Director of Innovation

University of Austin; Austin, Northern (TX, KY); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Lever, Inc. is seeking a Director of Innovation to partner with the Executive Director in leading UATX's Innovation Labs, spanning on-campus AI/Robotics/Prototyping Lab, Bastrop Applied Engineering Lab, Polaris, and academic programs.

You will mentor student inventors, guide multi-year projects, and coordinate programs, partnerships, and facilities while ensuring practical, hands-on build support and rapid prototyping across disciplines.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated execution leadership in complex environments (education + tech/hardware ecosystems is a plus).
• Strong systems thinking with attention to detail.
• Comfortable operating in ambiguity; thrives in early-stage institution-building.
• Builder-operator mindset; credible with technical and academic stakeholders.
• Strong engineering foundation.
• Startup experience required; has founded or been an early builder.
• Evidence of building real systems end-to-end.
• Comfortable teaching by doing: pairing, live debugging, design reviews, hands-on guidance.
• Builder-operator temperament: practical, fast, high standards, student-centered.

Responsibilities

• Work with the Executive Director to set priorities and shape long-term direction of Innovation Labs.
• Develop plans and expand the Innovation Lab's capabilities for new programs, partnerships, facilities, courses, and major projects.
• Maintain a clear view of work across Innovation Labs, including on-campus and external labs, partnerships, fundraising, and collaborations.
• Serve as a technical liaison to student builders; write code, vibe coding with AI, design systems, prototype hardware, and iterate toward working systems.
• Assist in day-to-day operations of the AI/Robotics/Prototyping Lab: readiness, workflow, safety norms, tool access, reliability.
• Lead workshops, build sessions (robotics, prototyping methods, rapid software/hardware iteration, etc.), and occasionally classes.
• Help students move from idea prototype to working system, with a bias toward execution.
• Collaborate to expand lab capabilities over time (tools, processes, partnerships, project pathways).
• Help lead the creative direction, student-facing use, and project pipeline for the Bastrop facility.

Skills

Execution leadership

Systems thinking

Ambiguity tolerance

Builder-operator mindset

Engineering foundation

Startup experience

Hands-on mentorship

Student-centered

Tools

Python

Prototyping hardware

CAD/Design tools

Job description

Job Summary

The Director of Innovation is the Executive Director's principal partner in leading both the long-term development and the day-to-day work of Innovation Labs. The role spans the full range of Innovation Labs' efforts: the on-campus AI/Robotics/Prototyping Lab, work at the Applied Engineering Lab in Bastrop, Polaris, academic programs, major projects, partnerships, fundraising, and future labs and facilities. The Director of Innovation should be able to move comfortably between long-range planning, developing new programs and initiatives, solving immediate problems, and coordinating the people needed to move the work forward.

The Innovation Director is also the hands-on technical leader for student inventors and founders. The role combines technical mentorship, lab leadership, and a high volume of student-facing build support. The Innovation Director will work closely with students on their multi-year, self-directed projects that students develop and build throughout their time at UATX.

Responsibilities

• Work closely with the Executive Director to set priorities and shape the long-term direction of Innovation Labs.


• Help develop, carry out plans, and expand the Innovation Lab's capabilities for new programs, partnerships, facilities, courses, and major projects.


• Maintain a clear view of work across Innovation Labs, including the on-campus AI/Robotics/Prototyping Lab, the Applied Engineering Lab in Bastrop, future sites, Polaris and our other academic innovation programs, UATX's Capital Factory partnership, fundraising, AI-related projects, and external collaborations.


• Serve as a technical liaison to student builders across disciplines. Meet and build with students, writing code, vibe coding with AI, designing systems, prototyping hardware, and iterating toward working systems.


• Assist in day-to-day operations of the AI/Robotics/Prototyping Lab: readiness, workflow, safety norms, tool access, and "the lab works" reliability.


• Lead workshops, build sessions (robotics, prototyping methods, rapid software/hardware iteration, "vibe coding," etc.), and occasionally classes.


• Help students move from idea prototype working system, with a bias toward execution.


• Collaborate with the Executive Director to expand the lab's capability over time (tools, processes, partnerships, project pathways).


• Help lead the creative direction, student-facing use, and project pipeline for the Bastrop facility, ensuring the space develops as a flagship environment for invention, prototyping, applied engineering, and the future of technical education at UATX.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated execution leadership in complex environments (education + tech/hardware ecosystems is a plus).


• Strong systems thinking + ability to get into details when needed.


• Comfortable operating in ambiguity; thrives in early-stage institution-building.


• Builder-operator mindset; credible with technical and academic stakeholders.


• Strong engineering foundation.


• Startup experience required; has either founded a startup or been an early builder at one.


• Evidence of building real systems end-to-end.


• Comfortable teaching by doing: pairing, live debugging, design reviews, and hands-on guidance.


• A builder-operator temperament: practical, fast, high standards, student-centered.