Founding Head of Operations HealthTech / AI / Mental Health - #47761

Company: Mind Friend

Location: UK / Sweden Europe

Type: Full-Time

Sector: Mental Health, HealthTech, Marketplace, AI-enabled Digital Platform

Compensation: Equity + monthly stipend (transitioning to full salary post-funding)

Mind Friend is a psychology and mental health marketplace platform designed to connect service users with qualified therapists and mental health professionals.

Read this first

This is a founding role. The base salary is modest and intentionally so the meaningful upside is in equity and in what we build together. We're looking for someone who is here because they believe in the vision, not because of the paycheck. If salary is your primary driver, this isn't the right role for you, and that's okay.

We're also looking for someone genuinely flexible. The business will need you to relocate and travel as circumstances demand to be where the team, the partners, or the opportunities are. You should be at a point in life where that mobility is a feature, not a friction.

About Mind Friend

Mind Friend is a psychology platform and marketplace connecting therapists with service users making quality mental health support easier to find, access and trust.

We're not starting from zero. Our product is built and ready to launch, we already have users on the platform, and we have early data and traction to show what's working. What we need now is a founding operator to help us launch cleanly, scale, and raise.

The Opportunity

We're looking for a hands-on builder to step in at this critical pre-launch moment and own the operational, technical and strategic backbone of the business. You'll work directly with the founders to make sure we launch without legal, technical, or operational missteps and then help us scale and fundraise off the traction we've already built.

This is a founding seat. You won't be inheriting a playbook; you'll be writing it.

The right person will bring strong experience in startup execution, technology or AI product development, marketplace operations, team management, fundraising preparation, and operational risk management.

You will work closely with the founder and wider team to organise the business, manage key launch priorities, coordinate people and processes, oversee operational and technical readiness, and help ensure that Mind Friend launches in a professional, compliant, and scalable way.

This role is ideal for someone who has been part of an early-stage startup before, preferably in healthtech, AI, SaaS, marketplaces, mental health, wellbeing, or another regulated sector

Requirements

The ideal person will have experience in one or more of the following roles: COO, Chief of Staff, Head of Operations, Head of Product, General Manager, Startup Advisor, Venture Builder, or similar.

What You'll Do

• Lead end-to-end launch readiness: operational processes, technical roadmap, compliance, vendor selection, and go-to-market execution
• Own the technical and product strategy — translating the founders' vision into a delivery plan with engineers, designers and external partners
• Build the regulatory and legal foundation for a healthcare-adjacent marketplace (data protection, therapist verification, clinical governance, safeguarding, terms of service)
• Set up internal systems and team structure — hiring, workflows, tooling, performance management
• Drive fundraising alongside the founders: investor materials, financial models, data room, pipeline management, due diligence
• Help shape and tell the company story to investors, partners, clinicians and early users
• Be the person who keeps the trains running — and decides which trains we're building

Who You Are

• Startup veteran. You've helped build a company from early stage to scale — ideally as a founder, COO, head of operations, or chief of staff in a fast-growing startup
• Tech or AI background at leadership level. You can hold your own in technical conversations, evaluate engineering decisions, and ideally have experience with AI products or tech-enabled marketplaces
• Operator's mindset. You're equally comfortable in a spreadsheet, a board meeting, a product spec and a hiring panel
• Fundraising experience. You've been in the room for pre-seed, seed or Series A raises and know what investors look for
• Mission-driven. You believe in the importance of mental health and want to spend the next several years building something that matters. Salary alone is not your motivation — equity, ownership, and impact are
• Geographically flexible. Willing to travel and relocate as the business demands
• Calm in chaos. You bring order to fast-moving environments and don't need someone above you to tell you what to do

Important: Please do not send a generic application. Your CV or cover letter must clearly show your achievements in startups, management, fundraising, product launch, technology, AI, operations, or scaling. Please explain what you can bring to Mind Friend and why you are suitable for this role.

We will only respond to complete applications that clearly demonstrate relevant experience and fit.

To apply, please send your CV or LinkedIn profile with a short, specific cover letter explaining your experience and what you would bring to Mind Friend.

Benefits

What We Offer

• A modest founding salary and meaningful equity in a mission-led company
• A live product with real users and early traction not a blank page
• A seat at the table from day zero your fingerprints will be on everything
• Reputable name with mental health professionals