Tech
Engineering · AI · Product engineering · Data · Technical leadership
Volunteer role
Don't just review resumes. Watch people build.
Help a distributed team build an MVP with AI — and discover exceptional talent along the way. RDAI is recruiting experienced startup professionals to volunteer as mentors across the Tech, Manager and Intern tracks.
The commitment is practical: three months, one distributed team, one MVP, real work.
Volunteer · unpaid
What a CV cannot show you
- Who learns quickly
- Who takes ownership without being asked
- Who communicates clearly across time zones
- Who uses AI effectively, and who uses it blindly
- Who handles ambiguity and takes feedback
Three months of observation, instead of two pages and an interview.
Who we're looking for
5+ years of startup industry experience
Experienced practitioners who have shipped, hired, and been wrong about things often enough to explain why.
Manager
Product · Operations · Growth · Sales · Marketing · Strategy
Founding
Founders · Co-founders · Startup operators · Early-stage leaders
What you will do
Five things, over three months
- Mentor Help participants navigate real problems and make better decisions.
- Review Look at their work, not just their CV.
- Challenge Ask the questions that expose how they think.
- Guide Help a distributed team move from idea to MVP.
- Observe See how participants perform over time, not in one sitting.
Why volunteer?
See potential before it appears on a CV. Traditional hiring gives you a few pages of experience and a short interview. Three months of working alongside someone gives you something else entirely.
Participants build a typical MVP using modern AI-assisted workflows. Mentors help teams move through understand, define, build, test, iterate, ship. The goal is not a perfect startup. The goal is an environment where potential becomes visible.
You may discover people who would otherwise stay invisible to the startup ecosystem — capable people without the network or the geography to be found.
Talent visibility
See participants in action over an extended period, on real work.
Professional network
Work with ambitious people and with other experienced practitioners.
Impact
Help people without established networks gain practical startup experience.
This is a volunteer role. There is no salary and no employment relationship associated with mentoring. Mentors contribute their time and experience to support RDAI's mission. Any future employment, collaboration or investment relationship between a mentor and a participant is separate from RDAI's volunteer programme and is not guaranteed.
Interested?
Tell us where you can help
A short note is enough. We reply with the next cohort dates, what a mentor week looks like in practice, and which track needs your background most.
- Double opt-in: one confirmation email before anything else
- No mentor is asked to commit before speaking with us
- One-click unsubscribe in every email