Venture Builder

JR United Kingdom; Manchester; Remote; GBP 50,000 - 85,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in the venture studio space is seeking a Venture Builder to lead early-stage venture creation. This hands-on role combines strategic thinking with execution to develop innovative solutions that address user pain points. Ideal candidates have experience in startups and are skilled in user-centric experimentation and validation. This is an exciting opportunity to shape new ventures in a remote-first environment with regular meet-ups.

Qualifications

• 4–8 years of experience in early-stage startups as founder, investor, or operator.
• Proven ability to take an idea from zero to validation.
• Experience inside a venture studio, incubator or accelerator.

Responsibilities

• Spot and frame new venture opportunities focusing on user pain points.
• Conduct rapid research and idea validation sprints.
• Create concept narratives and lean business models.

Skills

Hypothesis-driven thinking

User-centric experimentation

Excellent communication

Business case development

Storytelling skills

Customer development

Tools

Typeform

AI assistants

No-code platforms

Job description

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Location: UK-based (Remote-first with regular London meet-ups)

Start Date: Aug/Sept 2025

About ARK Venture Studio

ARK is the venture studio of Ninety, an award-winning innovation firm. We design, validate and launch bold new ventures that sit at the intersection of digital, impact, and commercial opportunity. Our sweet spot is building pre-seed businesses in spaces often overlooked or underdeveloped, typically where customer problems are real, existing solutions fall short, and a new model or product could unlock meaningful value.

We bring a proven studio model, a deep bench of corporate and philanthropic partners, and a strong innovation heritage - but we’re still a small team. Every hire shapes our future. If you’re a strategic thinker, problem solver and early-stage operator with conviction, we want to build with you.

The Role

We’re looking for a Venture Builder to lead the earliest stages of venture creation — from insight and ideation through to validation and design readiness. You’ll gain deep exposure to how successful ventures are formed, validated, and shaped inside a high-performing studio environment

You’ll operate like a founder in residence: identifying whitespace, crafting hypotheses, testing with users, building early proof points, and preparing for the first build. You’ll collaborate with experienced builders, investors, designers, and operators, gaining hands-on experience in how ventures come to life within a well-resourced studio.

This is a hands on, high autonomy role where strategic thinking meets execution. You’ll develop the mindset, skills, and instincts needed to create ventures from the ground up - building confidence and experience in the journey from zero to one.

Responsibilities:

Venture Origination

• Spot and frame new venture opportunities aligned to user pain points and emerging trends
• Develop early problem-solution hypotheses and market insight
• Conduct rapid research and idea validation sprints

User-Led Validation

• Run qualitative and quantitative research with early adopters
• Test desirability, feasibility, and commercial potential
• Translate feedback into proposition and feature direction

Venture Shaping

• Create sharp concept narratives, lean business models, and design briefs
• Develop TAM/SAM/SOM models, unit economics, and scalable revenue strategies
• Support early branding, value propositions, and GTM strategy
• Prepare internal pitch materials and stage-gate documentation
• Work side-by-side with our product, research, design, and commercial specialists
• Bring structure to ambiguity and momentum to new ideas
• Engage constructively with partners, advisors, and stakeholders

You’ll Need:

• 4–8 years of experience across:
• Early-stage startups (founder, investor, or operator)
• Proven ability to take an idea from zero to validation
• Strong hypothesis-driven thinking and user-centric experimentation
• Excellent communication, business case development, and storytelling skills
• Comfortable in fast-paced, ambiguous environments with lean resources
• Experience inside a venture studio, incubator or accelerator
• Confident in research and customer development approaches
• Ability to map value chains, define JTBD, and explore disruptive models
• Experience with tools like Typeform, AI assistants, and other no-code or venture-building platforms

What We Value

We want people who bring sharp thinking and big heart.

You’ll thrive here if you live out our values:

• Others First – We build ventures that serve people meaningfully
• Do the Right Thing – We act with integrity, even when no one’s watching
• Smile and Laugh Often – We take the work seriously, not ourselves
• People Matter – We create space for humanity and care in how we work
• Try, Learn, Grow – We value progress over perfection and momentum over certainty

How to Apply

Send your CV and a 1-page cover letter via LinkedIn. We'd love to hear:

• Why venture building at ARK excites you
• A project or product you helped bring to life - and your role in it
• What type of problem you’re most passionate about solving

We review applications on a rolling basis.