Technical Co-Founder / CTO MentalHealth Platform

Mind Friend • San Francisco, CA

22h • Hybrid

About The Position

MindFriend is a mental health technology company building a trusted marketplace platform connecting clients with verified mental health professionals, including psychologists, therapists, psychiatrists, counsellors, and other licensed practitioners across Sweden, the EU, the UK, and the US. This is a founder-level technical leadership role, not just a salary-based position. The company is seeking a Technical Co-Founder / CTO to build, own, and scale a meaningful company. The individual will be responsible for the technology vision, leading engineering and AI work, and driving the platform towards a secure, compliant launch and beyond. The role offers a basic survival salary paired with an equity package, emphasizing a true partnership with shared passion and long-term vision.

Requirements

• Already helped build and launch a successful startup, marketplace, SaaS platform, health-tech platform, fintech platform, or transaction-based digital business.
• Experience taking a platform from development to launch and revenue.
• Experience managing developers and technical delivery.
• Experience building or scaling a marketplace, booking platform, SaaS product, or transactional platform.
• Experience with payment systems, checkout, payouts, refunds, and multi-currency flows.
• Experience with security, privacy, data protection, and technical, legal & governance compliance.
• Experience with AI implementation or AI product strategy.
• Experience with cloud architecture, APIs, databases, testing, QA, monitoring, and DevOps.
• Experience writing or reviewing technical documentation.
• Experience making clear build-versus-buy decisions.
• Experience working in a fast-moving startup where resources are limited and decisions matter.
• Previous experience as a CTO, technical co-founder, VP Engineering, senior engineering lead, or founding engineer.
• Proven experience as a technical founder or early technical leader at a startup that successfully launched a platform or marketplace, ideally reaching significant transaction volume and revenue.
• Strong full-stack and systems-architecture background; comfortable owning everything from infrastructure to product.
• Hands-on with modern AI/ML in production, or able to direct it credibly.
• Solid grasp of data privacy and regulated environments (GDPR essential).
• Willing and able to relocate within Europe or to the US as the business requires.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in mental health, healthcare, telehealth, medtech, or regulated marketplace.
• Familiarity with healthcare-data, telehealth and cross-border payments rules across the EU/UK/US.
• GDPR / UK GDPR / HIPAA technical implementation experience.
• AI governance, AI safety, or responsible AI implementation.
• Therapist, clinician, or professional-services marketplace experience.
• Stripe Connect or similar payment/payout infrastructure.
• Identity verification, licence verification, KYC/KYB, or credential-checking systems.
• Cross-border platform scaling.
• Investor due diligence and technical audit preparation.

Responsibilities

• Set the technical vision for MindFriend.
• Lead the engineering and AI work.
• Drive the platform to a confident, compliant launch and beyond.
• Reverse-engineer best practices from competitors.
• Aggressively prepare the platform for a secure global launch.
• Take full ownership of MindFriend's technology and lead it from platform to scale.
• Manage developers and technical delivery.
• Build or scale a marketplace, booking platform, SaaS product, or transactional platform.
• Oversee payment systems, checkout, payouts, refunds, and multi-currency flows.
• Ensure security, privacy, data protection, and technical, legal & governance compliance.
• Oversee AI implementation or AI product strategy.
• Manage cloud architecture, APIs, databases, testing, QA, monitoring, and DevOps.
• Write or review technical documentation.
• Make clear build-versus-buy decisions.
• Work in a fast-moving startup where resources are limited and decisions matter.
• Take ownership and solve problems to ensure the platform is ready for users, revenue, investors, and regulators.
• Prepare the technology for expansion across Sweden, the EU, the UK, and the US, including multi-currency payments, country-specific therapist verification, localisation, scalable infrastructure, privacy-by-design, and adaptable compliance workflows.
• Ensure compliance with regulations such as the EU Digital Services Act.
• Set clear direction and hold a high quality bar.
• Relocate within Europe or to the US as the business requires.

Benefits

• Co-founder status with a direct say in the strategic future of the company.
• Equity alignment.
• A basic salary to cover living expenses initially until our next round of funding.
• The chance to solve a massive global problem in the mental health space.
• A culturally diverse network of therapists and clients stretching across the EU, UK, and US.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive
• Education Level: No Education Listed