Associate Director, Founder Resources, Venture Lab, Wharton School

Inside Higher Ed

Philadelphia (Philadelphia County)

On-site

USD 66,000 - 75,000

Full time

14 days+

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Benefits offered by this job

Health, life, and flexible spending accounts

Tuition benefits for employees and family members

Professional development opportunities

Job summary

A leading educational institution in Philadelphia is seeking an Associate Director for its Venture Lab at the Wharton School. This role involves providing leadership and management for resources aimed at supporting student founders, including mentoring initiatives and community engagement. Candidates should have 3-5 years of related experience, strong collaboration skills, and a Bachelor’s degree. A competitive salary and a comprehensive benefits package are offered.

Qualifications

Minimum 3-5 years of professional experience related to entrepreneurship.
Experience with program management and developing dashboards.
Ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines.

Responsibilities

Lead the mentoring initiative for student founders.
Manage the EIR program and engage alumni entrepreneurs.
Prepare management reports and analyze KPIs.

Skills

Program management

Excellent communication

Budget management

Collaboration

Proficiency with Google Workspace and Microsoft Office

Education

Bachelor's Degree

Master’s Degree

Tools

Google Workspace

Microsoft Office

Beautiful.ai

Monday.com

Qualtrics

Adobe InDesign

Job description

Overview

The University of Pennsylvania, the largest private employer in Philadelphia, is a world-renowned leader in education, research, and innovation. Penn offers a unique working environment in an urban campus with access to a range of educational, cultural, and recreational activities. The University provides a competitive benefits package including healthcare, tuition benefits, retirement plans, professional development, wellness programs, and more.

Posted for the Associate Director, Founder Resources, Venture Lab, Wharton School role at Inside Higher Ed.

Job Description Summary

Founded in 1881 as the world’s first collegiate business school, the Wharton School is shaping the future of business by incubating ideas, driving insights, and creating leaders who change the world. The Associate Director provides leadership and management for Venture Lab’s resources for student founders at the University of Pennsylvania, including the mentoring initiative, the Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (EIR) program, Venture Initiation Program (VIP) instructors, and VIP’s communities of practice. This role connects Penn student founders to alumni leaders and experts to receive practical instruction, mentoring, and networking support.

Responsibilities

Lead the mentoring initiative, providing select VIP student founders with additional support from alumni mentors based on industry and/or functional expertise. This includes developing the initiative strategy, scale-up plan, and managing all aspects of implementation including selecting student mentees, cultivating a pool of alumni mentors, making mentor-mentee matches, and ensuring mentoring plans are developed and completed.
Lead Venture Lab’s EIR program, engaging experienced alumni entrepreneurs to mentor and assist VIP students. This involves building program strategy, incorporating feedback, and scaling up. Manage all aspects of implementation including alumni engagement letters, travel and honorarium budgets, EIR workshop schedules, office hours, and collaboration with the Venture Lab marketing team.
Lead the VIP communities of practice (e.g., undergraduates, social entrepreneurship, med-health, analytics). Partner with the Venture Lab student board and other Penn groups to plan and run events, manage founder group coaching and instructor-led workshops, scheduling, enrollment, and budget planning.
Prepare management reports and presentations for Venture Lab leadership. Develop a performance measurement plan, collect and analyze KPIs, support Salesforce data entry, collaborate on donor stewardship reports, and create impact reports to identify improvements. Support other time-sensitive reporting as needed.

Qualifications

Bachelor's Degree and minimum 3-5 years of professional experience related to entrepreneurship and innovation; Master’s Degree a plus.
Experience with program management and developing dashboards/frameworks for business and programs.
Ability to manage multiple priorities, time-sensitive projects, and deadlines; strong forward-thinking mindset, creativity, problem solving, and judgment.
Excellent interpersonal, written, and oral communication skills.
Experience managing budgets, creating detailed project work plans, and leading cross-functional projects.
Ability to work independently and as part of a team; strong collaboration and relationship-building skills.
Ability to interact professionally with diverse stakeholders, including students, senior executives, professionals, and donors.
Proficiency with Google Workspace and Microsoft Office; experience with tools such as Beautiful.ai, Monday.com, Typeform, ActiveCampaign, Qualtrics, SurveyMonkeyApply; knowledge of Adobe InDesign/Photoshop is a plus.

Job Details

Job Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Department/School: Wharton School

Pay Range: $66,000.00 - $75,000.00 Annual

Equal Opportunity

The University of Pennsylvania is an equal opportunity employer. Candidates are considered without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion, creed, national origin, citizenship status, age, disability, veteran status, or any protected class.

Special Requirements

Background checks may be required after a conditional job offer. The scope of checks will be tailored to the role’s requirements.

Benefits