Manager of Venture Development - Skandalaris Center

University of Washington: CoMotion

$65K — $112K *
Education, Government & Non-Profit
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree required; relevant experience of 5 years needed.
  • Preferred: Formal education in entrepreneurship or graduate degree in business/science.
  • Experience in startup environments, such as founder or investor, is a plus.
  • Knowledge of investing mechanisms, including SAFEs and Convertible Notes preferred.
  • Strong interpersonal and communication skills necessary; team player is essential.

Responsibilities

  • Develop and refine the Center's overall Venture Development strategy.
  • Engage with Washington University affiliates to evolve entrepreneurial ideas and opportunities.
  • Cultivate strategic relationships and sponsorships to enhance WashU startups' visibility.
  • Execute workshops and programming for entrepreneurs and innovators.
  • Oversee a venture portfolio budget exceeding $350k and various funding mechanisms.

Benefits

  • Normal office environment with opportunities for on-site engagement.
  • Flexible travel required for on and off-campus locations.
  • Supportive of diverse and inclusive workplace principles.
Full Job Description
Location
ST. LOUIS, MO 63130 Scheduled Hours
37.5

Position Summary
The Skandalaris Center Manager of Venture Development is responsible for the leadership, development, execution, and continuous, data driven, and measurable improvement of the Center’s venture development, venture capital, and startup support strategies. This role oversees and drives the full startup and venture pipeline across all programs, including competitions and the co-investment fund and manages the Center’s investment portfolio across complex multi-structured dilutive and non-dilutive funding vehicles, ensuring alignment with priorities and long-term strategic growth.

Job Description

Primary Duties & Responsibilities:

  • Create, lead, and continuously refine the Center’s comprehensive Venture Development strategy and staff across a wide variety of initiatives, programs, and constituent groups. Oversee structure, prioritization, and scheduling of staff support to ensure consistent, high quality, and scalable support for constituents. Govern the Center’s competitions and investment pipelines across programs such as Global Impact Award, Skandalaris Venture Competition, LaunchPad, Incubators, Accelerators, WashU Venture Network, Skandalaris Design Agency, etc
  • Meet with Washington University affiliates to grow and scale promising ideas and opportunities; evaluate ideas, emerging opportunities, and technologies; conduct feasibility reviews; connect founders to critical resources across campus, across disciplines, and in the regional and national innovation ecosystem. Manage, mentor, and strategically deploy direct reports,
    including Investors-in-Residence and Entrepreneurs-in-Residence, to deliver high impact mentorship, guidance, and venture support driving venture formation across student, faculty, staff, and alumni startups.
  • Manage existing and expand new strategic relationships, including revenue generating sponsorships, with firms and networks including corporations, venture firms, investors, and startup networks that will materially contribute to the growth, visibility, and success of WashU startups. Ensure and enforce ongoing rigorous and accurate collection of data and metrics into the CRM and design, build, and maintain functional reporting systems and dashboards for the Center leadership and operation teams and University colleagues engaged in supporting the Center.
  • Develop and execute concurrent workshops, master classes, bootcamps, and programming to connect entrepreneurs and innovators in pursuit of expanding their ideas. Recruit, vet and engage high caliber speakers and industry experts ensuring content quality, relevance, and alignment with emerging trends in entrepreneurship, venture development, and innovation.
  • Manage and oversee the budget and financial execution of Venture portfolio including an investment portfolio deploying over $350k annually across multiple funding mechanism.
  • Perform other duties as assigned.

Working Conditions:

Job Location/Working Conditions

  • Normal office environment
  • Ability to travel to various on and off campus locations

Physical Effort

  • Typically sitting at desk or table.
  • Repetitive wrist, hand or finger movement.


Equipment

  • Office equipment.

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work performed by people assigned to this classification. They are not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all job duties performed by the personnel so classified. Management reserves the right to revise or amend duties at any time.

Required Qualifications

Education:

Bachelor's degree


Certifications/Professional Licenses:

No specific certification/professional license is required for this position.


Work Experience:

Relevant Experience (5 Years)


Skills:

Not Applicable


Driver's License:

A driver's license is not required for this position.

More About This Job

Preferred Qualifications

  • Formal undergraduate education in entrepreneurship.
  • Graduate degree in business or scientific discipline to complement undergraduate degree. 
  • Proven ability to handle confidential information responsibly.
  • Development and oversight of sponsorship opportunities for university or similar initiatives.
  • Experience in startup environment as founder, investor, early-stage team member, or consultant.
  • Experience in venture capital or private equity.
  • Knowledge of dilutive investment vehicles such as SAFEs, Convertible Notes, and Priced Rounds.
  • Experience with startup and venture databases such as PitchBook, Crunchbase, and Carta.
  • Excellent interpersonal communication skills, written and verbal; a service-oriented communicator who is a true team player.
  • Strong creative and problem-solving skills, organizational skills, event management, attention to detail, and customer service skills.
  • Proven ability to manage and prioritize multiple tasks and deadlines with varying degrees of pressure; ability to exercise judgment and take corrective action.
  • This position requires a self-starter with excellent project management, technical, communication (both written and oral), and interpersonal skills; A self-motivated individual driven by challenge with the ability to work independently with a high degree of reliability, accuracy and productivity; A positive attitude is a must.
  • Must be able to work independently in an environment of multiple and conflicting priorities and projects; anticipate and resolve problems and updates supervisor on status of projects.
  • The candidate should have good professional judgment, initiative, and confidence.
  • The candidate will work independently but have the ability to function as part of a team, coordinating with multiple constituencies.
  • Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Preferred Qualifications

Education:

No additional education unless stated elsewhere in the job posting.


Certifications/Professional Licenses:

No additional certification/professional licenses unless stated elsewhere in the job posting.


Work Experience:

No additional work experience unless stated elsewhere in the job posting.

Skills:

Analytical Thinking, Critical Reasoning, Customer Service, Interpersonal Communication, Oral Communications, Organizing, Proactive Behavior, Problem Resolution, Written Communication

Grade
G13

Salary Range
$65,900.00 - $112,700.00 / Annually

The salary range reflects base salaries paid for positions in a given job grade across the University. Individual rates within the range will be determined by factors including one's qualifications and performance, equity with others in the department, market rates for positions within the same grade and department budget.

Questions

For frequently asked questions about the application process, please refer to our .

Accommodation

If you are unable to use our online application system and would like an accommodation, please emailor call the dedicated accommodation inquiry number at 314-935-1149 and leave a voicemail with the nature of your request.

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