At Because Humanity we believe democracy depends on a healthy public square. Today 3.6 billion people around the world have voices on major social media platforms. But most of them are not being heard in meaningful ways. We’re working to make today’s public square more inclusive, vibrant and impactful, by surfacing and mapping citizen voices at scale, to reveal public opinion and narratives in powerful new ways. 

We’re building an analytics machine modeled on an MIT Media Lab-built AI system called The Electome that provided a coherent, constantly updated map of citizen voices, opinions, and narratives far more detailed than any poll, for journalists covering the 2016 U.S. presidential election. We’re rebooting that project in partnership with the scientists behind the original version. It will be focused on today’s online discourse around major ethical, social and policy questions such as Racial Equality, Reimagining Capitalism and the Future of AI. As a freestanding non-profit, Because Humanity will share its analytics with journalists, policymakers, the business community and other institutions, through a constantly updated dashboard, regular published briefings and other content vehicles. Because Humanity is supported by seed funding from ex/ante, a funding arm of Schmidt Futures, and other philanthropic organizations.

Location: The organization will be based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The position will be remote at the start. Longer term, location flexibility is a plus and relocation assistance will be provided as needed.

Job Type: Full-time

Compensation: Competitive non-profit technology leader’s starting salary, $180,000 - $200,000 range plus benefits

Because Humanity is seeking an experienced software engineering leader to join the founding team as Chief Technology Officer (CTO). We are looking for a product-oriented engineer with the ability to lead and influence in a fast-paced, creative environment. The role includes building and leading a team of engineers, data scientists and analysts tasked with developing Because Humanity’s technology and products. The CTO will be overseeing partnerships with two world-class computer-science teams, at Dartmouth and MIT’s Center for Constructive Communication, that have done groundbreaking work on computational social-science problems. This position reports to the CEO. The organization will be based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The position will be remote at the start. Longer term, location flexibility is a plus and relocation assistance will be provided as needed.

Because Humanity is an incubated initiative of the Global Development Incubator (GDI). Staff will be GDI employees during the initial design phase and will transition to the new nonprofit organization when it is incorporated. For more information on Because Humanity and GDI please refer to the respective websites: Because Humanity (https://www.becausehumanity.org/) and GDI (https://globaldevincubator.org/).

Rewards of this Position:
The CTO will have the opportunity to shape the products, management and culture of a pioneering organization that aims to reinvigorate public discourse and increase its impact by making the search for solutions to society’s biggest challenges more broad-based and truly democratic. You will have access to and collaboration opportunities with some of the leading academic scientists in the field. You will be confronted with challenging problems requiring imaginative solutions. Your creative and technical capabilities will be tested regularly as you lead the team’s development of new analytics tools and products.

Role and Responsibilities:

• Define Because Humanity’s overall technology architecture and product development roadmap
• Own the technology strategy, processes, and organizational structure for the organization as it scales
• Communicate and work collaboratively with the rest of the organization
• Lead and grow the development team and build out necessary technology leadership infrastructure to support the organization
• Work with academic partners to transform their scientific studies and tech prototypes into real-world tools for measuring and making sense of public discourse.
• Work with legal partners to ensure systems and processes comply with appropriate regulatory frameworks
• Work with co-founders to secure funding and support relations with board members and advisors through periodic reviews of technology progress and projection
   

Our Ideal Candidate:

• Has a degree in Computer Science with MS or PhD-level knowledge of Machine Learning and/or at least 5 years experience at a top tech company or startup developing and deploying production AI systems
• Experience with ML Ops and deploying production machine learning systems at scale, especially leveraging large-scale language models such as BERT, GPT 
• Has a deep grasp of Machine Learning
• Had developed user-facing technologies for advanced data-analytics
• Has experience working with social media data such as Twitter, Reddit, etc...
• Believes in the mission of building a healthy public square for the digital age
• Attracts, retains, develops, and inspires world-class talent
• Has a proven track record successfully building advanced AI software products and
• managing fast-growing teams
• Is comfortable in a fast-paced startup environment and adaptable to shifting requirements, multiple partners and stakeholders, and continual user feedback
• Will embrace the opportunity to work in partnership with academic scientists and technologists, and is comfortable taking ideas from the scientific literature into production
• Leads by example, ensuring the team understands and adheres to organization’s ideals, standards and operating procedures

If you are interested in this position and meet the qualifications above, please submit a single PDF document containing a one-page cover letter and resume when applying.
 
Organization Principles:
Because Humanity is committed to an inclusive environment, meritocracy, and the development of all team members. We recognize and value contributions from all team members regardless of length of employment or level in the organization. We lead with transparency and expect the same from all of our team members. We believe every contributor makes the organization successful.