Kakao has reportedly hired Song Jae-ha (52), CTO of Woowa Brothers, which operates Baemin, as its chief technology officer (CTO). He is expected to oversee data infrastructure and server technology stabilization.
According to the industry on the 8th, Kakao has newly hired former Woowa Brothers CTO Song Jae-ha as CTO to oversee companywide technology operations and platform stability. The appointment process is still underway, but internal procedures are said to be complete.
Kakao said, "CTO Song has built platform technology frameworks at Woowa Brothers and Yanolja and has experience operating services for tens of millions of users," adding, "Based on this experience, we expect him to help steadily lead the company's overall technology operations."
Born in 1973, CTO Song graduated from Sungkyunkwan University with a degree in Korean language and literature and earned a master's in software engineering from KAIST. Song served as Head of Team and technical director of the data center at NCSOFT's Openmaru Studio, leader of the data infrastructure team at SK Planet, and CTO at Yanolja.
At NCSOFT's Openmaru Studio, CTO Song built web infrastructure and worked on big data–related tasks, researching ways to expand game content using game user logs. At SK Planet, he led the data infrastructure team and handled data-related operations. At Yanolja, he handled security, the Internet of Things (IoT), and big data across the technology spectrum, and carried out research and development and quality assurance. In particular, he launched a global hotel reservation service and introduced masked phone numbers, which was credited with enhancing the protection of customers' personal information and boosting trust. At Woowa Brothers, he oversaw IT-related operations and focused on Baemin's AI project "Baemin David" and the Autonomous Driving delivery robot project "DILLI."
The industry expects Kakao to build new technology leadership. Meanwhile, incumbent Kakao CTO Jeong Gyu-don is set to step down when the term ends.