Senior Manager (Venture Builder) - Contract

(This role is hired on contract basis.)

Senior Manager (Venture Builder)

The Innovation & Enterprise Office (Ventures) advances SUTD’s efforts in translating innovations, creative work and tech into real-world impact. This role plays a critical role in partnering SUTD early-stage alumni and inventors in scaling and translating their technology and innovations.

About the Role

The Venture Builder steps in to bridge the gap between a prototype-ready solution and a market ready to absorb the solution. The Venture Builder will work closely with selected teams as a hands-on venture-building partner, rather than solely providing advisory or mentorship support. The Venture Builder assumes responsibility for supporting the commercial development of a portfolio of early-stage teams and newly formed ventures, working alongside founders and PIs to progress promising teams towards market validation, venture formation, commercial traction and investment readiness. Your deliverable is to scale very early-stage teams into sustainable operating models and ventures. This role is an operating function, distinct from program management or mentorship responsibilities.

What the Role Entails

• Deal origination and triage - Focus on building relationships with alumni founders and PIs, assessing inventions for company formation, and prioritizing a portfolio of high-potential spinoffs.
• Customer discovery and market validation – Take ownership of customer discovery, including problem interviews and buyer identification, to define the buyer, application, customer, and capital path to revenue.
• Venture Formation - Advise and support alumni founders and/or Principal Investigators on company formation and structuring, including considerations relating to founding team, equity, vesting, agreements and cap table. Work with the IP Management Team on appropriate licensing pathways and support the identification and recruitment of founding team members where required. Together with the alumni founders and/or PIs, recruit founder-employees and establish the operating model.
• Develop strategy to overcome venture gaps - Serve in operational capacity with the alumni/founder for ventures, setting strategy, securing pilots and first customers, and preparing for fundraising.
• Accountable for the portfolio status: what advanced, what closed, and why. Be accountable for tracking the progress and status of the venture portfolio, including what has advanced, what has been deprioritised, and the evidence supporting these decisions.
• Subject to institutional approval and conflict of interest policy, the Venture Builder may be seconded in an interim executive role for a limited period. The Venture Builder role itself remains an institutional venture-building function rather than a pathway intended for transition into individual portfolio companies.
• Triage commercial opportunities and evaluate venture health across venture-building pathways. Provide evidence-based recommendations to prioritise, deprioritise or redirect venture-building efforts based on market response, commercial potential and technical readiness.

Who Are We Looking For

• The ideal candidate should have experience and a track record of founding early-stage technical or deep tech ventures.
• Equivalent experience as venture studio operators, commercial leads (first business hires), corporate venturing or venture capital operator with post-investment involvement may also be considered.
• Experience working, assessing and resolving technical risk independently, with background in engineering, computer science or science is advantageous.
• Strong commercial capabilities to run early venture operations
• Provide evidence of strong venture and deal literacy – including go-to-market, IP licensing, hiring, financial projections, product development lifecycle.
• Ability to work across multiple ventures while exercising sound judgement in relation to confidentiality, potential conflicts of interest and commercially sensitive information.
• High tolerance to operate in ambiguity.