Startup Programs Director
Ohio, OH
Full Time
Experienced
Join BRITE, a growing team of passionate individuals from diverse backgrounds advancing the clean energy economy. We rapidly innovate, develop, deploy, and maintain our operations and services to meet the demand for our programming that connects clients to capital and customers. If you're looking to make a meaningful impact while growing both professionally and personally in a fast-paced, supportive environment, we invite you to apply for our Startup Programs Director position.
Startup Programs Director Summary
The Startup Program Director at BRITE is responsible for leading and enhancing the organization’s startup programs and services, with a focus on driving growth and innovation. This role involves continuous improvement of services, evaluation, and modification to ensure high-quality support for startups and early-stage companies and founders. There is a great deal of flexibility and creativity necessary for this role in how the individual serves startups and early-stage companies, builds and maintains programming, and added value to industry and community.
Duties of the Position
Duties and responsibilities include but are not limited to the following:
Vision – 25%
Traction – 50%
Oversight – 25%
Team Collaboration and Leadership
Qualifications, Education, and Requirements
Skills & Experience
Traits
Compensation and Benefits
Startup Programs Director Summary
The Startup Program Director at BRITE is responsible for leading and enhancing the organization’s startup programs and services, with a focus on driving growth and innovation. This role involves continuous improvement of services, evaluation, and modification to ensure high-quality support for startups and early-stage companies and founders. There is a great deal of flexibility and creativity necessary for this role in how the individual serves startups and early-stage companies, builds and maintains programming, and added value to industry and community.
Duties of the Position
Duties and responsibilities include but are not limited to the following:
Vision – 25%
- Recruit and select a diverse and inclusive support team of clients and partners.
- Deliver BRITE’s role and value proposition for program participants, member companies in collaboration with innovation and network teams.
- Act as a liaison to partner networks, effectively communicating BRITE’s services, exchanging best practices, and building collaborations.
Traction – 50%
- Offer guidance and leadership to early-stage companies, sharing expertise and acting as a peer.
- Establish key connections with potential funding sources in collaboration with the Innovation Services, Network, and Strategic Partnerships teams, enhancing the credibility and sustainability of programs and services.
- Manage or deliver services to startups, early-stage companies, and industry partners within a defined scope of work.
- Assist in the development of proposals to sustain and increase access to startup programs.
Oversight – 25%
- Oversee program and service evaluation, including tracking milestones; streamlining of data collection and measuring impact.
- Determine resource allocation of staff dedicated to working with companies and engaging in ecosystem-building activities.
- Support all aspects of oversight, including service delivery and resource development, ensuring the smooth operation of startup programs.
- Assist in the development of proposals to sustain and increase access to startup programs.
- Recommend and implement changes in programming based on client feedback, including potential avenues for BRITE’s consulting services.
Team Collaboration and Leadership
- Work closely with Startup Programs team daily and other departments frequently, including Infrastructure Services for external communication development and event coordination, BRITEnetwork for connecting clients to business validation opportunities and Innovation Services for identifying additional services needed by clients.
Qualifications, Education, and Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in related field required and master’s degree preferred.
- Minimum of seven (7) years in the entrepreneurship and/or startup sphere with two (2) years in management
- Experience as a founder is preferred
- Experience in energy-related field is preferred
Skills & Experience
- Leadership and team-building skills, namely working cross-functionally and with external stakeholders.
- Startup mentorship and guidance, knowing how to provide meaningful advice and acting as a peer and through leader to early-stage companies.
- Program management experience, including proficiency in designing, implementing, and evolving startup support programs with project management skills for resource alignment, logistics, timelines, milestones, and performance evaluation.
- Knowledge of Microsoft Suite and integration of project and data management tools in a complex fast-paced environment.
- Experience evaluating the validity and commercial viability of technologies and business plans, including acting firm with clients who are not meeting milestones.
- Strong commitment to the clean energy transition and a desire to support startups that are driving innovation in this space.
Traits
- Coaching Mindset: Able to communicate and instill in others how they can grow.
- Relationship-Oriented: Strong networking abilities with empathy and active listening.
- Data-Driven and Detail Oriented: Strong analytical skills, being organized and results-oriented. Capable of remembering facts about clients and technologies for relationship-building.
- Collaborative Team Player: Must work closely with cross-functional teams and build relationships for the organization and not personal gain.
- Celebrates Collective Achievements: Ability to let others take the credit and continuously bolster and champion the success of BRITE’s programs and its clients.
Compensation and Benefits
- Salary: $90,000-$110,000 (based on years of experience and qualifications)
- To allow BRITE to set salaries based on market data and internal equity, and to ensure fair and equal pay for every role, we offer our best offer first.
- All employees are expected to work a set number of weekends and evening hours per year due to organizational-wide events.
- For more information on benefits, please click Here.
LOCATION: Our organization is headquartered in Warren, OH and serves a vast geography both in-person and virtually. Ths position is hybrid. It is estimated that this position requires ten (10) days of being at in-person gatherings each month at various metropolitan areas, namely across Ohio. Access to a co-working facility may be arranged.
BRITE Core Values:
BOLD: We go beyond basic requirements to anticipate needs and take initiative.
RESILIENT: We embrace feedback from both successes and setbacks and continuously seek growth opportunities.
INCLUSIVE: We actively promote an environment where people of all backgrounds thrive.
TRANSPARENT: We are clear about our expectations, abilities, and impact by sharing information, decisions, and processes.
EMPATHETIC: We actively listen to understand the perspectives and how decisions impact others, responding with compassion and respect.
Equal Opportunity Employer:
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: BRITE is an equal opportunity employer. BRITE is committed to fostering, cultivating and preserving a culture of diversity and inclusion. The collective sum of the individual differences, life experiences, knowledge, inventiveness, innovation, self-expression, unique capabilities and talent that our stakeholders invest in their work represents a significant part of not only our culture but our reputation and organization’s achievement as well. We embrace and encourage clients’, entrepreneurs’ and the public’s differences in age, color, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, and other characteristics that make everyone unique.
BOLD: We go beyond basic requirements to anticipate needs and take initiative.
RESILIENT: We embrace feedback from both successes and setbacks and continuously seek growth opportunities.
INCLUSIVE: We actively promote an environment where people of all backgrounds thrive.
TRANSPARENT: We are clear about our expectations, abilities, and impact by sharing information, decisions, and processes.
EMPATHETIC: We actively listen to understand the perspectives and how decisions impact others, responding with compassion and respect.
Equal Opportunity Employer:
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: BRITE is an equal opportunity employer. BRITE is committed to fostering, cultivating and preserving a culture of diversity and inclusion. The collective sum of the individual differences, life experiences, knowledge, inventiveness, innovation, self-expression, unique capabilities and talent that our stakeholders invest in their work represents a significant part of not only our culture but our reputation and organization’s achievement as well. We embrace and encourage clients’, entrepreneurs’ and the public’s differences in age, color, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, and other characteristics that make everyone unique.
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