Technical Programme Manager

MCS - the Local Loop project

Job Title: Technical Programme Manager, Local Loop
Location: UK/Remote

• 0.6 FTE or as agreed
• UK- based. Remote/Merseyside
• Compensation: £65,000 - £90,000 pro-rata
• Contact: workat@mutualcredit.services

An opportunity for a dynamic self-starter with strong technical skills (web application/Saas, system architectures, data security and UX) and business experience (finance, startups, SMEs). This is a position with an ambitious fintech company dedicated to building finance tools which work for people, place and planet at a deep systemic level.

About Us

MCS is at the beginning of an ambitious mission, aiming to build a global-scale Social Franchise which supports and develops novel tools, practices and institutions. These will interact to develop the conditions for the emergence of viable economic democracy - in healthy and thriving relationship with people, society and planet.

MCS develops and builds financial platforms and associated governance models on the basis of rigorous analysis and novel insights to offer ‘better business as usual’. Franchised scale-out will launch many instances of these platforms and federate them together to build dynamic economic ecosystems with strong returns to scale.

Local Loop is the first project of this mission, a B2B ‘network fintech’ platform for city and regional economies. We leverage digital accounting information and network science to enable a growing fraction of local trading to be settled without need for cash, through implementation of sophisticated clearing and liquidity injection algorithms.

This digital business platform supports a networked ‘club’ with three tiers. The ‘public’ tier is a simple local map and directory. The ‘member’ tier builds a network graph of declared trading relationships, and the ‘collaboration’ tier collects current invoice data which the algorithms analyse to improve cashflow, reduce late payment, and encourage shorter, more sustainable supply chains.

MCS is an early stage startup, working towards its first investment round. Founder funded since inception, MCS won a UK Innovate Smart grant for a £465k, 18 month project (commenced June 2024, with software firm CredCom Tech as collaborator) to develop the Local Loop platform and launch a commercial instance in Merseyside. The project is ahead of target, and has achieved notable buy-in from across the Merseyside business community and beyond.

Alongside the B2B offering of Local Loop, MCS is also developing a range of finance, governance and legal models for the emerging movement for Commoning local infrastructure, as a complementary aspect of the economic ecosystem.

Internally, MCS operates in a highly productive manner, empowering individuals and small, overlapping teams with ‘just-enough structure’ to move at a rapid pace. As we steadily expand the number and range of team members and collaborators, this working approach needs to evolve, with a defined Programme Manager in an enabling and facilitating role.

If you’re excited by the idea of building a healthier economy through engaging platforms built on insights from rigorous analysis and delivering tangible benefits; if you’re a motivated self-starter; if you have a dynamic, ‘edge of chaos’ understanding of what it takes to scale fast; if you like non-hierarchical, high accountability working in an increasingly diverse, supportive people-centred crowd; if your ideal of leadership is empowerment, we’d love to meet you.

We’re confident in our mission, in the rigorous grounding we’ve built for the product, and about its potential to contribute powerfully to better economic outcomes. We have built a team around this work on the basis of being able to communicate and express this confidence and rigour to everyone we work with.

Role Overview

As Technical Programme Manager for Local Loop, you will provide a focal point for the project, understanding all its aspects and supporting coordination between team members, collaborators, subcontractors and stakeholders to continue and improve on our culture of rapid and agile progress. You’ll be key to the continuing evolution of our ‘just-enough structure’ approach so that it empowers us to develop and deliver without undue friction.

Your expertise and experience in technical delivery will be required to support our agile technical development team for timely delivery of services with excellent product/market fit.

The role will require a strong blend of technical expertise, programme management skills, and a strong commitment to the Local Loop mission to make Merseyside a beacon of B2B collaboration.

In practice, this role will involve close collaboration and coordination with founders Tom Woodroof and Dil Green at the core of MCS, complementing their skills, responsibilities and capacities.

The Smart funding runs until November ’25, so we’re looking for a commitment for a year in this role. However, we’re excited to have two potential franchisees already lined up in the form of the marketing consultants working with us in Merseyside, and prospects for other instances already across the UK and in Europe. The right candidate will find no shortage of opportunities for development and progress with MCS.

Specifics

• Salary £65,000 - £90,000 FTE dependent on candidate
• 24 hours / week or as agreed (flexible working is fine), PAYE.
• Job share arrangements will be considered.
• Benefits: 30 days holiday (bank holidays inclusive).
• You can work remotely if you prefer or work from our workspace in Liverpool. Travel will be required to meetings if remote. Must be UK-based.
• Employment terms negotiable.
• Responsibilities:
• Act as Product Owner (Agile);
• Be the bridge between the team, clients, and stakeholders,
• Agile Practitioner/Scrum Master.
• Local Loop project management;
• Schedule/timelines,
• Risk management,
• Budget management,
• Grant reporting.
• Stakeholder reporting.
• Operational support to the wider business. Note that as a ‘lean’ startup, everyone at MCS shares the administrative/secretarial load.
• Third-party management, including off-shore development teams, procurement and contracting.
• Process and Culture evolution; working with the founders to maintain and improve a humane, creative and productive environment.
  
  

Requirements

We’re much more interested in relevant experience, evidence of rigorous analytical capacity track record and alignment than we are in specific qualifications. Qualifications are fine, though!

Experience

• 5+ years of experience in technical programme or project management, ideally within a fintech, software, or startup environment.
• UI/UX, including looking at user-centred design practices.
• TDD and other QA approaches.
  
  

Technical Background

Solid technical foundation in web applications and Saas, covering system architectures, data security and UX, combined with the ability to understand complex technical requirements and constraints.

We’re primarily using Nextjs. NodeJS. OpenAI. Supabase(Postgres). Open Streetmap.

Communication Skills

Communicate clearly and effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Project Management Expertise

Proven track record of managing complex, cross-functional projects. We take Agility seriously; we continually reprioritise and adapt to new understandings.

Nice-to-Haves

• Local to Merseyside.
• Data Security / Cyber Threat management.
• AI experience.
• Experience with SME finance and Credit Control.
  
  

What We Offer

• A mission-driven company with a strong focus on rigorous analysis, systemic impact, economic democracy, and a deep underlying ethics.
• A collaborative, diverse, and dynamic startup culture. We are committed to diversity and inclusion - above and beyond statutory obligations. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind.
• Opportunity to build and shape processes in a fast-growing organisation.
• Flexible hours and working arrangements.
• Competitive salary and potential for equity.