About Koko:

Hey there! We're Koko, a tech nonprofit created by a team out of MIT and Airbnb. Our mission is to tackle the youth mental health crisis head-on by meeting young people where they are — online — and providing free digital interventions on their favorite social platforms. In the next 4-5 years, we want our service to be accessible to any teen who needs it. Zero friction, ubiquitous, completely free. We’ve already reached over 2,000,000 people and we’re growing quickly. This isn't just about mental health, it’s about saving a generation.

Our Cultural Values:

Make a difference

• Aim for large effects. Scale and impact should astonish people.
• Be outcomes-based. Don’t just assume we are helping people. Measure it.

Act with integrity

• Be honest, ethical and genuine.
• Making sure everyone is heard and respected.

Challenge yourself

• Do hard things you’ve never tried before.
• Do hard things no one’s ever tried before.
• Always be learning.

Find balance

• Have your work match your lifestyle, not your lifestyle match your work.

At Koko, we celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and encourage individuals from all backgrounds, regardless of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, or veteran status, to apply. We serve a very diverse user base and wide-ranging ideas, perspectives, and backgrounds are fundamental to our service. Many of the people working with us are former Koko users themselves.

What We Offer:

• Work with a team of YC founders who have experience selling an AI startup to Airbnb
• Flexible hours, remote, and a 4-day work week
• Ongoing mentorship to help you grow and excel in collaboration with our retired CTO (board member and founder with 25 years or experience)
• Competitive compensation: $150,000 per year for a 4-day work week, with potential for increase and strong upside
• Opportunity to build and lead your own team

The Role:

We're looking for a seasoned software engineer with strong leadership to take on the CTO role at Koko. You should have the ability to ship software end-to-end and have a strong interest in AI and large language models (LLMs). The ideal candidate will thrive in a fast-paced agile environment, where we're constantly shipping, iterating, and learning to create impactful solutions for our users.

Your Responsibilities:

• Develop and implement a technology strategy aligned with Koko's mission
• Guide the technical team in creating, developing, and maintaining our digital interventions in our tech stack of Ruby, Python, Rust, and React.
• Build and manage end-to-end data processing and model training pipelines
• Deliver high-quality software products on time
• Discover and integrate new technologies to enhance our solutions
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to spark innovation and improve products
• Cultivate a positive, collaborative work environment that fosters growth and knowledge sharing
• Build and lead your own team, driving success and expanding our impact

What We're Looking For:

• A passion for our mission and a commitment to help end the youth mental health crisis
• Experience building end-to-end systems and shipping production-quality code
• Comfort in a fast-paced, dynamic environment
• Strong interest in LLMs and AI
• Proven leadership and project management skills, with the ability to inspire and motivate a team