Acceleration Program & Seed Fund Manager

Job Description

The Acceleration Program and Seed Fund Manager will direct and manage the third phase of the Commercialization Engine process, Enterprise Acceleration, and is responsible for the smooth operation of the $5M Idea Center Bridge Fund. The intent of the position is to oversee, and administrate all of the processes, tools, procedures, and portfolio of companies that are transitioning into the venture growth phase. They will manage and assist in the following key areas: Founder Associate Program, Engine Accelerator, Company Creation, Team Recruiting, $5 Bridge Fund Management, Venture Funding, Partnership Management and Program Tools and Resources. They will have accountability and ownership of the successful development, implementation, and execution of each of these programs, including development and evaluation of strategies, improvement suggestions, and strategic relationship management. The Acceleration Program Manager will be responsible for recruiting, interviewing, hiring and training a team of student Founder Associates. The Founder Associate Program will be leveraged to fill the entrepreneurial operator gap on faculty projects. It is an entrepreneurial apprenticeship program that provides on the job training and hands-on startup experiences. This program recruits and trains entrepreneurial-minded students to lead high potential faculty projects in order to advance them through crucial commercialization milestones. The Acceleration Program and Seed Fund Manager will meet with teams from the Founder Associate program on a weekly basis to ensure each team has appropriate training, direction, milestones, and timelines, with guidance from the Director of Derisking. The Seed Fund Manager responsibilities include performing due diligence for the fund, maintaining the quality of pitches, owning the entrepreneurial communications, and negotiation process for the $5 M return on investment seed fund. The manager owns all fund documentation, on-time reporting on fund performance via quarterly reports, creating actionable summaries on portfolio performance. The manager maintains the Affinity CRM , owns communications with co-investors and fund stakeholders. The Seed Fund Manager monitors the funds’ equity holdings and returns, maintain the Seraf database with precision. This position will be responsible for working with the Office of General Council to legally create new startups based on faculty technology. They will work closely with our finance and operations teams to set up the financial infrastructure for each of the companies, including bank accounts and budget management systems. This position will include a large amount of work with the network of alumni, and the local community to identify key advisors, board members, investors, CEOs and other founding team members for the various startups. This will include identification, outreach, and relationship development. When appropriate they will work with the Office of Development when interacting with notable alumni. This position will be responsible for identifying, vetting and developing close relationships with external venture accelerator programs and will work with the companies to gain acceptance into such programs. They will also be responsible for identifying and developing funding strategies for each venture and working with angel investors, venture capitalists, and other funding sources to obtain the necessary level of pre-seed funding to fuel a successful commercialization. The position will also have ownership of the tools and resources for each of the programs. This will include identifying need gaps, sourcing and evaluating potential solutions, and recommending and owning the implementation of new tools. This may include overseeing the development of new, bespoke tools, designed to fit the specific needs of each program. This position needs to have strong attention to detail, ability to train and manage student teams, form strategic.

Minimum Qualifications

Master’s degree in Science/Engineering plus bachelor’s degree in Business OR Master’s degree in Business plus bachelor’s degree in Science/Engineering accepted. Three (3) years experience working in a commercialization organization, accelerator, or startup studio commercializing nascent, cutting-edge technologies, identifying market opportunities, identifying value propositions. One year of experience in performing due diligence for a venture fund, and performing fund operation-related activities.

Preferred Qualifications

Special Instructions to Applicants

Department VP and Assoc Provost for Innovation (38200)

Department Website https://ideacenter.nd.edu/

Family / Sub-Family University Operations / Organizational Strategy

Career Stream/Level EIC 3 Specialist

FLSA Status S1 - FT Exempt