Technical Co-Founder / CTO MentalHealth Platform in London

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 not just a salary-based role. We are looking for someone who wants to build, own, and scale a meaningful company. We need a heavy-hitting Technical Co-Founder / CTO who can step in, cut through the noise, reverse-engineer best practices from competitors, and aggressively prepare us for a secure global launch.

We are looking for a Technical Co-Founder to take full ownership of MindFriend's technology and lead it from platform to scale. You will set the technical vision, lead the engineering and AI work, and drive the platform to a confident, compliant launch and beyond. Because we want a true partner who believes in the mission and wants to build immense value, this role offers a basic survival salary paired with an equity package. We want skin in the game, passion, and long-term vision.

What We Are Looking For:

• Experience in building and launching a successful startup, marketplace, SaaS platform, health-tech platform, fintech platform, or transaction-based digital business.
• Direct experience with:
• Taking a platform from development to launch and revenue.
• Managing developers and technical delivery.
• Building or scaling a marketplace, booking platform, SaaS product, or transactional platform.
• Payment systems, checkout, payouts, refunds, and multi-currency flows.
• Security, privacy, data protection, and technical, legal & governance compliance.
• AI implementation or AI product strategy.
• Cloud architecture, APIs, databases, testing, QA, monitoring, and DevOps.
• Writing or reviewing technical documentation.
• Making clear build-versus-buy decisions.
• Working in a fast-moving startup where resources are limited and decisions matter.

You must be comfortable taking ownership. This role is for someone who sees problems, solves them, and makes sure the platform is ready for users, revenue, investors, and regulators.

Prepare the technology for expansion across Sweden, the EU, the UK, and the US. This includes multi-currency payments, country-specific therapist verification, localisation, scalable infrastructure, privacy-by-design, and adaptable compliance workflows.

The platform may also fall within broader online platform or marketplace obligations depending on its structure and markets; the EU Digital Services Act applies rules to online services including marketplaces and online platforms.

• Previous experience as a CTO, technical co-founder, VP Engineering, senior engineering lead, or founding engineer.
• Technical founder or early technical leader at a startup that successfully launched a platform or marketplace — ideally one that reached real 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; familiarity with healthcare-data, telehealth and cross-border payments rules across the EU/UK/US is a strong plus).
• A leader who sets clear direction and holds a high quality bar.
• Willing and able to relocate within Europe or to the US as the business requires.

Experience in one or more of the following would be especially valuable:

• Mental health, healthcare, telehealth, medtech, or regulated marketplace experience.
• 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.

What We Offer:

• A 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.

This role is not for someone who only wants a standard developer job. It is not for someone who waits for others to define every task. It is not for someone who avoids responsibility for launch, quality, documentation, security, privacy, or commercial outcomes. It is not for someone who wants salary only without founder-level commitment.