technology officer of Deputy, the Sydney workforce management software company, in June 2025. He leads its global engineering function. He was previously CTO at Displayr, an Australian market research scale-up, where iTWire says he oversaw cloud migration, developer productivity and the launch of generative AI capabilities. At Atlassian he led engineering teams of over 500 and helped launch Atlassian Analytics. Originally from Dublin, he has lived in Sydney for 14 years. He presented at the AWS Summit in Sydney in May 2026.
Scores and evidence for Ciaran Hale Outcomes 6 Oversaw cloud migration, developer productivity and the generative AI launch as CTO at Displayr Verification 7 iTWire, Retail Technology Innovation Hub and IT Brief Australia each report his role Breadth 7 Leads Deputy's global engineering function and previously led engineering teams of over 500 at Atlassian Teaching 5 Presented at the AWS Summit in Sydney in May 2026 Peer citation 6 Deputy's CEO credited him with launching Gen AI at Displayr Currency 9 IT Brief Australia named him Deputy CTO in May 2026; he has lived in Sydney for 14 years Public sources: Deputy appoints Ciaran Hale as Chief Technology Officer to 'accelerate global technology and AI innovation' (iTWire) · Workforce management solution specialist Deputy announces Ciaran Hale as new Chief Technology Officer (Retail Technology Innovation Hub) · Deputy are shaping future of shift work administration (IT Brief Australia)
- 338/60
Doug English
Co-founder and CTO, Culture Amp · Melbourne
Doug English co-founded Culture Amp in Melbourne in 2010 and has led its technical vision as chief technology officer since then. His Growth Summit speaker bio says the platform is used by over 25 million employees across more than 6,800 companies. He earlier co-founded Jodoro and held roles at National Australia Bank, EDS and Hewlett-Packard Consulting. In May 2026 he wrote a Startup Daily opinion piece on the carbon impact of AI across businesses.
Scores and evidence for Doug English Outcomes 7 Speaker bio says Culture Amp is used by over 25 million employees across more than 6,800 companies Verification 6 Growth Summit speaker page and Startup Daily author page confirm the role Breadth 5 Has steered Culture Amp's technical vision since 2010; earlier co-founded Jodoro and worked at NAB, EDS and HP Consulting Teaching 6 Wrote a Startup Daily opinion piece on the carbon impact of AI (1 May 2026) Peer citation 6 Growth Summit 2026 speaker Currency 8 Melbourne-based 2026 speaker who published in May 2026 Public sources: Doug English, Growth Summit 2026 speaker (Growth Summit) · Doug English author page (Startup Daily)
- 434/60
Kristy Battista
Chief Technology Officer, Jupiter Ionics · Melbourne
Kristy Battista joined Jupiter Ionics as chief technology officer in June 2025. The Victorian startup is based at Monash University and is developing green ammonia technology to decarbonise fertiliser production. She was previously CTO of Allume Energy, where she developed a world-first solar sharing technology that is now deployed across three continents. She has 20 years of experience across the full product development life cycle and advises and coaches startup founders. She was a spotlight speaker at FB IDEAs' International Women in Engineering Day in Port Melbourne in June 2026.
Scores and evidence for Kristy Battista Outcomes 6 As CTO of Allume Energy, developed a world-first solar sharing technology now deployed across three continents Verification 5 FB IDEAs speaker bio and the Jupiter Ionics announcement both confirm the CTO role Breadth 4 20 years of experience across the full product development life cycle Teaching 6 Spotlight speaker at the International Women in Engineering Day event in June 2026; advises and coaches startup founders Peer citation 5 Chosen as a spotlight speaker by the FB IDEAs innovation hub Currency 8 Spoke as Jupiter Ionics CTO at a Port Melbourne event on 23 June 2026 Public sources: Kristy Battista joins Jupiter Ionics as new CTO (Jupiter Ionics) · International Women in Engineering Day (FB IDEAs)
- 534/60
Tomas Varsavsky
Chief Technology Officer, SiteMinder · Melbourne
Tomas Varsavsky became chief technology officer of ASX-listed hotel software company SiteMinder in March 2025, CFOtech Australia reported, with a brief to strengthen and scale its engineering team. He was previously Chief Technology and Data Officer at REA Group for ten years, and Chief Product and Technology Officer at Catch. Earlier roles were at ThoughtWorks, Lonely Planet, ANZ and National Australia Bank. By his own account he was named one of Australia's top 50 CIOs in 2018 and 2019. He is based in Melbourne.
Scores and evidence for Tomas Varsavsky Outcomes 6 Spent ten years as Chief Technology and Data Officer at REA Group Verification 6 CFOtech Australia reported his SiteMinder appointment (11 March 2025) Breadth 6 Brief is to strengthen and scale SiteMinder's engineering team, after more than 25 years in technology roles Teaching 3 Personal site sets out his career record Peer citation 6 Named one of Australia's top 50 CIOs in 2018 and 2019, by his own account Currency 7 Appointed SiteMinder CTO in March 2025; own site says he is in Melbourne Public sources: SiteMinder appoints new Chief Technology and Data Officers (CFOtech Australia) · Tomas Varsavsky personal site (tomasvarsavsky.com (own site))
- 634/60
Jesse Clark
Co-founder and CTO, Marqo · Melbourne
Jesse Clark co-founded Marqo, an AI vector search company founded out of Melbourne, with Tom Hamer. Blackbird Ventures invested in 2022. TechCrunch reported that he was formerly lead machine learning scientist in Amazon's robotics unit in Seattle. Before that he worked at Stitch Fix in data science, machine learning and operations research. His own site lists a podcast appearance on Marqo and articles on multimodal vector search and retrieval-augmented generation. His own site gives his location as Australia.
Scores and evidence for Jesse Clark Outcomes 5 Co-founded Marqo, an AI vector search company that Blackbird invested in during 2022 Verification 7 TechCrunch and Blackbird Ventures both name him in Marqo's founding team Breadth 5 Earlier led machine learning at Amazon Robotics AI and worked in data science and operations research at Stitch Fix Teaching 6 His own site lists a podcast appearance and articles on vector search and retrieval-augmented generation Peer citation 6 Covered by TechCrunch and listed in Blackbird's portfolio Currency 5 Own site gives his location as Australia; Marqo was founded out of Melbourne Public sources: Marqo portfolio page (Blackbird Ventures) · Meet Marqo, an open source vector search engine (TechCrunch (via Yahoo Finance)) · Jesse Clark personal site (jn2clark.github.io (own site))
- 733/60
Ken Brand
Co-founder and CTO, Restoke.ai · Melbourne
Ken Brand is chief technology officer of Restoke.ai, the Melbourne restaurant automation software company he co-founded with restaurateur Assaf Stizki. IT Brief Australia reports that he has spent two decades in natural language processing and machine learning, and that he moved to Australia in 2013. Restoke's customer base has grown into the thousands. It launched in the US in April and counts hundreds of venues there, and it also operates in New Zealand, Singapore and the UK. ChannelLife Australia carried his 2026 forecast on human-in-the-loop AI systems.
Scores and evidence for Ken Brand Outcomes 6 Restoke's customer base grew into the thousands, with hundreds of US venues after its April launch Verification 6 IT Brief Australia reported the company's growth and his role Breadth 4 Two decades in natural language processing and machine learning Teaching 5 Contributed a 2026 forecast on human-in-the-loop AI systems to ChannelLife Peer citation 5 Quoted in ChannelLife Australia's 2026 tech executive forecasts Currency 7 Lives in Melbourne and quoted in 2026 coverage Public sources: Restoke.ai brings AI restaurant manager to the US (IT Brief Australia) · What these Aussie tech execs forecast for 2026 (ChannelLife Australia)
- 832/60
Dave Tong
Co-founder and Chief Product and Technology Officer, Employment Hero · Sydney
Dave Tong co-founded Employment Hero, the Australian HR and payroll platform, with CEO Ben Thompson in 2014. The Australian Payroll Association describes him as CTO. It reported that when Employment Hero acquired KeyPay, the company had raised $181 million and had more than 80,000 SME clients. He now holds the title Co-founder and Chief Product and Technology Officer. By his own account he has more than a decade of experience leading product and engineering at scale. He is based in Sydney.
Scores and evidence for Dave Tong Outcomes 7 Employment Hero had raised $181 million and had more than 80,000 SME clients at the time of the KeyPay acquisition Verification 6 Australian Payroll Association names him co-founder and CTO Breadth 5 More than a decade leading product and engineering at scale, by his own account Teaching 4 Has an author page on Employment Hero's site Peer citation 4 Named as co-founder with CEO Ben Thompson in payroll industry press Currency 6 Own profiles describe him as CPTO and software engineer in Sydney Public sources: Employment Hero acquires KeyPay (Australian Payroll Association) · Dave Tong author page (Employment Hero) · Dave Tong profile (about.me (own profile))
- 929/60
Patrick Nappa
Co-founder and CTO, Kashcade · Sydney
Patrick Nappa is co-founder and chief technology officer of Kashcade, a Sydney company that by its own account is Australia's top-rated R&D lender to Australian startups. His Forbes profile lists him as a Kashcade co-founder in Sydney and notes he was a software engineer at Apple in Sydney in 2021. By the company's account he built the platform that runs Kashcade's operations. He was a finalist for Best Technical Leader at the 2026 Startup Daily Best in Tech Awards.
Scores and evidence for Patrick Nappa Outcomes 4 Built the platform that runs Kashcade's operations, by the company's account Verification 6 Forbes profile and Startup Daily finalist list name him with Kashcade Breadth 3 Former Apple software engineer in Sydney who built Kashcade's operating platform Teaching 2 Profiled on Kashcade's About page Peer citation 7 Finalist for Best Technical Leader at the 2026 Startup Daily Best in Tech Awards; Forbes 30 under 30 Currency 7 Named a 2026 award finalist; Forbes places him in Sydney Public sources: About Kashcade (Kashcade) · Patrick Nappa profile (Forbes) · Here are the finalists in the 2026 Startup Daily Best in Tech Awards (Startup Daily)
- 1028/60
Yu Liu
Co-founder and CTO, Heidi · Melbourne
Yu Liu is co-founder and chief technology officer of Heidi, a Melbourne company that makes AI clinical documentation software. Investor Phoenix Court backed it in 2024. He co-founded Heidi with chief executive Thomas Kelly and chief financial officer Waleed Mussa. By the company's own account, Heidi powers more than 2.8 million patient interactions a week and has 8 offices across Australia, the US, the UK, Canada and Singapore, with more than 500 employees. He trained in mechatronics and holds a Master's in Information Technology.
Scores and evidence for Yu Liu Outcomes 6 Heidi reports 2.8M+ patient interactions every week, 8 offices and 500+ employees Verification 5 Investor Phoenix Court's portfolio page lists him as co-founder and CTO Breadth 4 Expertise in AI, SaaS and user-centred product development, with a background in mechatronics and IT Teaching 3 Has a press kit bio published by Heidi Peer citation 4 Named in the founding team with CEO Thomas Kelly and CFO Waleed Mussa Currency 6 Listed as CTO on Heidi's current careers page; the company is in Melbourne Public sources: Heidi Health portfolio page (Phoenix Court) · Heidi careers page (Heidi) · Yu Liu bio (press kit) (Heidi)
- 1122/60
Tal Rotbart
CTO, me&u · Melbourne
Tal Rotbart describes himself on his GitHub profile as chief technology officer at me&u, the Melbourne hospitality ordering company formerly called Mr Yum. iTnews reported that he became CTO of Marketplacer on 3 May 2022, after seven years as CTO at PageUp. He has held leadership positions at SEEK and DiUS Computing and founded SpringSense and iContact Media. He is based in Melbourne.
Scores and evidence for Tal Rotbart Outcomes 4 Served seven years as CTO at PageUp, then was appointed CTO of Marketplacer in May 2022 Verification 4 iTnews reported his Marketplacer appointment and PageUp tenure Breadth 4 Held leadership roles at SEEK and DiUS Computing and founded SpringSense and iContact Media Teaching 3 Maintains a public GitHub profile Peer citation 4 His Marketplacer appointment was covered by iTnews Currency 3 His own GitHub profile lists him as CTO at me&u in Melbourne Public sources: Marketplacer appoints PageUp's Tal Rotbart as CTO (iTnews) · Tal Rotbart GitHub profile (GitHub (own profile))
Method notes
Candidates were found from industry press, awards, conference speaker pages, podcasts and company pages, then every source was opened and checked to confirm it names the person and supports the facts quoted. Where a person's 2026 role is not publicly listed, they are described by the role they are known for, and the Currency score reflects that.
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