Founder Sprint Coordinator, Aalto Founder School

Aalto; Espoo; Hybrid; EUR 48,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

Aalto University Founder School is seeking a Founder Sprint Coordinator to lead the growth of Founder Sprint, coordinating logistics, communications, and participant experience in Espoo, Finland. This fixed-term role emphasizes high agency, execution, and startup ecosystem engagement.

You will work closely with the Founder Sprint Specialist to own the end-to-end program operations, recruit cohorts, and build scalable processes while engaging with students, mentors, and partners across the

Qualifications

• Experience in startups, student entrepreneurship, events, communities, or program coordination.
• Fluent English (Finnish or Swedish is a plus).
• Strong networking and project management abilities.

Responsibilities

• Own the full recruitment funnel for each cohort: applications, sourcing, interviews, onboarding.
• Build tools that scale the program: pipelines, scoring systems, AI-assisted ops.
• Run the weekly program rhythm: schedules, deadlines, workshops, mentor sessions.
• Be the face of Founder School in the ecosystem: events, partnerships, ambassadors.
• Connect participants to people, capital, spaces, and next steps.
• Maintain high intensity, quality, ambition, and care across the cohort.
• Collaborate with the Founder Sprint Specialist as two co-owners.

Skills

Startup experience

Program coordination

Event planning

Community building

Communication

Job description

## Founder Sprint Coordinator, Aalto Founder SchoolApply: Otaniemi, Espoo, Finland: Full time: Posted Today: R48448*Aalto University Founder School operates as a startup within the university: moving fast, delivering results quickly, iterating, piloting, and pivoting. We enjoy working with people who are excited to make things happen on short notice.* *Founder Sprint is our flagship program - a selective, blank-page founder program that bets entirely on the person. We are hiring someone to run it, build the system that lets it scale, and grow toward owning it. This is not a traditional role, you are not just organizing but engineering the system around the program.* *This role is a great preparation for future work as a startup founder or in hectic and demanding leadership roles. This position suits someone with a strong interest in high-growth entrepreneurship, community-building, events, and communications in a fast-moving environment.* *Job duties may change over time. Teamwork and open communication are a must. This job requires physical presence most workdays. Work and collaboration is done in English. There is a possibility to extend the continuation of this role or grow into leading the program.*The full-time fixed-term **Founder Sprint Coordinator** runs the daily execution, participant experience, logistics, communications, and operational rhythm of Founder Sprint. The Coordinator makes sure the program runs smoothly, participants are supported, activities are well-prepared, communication is clear, and the overall cohort experience is strong together with the Founder Sprint Specialist. This is a growth role. The aim is for the Coordinator to learn Founder Sprint deeply over time and develop toward taking over responsibility for the program in the future. This role is for someone with high agency, strong execution skills, and ambition to grow. Success in this job can open doors to some of the most attractive entrepreneurial career paths in Finland and beyond. The Founder Sprint Coordinator will partner with the Founder Sprint Specialist as two co-owners of the program: * **Own the full recruitment funnel for each cohort**: attracting applications, sourcing, scoring, interviews, selection, onboarding and building the system that runs it.* **Build the tools that scale the program**: application pipelines, scoring systems, AI-assisted ops, internal automations.* **Run the weekly program rhythm**: schedules, deadlines, deliverables, workshops, mentor sessions, feedback loops, and make it sharper every cycle.* **Be the face of Founder School** in the ecosystem: events, pop-ups, student orgs, partnerships, ambassador work.* **Connect participants** to the people, capital, spaces, and next steps that matter, inside and outside Aalto.* **Hold the bar**: intensity, quality, ambition, and care across the entire cohort experience.* **Jump into other Founder School** work when it counts: Founder Talks, alumni, ecosystem projects, events. **What’s in it for you?*** You get direct access to one of the most ambitious startup hubs in the Nordics.* You get direct access to exceptional students, founders, investors, mentors, alumni, and startup ecosystem actors.* You will gain experience in top-tier program operations, founder development, coaching support, ecosystem building, and venture development.* You get real ownership and responsibility from day one.* You will develop skills that are highly relevant for future work as a founder, operator, venture builder, startup program lead, or ecosystem builder.* You will be part of a small, ambitious team with high autonomy building something new. See our current team from here. **Who thrives here?** Qualities that make someone exceptional for this role:* You enjoy networking and thrive when surrounded by people.* You run many parallel threads – people, deadlines, logistics – without dropping the bar.* You're comfortable with execution and documentation as much as with strategy.* You want to learn to build and run a world-class founder program.* You are passionate about startups and want to help future founders grow.* You exhibit high agency.* Familiarity with Aalto’s entrepreneurial ecosystem (a plus, not a must).* Previous experience in startups, student entrepreneurship, events, communities, or program coordination (is a plus).* Speaking and writing fluent English (Finnish or Swedish is a plus). **Team culture**We encourage you to read more about our team culture. **How to apply**Apply through Aalto University’s recruitment system by **November 25** by sending your * CV & references* Assignment (see below)* Link to portfolio (optional)* Letter of recommendation or warm intro (a plus) Please note: Aalto University’s employees and visitors should apply for the position via our internal system Workday. **Hiring Timeline*** Application deadline: November 25, 2026* Expected start date: January (latest February) 2027 Applications are reviewed and interviews may be held during the application period. This is a fixed-term position until 31 December 2027. **Assignment**If you are interested in this role, make it yours! Make use of your agency, ambition and energy to proactively produce something that allows us to understand who you are. Please record a short video (maximum 2 minutes) describing how you would build Founder Sprint into a program where the next decacorn founders emerge from. You can also describe your experience with startups, program management, and community building, along with anything else you feel is relevant to this role. Make sure the video can be viewed through the link. **Questions?**If you have any questions about the position, you can contact the hiring manager Kasper Suomalainen at [e-mail] or [phone]. You can also contact Founder Sprint Specialist Tai Tran at [e-mail] or [phone].