Associate Director, Center for Entrepreneurship

Vanderbilt; Nashville (TN); On-site; USD 85,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

The Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University seeks an Associate Director for the Center for Entrepreneurship to foster a vibrant ecosystem for Vanderbilt founders. This role emphasizes startup experience, program design, and hands-on mentoring within a university setting.

The successful candidate will lead workshops, grow the Alumni Mentor and Venture Scout programs, and manage grant competitions while collaborating across campus and with external partners to advance student

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required.
• 3-5 years of startup or venture-backed startup operations experience.
• Proven initiative and ability to work autonomously to hit KPIs.
• Strong interpersonal, communication, and organizational skills.
• Familiarity with Vanderbilt environment and entrepreneurial resources.

Responsibilities

• Engage and support Vanderbilt founders; grow demand for C4E services.
• Lead workshops, mentor founders, and design intake workflows for the C4E.
• Grow Alumni Mentor Program and optimize mentor-founders matching.
• Coordinate Venture Scout program to support 20 founders annually with funding.
• Execute grant competitions and oversee programmatic aspects for winners.

Skills

Startup experience

Project coordination

Interpersonal skills

Communication

Autonomy

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

CRM software

Job description

JOB DESCRIPTION Job Description

The Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University seeks a dynamic and innovative Associate Director within the Center for Entrepreneurship. This position is crucial in fostering a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem for Vanderbilt founders. The ideal candidate will have operational and strategic experience inside of startups. The Owen Graduate School of Management (OGSM) is a professional school at Vanderbilt University, located in Nashville, Tennessee, focused on graduate-level business education. OGSM's mission is to create opportunities for its faculty, staff, and students to discover, grow, and thrive in business and beyond. OGSM recognizes discovery in traditional forms, such as scholarly research, intellectual curiosity, and curricular learning. But it also celebrates discovery unique to the human experience, that is, the art of becoming, which is lived through a desire to connect with others, to find meaning in work and relationships, and to create something new. OGSM sees transformation as foundational.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Engage and Support Vanderbilt Founders: Use research, marketing, and other techniques to grow demand for services from Vanderbilt founders. Design workflows to efficiently intake founders into the C4E ecosystem - including but not limited to designing digital and human intake processes which assess startup status and prescribe C4E resources. Lead C4E workshops and speaker series - including but not limited to redesigning workshop content and progression based on founder needs; designing new exercises and tools to support workshop learning objectives; recruiting speakers as needed; working with other C4E resources to drive attendance; teaching and/or moderating sessions; and gathering feedback to improve future offerings. Provide 1:1 mentoring to startup founders as appropriate.
• Grow the Alumni Mentor Program: Build processes to attract, categorize, and onboard Alumni mentors within the Center's CRM tool. Lead processes to prepare founders for mentorship and create mechanisms that match founders with mentors. Build systems to gather feedback on interactions from both sides of the marketplace to improve the design of the matching program and achieve a net promoter score of 70.
• Drive the Vanderbilt Venture Scout Program: Coordinate with alumni advisors and student leaders to grow the sophistication of marketing, intake, and investment memo development capabilities so that the Venture Scouts support 20 founders a year with 50% receiving funding. Work with student leaders to develop more sophisticated marketing, interview, selection, onboarding, training, and evaluation of Venture Scout students.
• Execute Grant Competitions: Strategize and execute marketing strategies to drive 120+ student-led startup applications annually to the Firestarter, Chancellor's Launch Grants, and Summer Enterprise Development Grant competitions. Refine selection criteria, feedback mechanisms, and evaluation processes to select the most deserving Vanderbilt startups as winners of each competition. Oversee programmatic aspects for grant competition winners - including coordination of payments, access to in-kind products and services, matching with mentors, access to special lectures and events, and progress check ins as appropriate.
• Other duties as assigned

Supervisory Relationships

This position does not currently have supervisory responsibility; this position reports administratively and functionally to the Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship.

Education, Experience, and Skills

• Bachelor's degree required.
• Minimum of 3-5 years of experience inside of venture-backed startups or portfolio operations of a venture capital fund.
• Demonstrated history of taking initiative and working autonomously to solve problems with a proven ability to deliver against organizational key performance indicators.
• Strong interpersonal, communication, and organizational skills.
• Knowledge of the startup landscape and resources available for entrepreneurs.
• Familiarity with the Vanderbilt University environment and culture.
• Relationships with noteworthy entrepreneurial figures and/or entities who can provide meaningful resources to Vanderbilt founders.
• Passion for entrepreneurship and supporting student innovation.

ABOUT US

At Vanderbilt University, our work - regardless of title or role - is in service to an important and noble mission in which every member of our community serves in advancing knowledge and transforming lives on a daily basis. Located in Nashville, Tennessee, on a 330+ acre campus and arboretum dating back to 1873, Vanderbilt is proud to have been named as one of "America's Best Large Employers" as well as a top employer in Tennessee and the Nashville metropolitan area by Forbes for several years running. We welcome those who are interested in learning and growing professionally with an employer that strives to create, foster and sustain opportunities as an employer of choice. We understand you have a choice when choosing where to work and pursue a career. We understand you are unique and have a story. We want to hear it.

Vanderbilt University is an equal-opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran, or any other characteristic protected by law.