VP, Mozilla Studio - Mozilla

About Mozilla Foundation

Mozilla Foundation is a non-profit building a better technology future — powered by people, open by design, fueled by imagination. We deliver people-first alternatives to today’s extractive systems, building side by side with developers, innovators, and advocates.

Team: Mozilla Studio

Mozilla Studio is where we find promising builders and ideas, select the ones worth backing, and help them become tools and technology actually used by people and institutions. Good public-interest technology often fails between prototype and first user because commercial capital arrives on terms at odds with the mission, and grant capital rarely comes with the help a team needs on sustainment, supply, and operational excellence.

Mozilla Studio helps to close that gap. It backs efforts early, gives teams what they need, and connects them to the deployers, buyers, and follow-on funders. This newly created role of VP, Mozilla Studio will hold the responsibility of building and running the Studio, reporting directly to the CEO and partnering closely with the Operations Team.

This is a remote role open to candidates based in Canada, Germany, the UK, or the US.

Job Responsibilities

As the VP, Mozilla Studio, you will:

• Lead the Portfolio: Take the helm of the Studio’s active portfolio, including current AI initiatives, while building trusted relationships with the CEO, Foundation teams, and builders.
• Assess & Evaluate: Rigorously assess each active bet to understand who it serves, what early signals it shows, and what is required to reach the next stage.
• Set Direction: Establish the Studio's direction and criteria for what it backs, extends, stops, or declines, deciding support levels within agreed investment timelines.
• Hold High Standards: Ensure every bet has a named deployer or user upfront, measuring progress in adoption and impact rather than activity.
• Pressure-Test Commitments: Test every commitment before capital moves to ensure we make a meaningful difference and unblock unique potential.
• Balance Portfolio: Balance early signals against bigger conviction bets, making disciplined stop decisions with documented rationales.
• Guide Durable Structures: Guide each team to a durable structure (company, nonprofit, cooperative, mission entity, or commons project) with a working sustaining model and at least one named external funder.
• Build the Team: Build and lead a high-performing Studio team and a talent bench calibrated to support each team's stage and timeline.
• Cross-Functional Handoffs: Set up clear and dependable handoffs with the Investment Committee and other Foundation teams.
• Translate Evidence: Turn portfolio evidence into clear signals for leadership, the Board, and funders.
• Ecosystem Presence: Make the Studio a destination for serious engineers and founders, and a trusted source of vetted opportunities for co-funders.

Your Professional Profile

• Proven track record building or leading a studio, incubator, lab, accelerator, or early-stage founder program at a senior level
• Technical lens to engage engineers, open-source and internet infrastructure, and rigorously test team claims
• Deep, active network of deployers, buyers, co-funders, and builders across sectors and regions
• Fluency with capital classes (grants, recoverable grants, PRI, and beyond)
• Experience with models beyond venture equity, such as cooperatives or public-benefit companies
• Comfort in making hard calls, stopping bets, and saying no
• Experience building and leading high-performing teams, drawing in borrowed talent like residents and advisors
• Demonstrated commitment to Mozilla Foundation's mission and an open, trustworthy internet
• Flexibility to work across time zones and occasionally outside standard hours

Bonus experience: Nonprofit governance and board reporting, fundraising and funder relationships, depth in Mozilla Foundation focus areas, and helping teams achieve adoption by public institutions or large organizations.

How We Work

• Move toward the hard thing: Stop bets or turn down builders early; raise concerns in the room.
• Stay curious and current: Keep close to open-source movements, internet infrastructure, and communities.
• Work in the open: Document reasoning for backing or stopping bets and share progress while in-progress.
• Focus and finish: Be clear about which bets get support and see each through to a sustainable form.
• Flex with purpose: Adjust support as teams and contexts change without drifting from the mission.
• Lead with care: Hold builders to high standards while remembering they are people taking real risks.

Salary & Benefits

Starting salary ranges:

• Germany: €222,088.00 – €249,848.22
• UK: £195,534.00 – £219,975.06
• Canada: $383,400.00 – $431,323.65
• US: $284,000 – $319,499

Benefits include Private Medical Insurance, Extended Sick Leave, Global EAP, Retirement Plan contributions, Paid Time Off, Company Holidays + EOY Shutdown, Wellness budget, Professional Development budget, and Parental leave top-up programs.