Founding Chief Technical Officer, Cookie Jar Collective

Center for Cultural Innovation

Posted about 20 hours ago

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Job Title: Founding Chief Technology Officer
Location: Remote (US-based required)
Type: Full-Time
Salary: $150,000 / year
Term: Initial 1 year contract
CCI has a long history of supporting artists–giving grants directly to artists; funding projects that
are experimenting with new social, cultural, and economic systems; and, through the new
Research to Impact Lab (R2i Lab), incubating technology to facilitate alternative systems of
mutualism, self-determination, and equitable economic structures. One such technology is a
savings and benefits platform for artists and gig workers we are calling the Cookie Jar
Collective.
The Cookie Jar Collective is a collective savings tool that empowers trusted groups—friends,
families, creative collaborators, online communities—to grow and manage their shared
resources together. Think Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (ROSCAs), lending circles,
and community treasuries reimagined with transparency, flexibility, and technology that centers
cooperation. Our mission is to unlock the power of collective wealth, especially for those who
have been excluded or underserved by traditional financial systems.
Our team has spent the past 18-24 months conducting extensive ecosystem/market research,
interviews with potential public & private sector partners, artist focus groups, and numerous
collaborative design sessions to arrive at our current product vision. That being said, we still
have lots of open questions and are looking for someone who can weigh in with technical
expertise, guidance, and execution. Our Founding CTO can expect a high level of project
ownership and decision-making capacity. We’re a small, values-driven team looking for a
technical expert to join us and help shape both the product and the organization from the
ground up.

About the Role
As our Founding Chief Technology Officer, you’ll be the first technical hire and a core
architect of the product. You’ll work closely with the founding team to build and iterate on the
MVP, make key decisions around tech stack, and lay the groundwork for a scalable, secure, and
user-friendly platform. This is a high-impact, high-trust role for someone who is excited by both
product ownership and community-centered technology.
Generating huge profit margins is not the driving force behind this work. Our goal is to contribute
something meaningful to artists, freelancers and the institutions that support them. We are
looking for someone that understands this and can steer product development in a way that
maximizes social impact.

What You’ll Do
● Lead Product Development: Oversee the planning, execution, and delivery of the
product. Manage project timelines and ensure the end-to-end development of this
product from initial concepts through successful launch.
● Build the MVP: From wireframes to working product—develop core features such as
group formation, deposits and withdrawals, governance and decision-making
mechanisms, and group communication and coordination features.
● Build in Public: Ensure accountability to our community through working with our team
to share learning along the way. Contribute to publishing open source code, blog posts,
and other media to make meaningful contributions to the field beyond the product itself.
● Lead Architecture: Define the technical direction, choose the stack, and establish
engineering best practices. Explore the role of decentralized infrastructure and
community ownership models (DAOs, co-ops, etc.)
● Ensure Compliance, Security & Trust: Implement systems with a deep respect for
data security, consent, and community governance.
● Collaborate Cross-Functionally: Work alongside the founding team on product design,
community co-creation, pilot programs, and testing.
● Travel as needed: Potential users of the Cookie Jar Collective are freelancers across
sectors. As a result, travel associated with piloting and marketing the model to funders
and potential users will be required.

Who You Are
We are ideally looking for someone who has experience previously leading the development
and implementation of a digital financial services platform–especially those that support
cooperative, mutual aid, or community finance models. We’d love it if you also have some
familiarity with U.S. labor policy, particularly around public services for underserved groups.

● A full-stack developer and systems thinker comfortable building and shipping products
end-to-end
● 8+ years of professional experience (or equivalent skills) in product development and
software engineering
● Experienced in multiple web development frameworks - frontend (React, Vue) and
backend (Django, Node) with an ability to understand the nuances between them and
choose the right toolset for this project.
● Architecture and infrastructure provisioning, maintenance, and security (picking cloud
infrastructure (AWS, GCP, etc.); making security choices.
● Data engineering (model design, cost estimation, skills with traditional databases as well
as blockchain technologies and ability to draw the lines re: which data is stored where.
● Continuous Integration / Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipeline setup and repository
management
● Familiarity with digital wallets, payment rails (e.g. Plaid, Stripe, Dwolla), or blockchain
● Open-source contributions or prior startup/co-op experience
● Passionate about financial justice, mutual aid, cooperatives, or alternative economies
● Excited by early-stage ambiguity, willing to get scrappy, and deeply collaborative
● Values-driven: You care about ethics, equity, and building systems people can actually
trust
● Interest in user research and participatory design
● Awareness of compliance-adjacent concerns (e.g. KYC, AML, PCI) and experience
working within those frameworks—even better if you’ve worked with
banking-as-a-service providers. Since we are a California-based nonprofit, some
familiarity with CCPA privacy protections is not a must but would be helpful.
Note on hiring: For now, we are not looking to hire/contract with teams (development firms,
product designer/manager + developer duos, innovation studios, etc.). We are hiring just one
individual full-time Founding CTO.

What We Offer
● Compensation: $150,000 / year
● Additionally, CCI offers a benefits package that includes:
○ 100% employer-paid medical, dental, and vision plans for employees (eligible
dependents available at additional costs)
○ Life/AD&D and Long-Term Disability Insurance
○ Voluntary 403b retirement savings plan
○ Voluntary Health Care FSA and Dependent Care FSA
○ 120 personal paid time off hours, which increases over time, and sick time
○ Time off between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, and additional holidays
throughout the year
○ $600 annual stipend for professional development opportunities
○ $100 monthly stipend for working remotely
○ Remote office equipment (computer, phone) and supplies

Note on compensation: This is not a traditional startup model where we expect a large
acquisition or IPO, and therefore a large payout for early team members. Rather, we are offering
a full-time salaried position with benefits at our non-profit in hopes of attracting someone
interested in building technology that extends the impact of CCI to more people and
communities.

Our Commitment
At CCI, we are committed to considering a broad range of applicants, including and especially
those with diverse work experiences and perspectives. Your cover letter is the perfect place to
tell us about your interest in our work and what you could bring to this role.
CCI is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for
employment without regard to race, ethnicity, religion, gender, gender identity or expression,
sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, or any other protected status, in accordance
with applicable federal, state, and local laws.
In compliance with applicable laws, CCI provides reasonable accommodations for qualified
applicants and employees with disabilities. If you need an accommodation to participate in the
application or interview process, please let us know.

How to Apply