Chief Technology Officer (CTO) – Project Bridget

Part-time, Volunteer (1–2 hrs/week to start, unpaid)

Location: Remote (Seattle-based leadership)

About Project Bridget

Bridget is an AI-powered nonprofit platform helping people build the relationships they need to thrive. Whether it’s a new friend, roommate, creative collaborator, or chosen family, Bridget connects people through a values-based, privacy-conscious approach to social matchmaking and coaching. We're piloting in Seattle to combat the infamous "Seattle Freeze," but our aim is national impact. Our long-term mission is to strengthen the social fabric of the country and enable scalable, prosocial coordination through technology. Bridget is a 100% donation-based nonprofit. No ads, fees, or data selling.

What You’ll Do as CTO

In the MVP phase, you'll guide the technical development of the Bridget platform and help build its foundation for long-term scalability and impact.

Near-Term (MVP Stage)

• Own the end-to-end technical architecture, which includes a modular system of services (auth, matchmaking, privacy, LLM-based chat, messaging, reputation, and facilitation).
• Discuss Bridget’s technical approach with potential funders on an as-needed basis.
• Oversee MVP development, starting with vetting offshore mobile app development companies, then providing lightweight code/design review (1–2 hrs/week) while we build the first version of the product.
• Advise on technology choices (React Native, FastAPI, PostgreSQL, OpenAI, Firebase/Clerk) and ensure system integrity, security, and scalability.

Longer-Term (At Scale)

• Lead development of custom 1:1 and 1:many matching algorithms that incorporate user traits, behavior, intent, and trust signals.
• Architect AI systems capable of facilitating group formation, coordination, and collective decision-making across large networks.
• Integrate graph-based learning and social signal processing to surface matches and consensus clusters responsibly.
• Ensure privacy-preserving design (e.g., differential privacy, federated learning, or trust-bound LLM orchestration).
• Grow and mentor a top-tier technical team, from volunteer contributors to future funded staff or fellows.
• Help set ethical guardrails for AI systems that affect real human relationships and societal cohesion.

Ideal Qualifications

Education & Experience

• PhD or MS in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, or Computational Social Science
• 10+ years of experience as a tech lead, principal engineer, or CTO spanning both applied engineering and AI/ML research
• Experience working with or adjacent to labs or projects focused on collective intelligence and human-AI interaction

Technical Expertise

• Strong background in Python (FastAPI), PostgreSQL, React Native (TypeScript)
• Proven experience with recommender systems, graph-based ML, or social network modeling
• Familiarity with LLM orchestration (e.g., OpenAI APIs, LangChain, embedding search, prompt tuning)
• Comfort with privacy-preserving ML techniques (e.g., differential privacy, federated learning)
• Fluency with modern ML and data infrastructure tools (e.g., HuggingFace, PyTorch, Weaviate, SageMaker)

Values Alignment

• Deep commitment to ethical, prosocial, and equitable AI
• Motivated by human flourishing, civic cohesion, and reimagining social infrastructure for the public good
• Excited by the challenge of building a mission-driven product that balances technical complexity with emotional depth

Why Join Bridget?

• High-leverage mission: Help tackle loneliness, polarization, and social disconnection through AI that connects people, not isolates them.
• Early ownership: Architect the system from the ground up with full creative and technical influence.
• Flexible involvement: Contribute a few hours a week now, with the option to grow into a funded, high-profile leadership role.
• Future-facing work: Be at the forefront of building AI systems that support collective wellbeing and coordination at scale.

Community and credibility: Bridget is backed by strong, nationwide user demand and “willingness to donate” data, and a values-aligned leadership team.