Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR), AlphaLab

innovationworks; Pittsburgh (Allegheny County); Hybrid; USD 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Innovation Works’ AlphaLab in Pittsburgh seeks a five‑month Entrepreneur‑in‑Residence to work directly with cohort founders and the accelerator team, with a focus on healthcare and life sciences. This hands‑on, strategic role involves vetting business models, customer discovery, partnerships, fundraising, and go‑to‑market planning.

The EIR will translate strategic goals into actionable priorities, support major milestones from pilots to regulatory progress, and bring operating judgment to

Qualifications

• Significant entrepreneurial or early-stage operating experience in healthcare or life sciences.
• Experience building or leading an early-stage company.
• Strong judgement on strategy, commercialization, and partnerships.

Responsibilities

• Build strong working relationships with cohort companies and become a trusted strategic resource to founders.
• Identify near-term priorities, risks, and milestones with founders in regular 1:1 meetings.
• Support customer discovery, commercialization strategy, and go-to-market planning for healthcare-focused startups.
• Translate strategic goals into actionable priorities and experiments.
• Provide candid feedback on critical startup decisions and help evaluate trade-offs.

Skills

Entrepreneurial experience

Healthcare industry

Life sciences

Early-stage operations

Strategic thinking

Job description

Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR), AlphaLab

CONTRACT ROLE

Contract Role | 5 Months (January–May), 40 hrs/week
Location: Pittsburgh, PA, Hybrid (in office Tuesday–Thursday)
Reports to: Director of Accelerator Programs

AlphaLab, part of Innovation Works, has been helping build high-growth startups since 2008. Founded as one of the first startup accelerators in the United States, AlphaLab is recognized by TIME and Statista among America’s Best Startup Accelerators and as the top-ranked accelerator in Pennsylvania. Through our 3Cs of Customer, Capital, and Community, we combine hands‑on company building, investment, and access to a strong regional network to help early‑stage founders build scalable businesses.

We’re hiring a five‑month Entrepreneur‑in‑Residence to work directly with AlphaLab founders and our accelerator team during the core program cycle. We are specifically seeking someone with deep entrepreneurial and operating experience in healthcare and life sciences, ideally with firsthand experience building or leading an early‑stage company.

About the Role

The EIR will work closely with AlphaLab Program Managers and founders, with particular depth supporting healthcare‑focused companies.

This is a hands‑on strategic role. The EIR will engage deeply with company teams, help founders identify and work through their most important business challenges, and bring experienced operating judgment to decisions around commercialization, customers, partnerships, capital, and company strategy.

The expectation is not simply to offer advice. The EIR should be able to quickly understand a company, identify what matters most, challenge assumptions, help founders prioritize, and work alongside teams to move critical initiatives forward.

What You’ll Do

Strategic Founder Support

• Build strong working relationships with cohort companies and become a trusted strategic resource to founders.
• Participate in regular 1:1 company meetings and help teams identify their most important near‑term priorities, risks, and milestones.
• Work directly with founders on customer discovery, commercialization strategy, go‑to‑market planning, partnerships, fundraising, and company positioning.
• Help teams translate broad strategic goals into clear priorities, decisions, experiments, and next steps.
• Pressure‑test business models, market assumptions, customer hypotheses, pricing, channel strategies, and growth plans.
• Provide candid, practical feedback on difficult company‑building decisions and help founders evaluate tradeoffs.
• Identify gaps in strategy or execution and work with founders and Program Managers to determine where deeper support is needed.
• Support companies preparing for major milestones such as customer pilots, strategic partnerships, fundraising, regulatory progress, or market entry.
• Bring healthcare and life sciences perspective to company strategy where relevant, including commercialization pathways, clinical validation, reimbursement, regulatory considerations, and stakeholder dynamics.
• Connect founders with relevant customers, experts, investors, operators, and industry partners when those relationships can materially advance the company.

Program Delivery

• Learn and apply AlphaLab’s Defined Accelerator Playbook while contributing experienced operator perspective to the program.
• Work closely with Program Managers to assess company progress and determine where targeted intervention can have the greatest impact.
• Support and help lead founder‑facing programming, including strategy sessions, pitch practice, investor preparation, storytelling, data room development, and deck reviews.
• Translate recurring company challenges into useful discussions, workshops, or resources for the broader cohort.
• Participate in internal team discussions about company progress, founder needs, and program priorities.
• Help ensure founders receive practical, coordinated, and high‑quality support throughout the accelerator.

What Makes You a Great Fit

• Significant entrepreneurial or early‑stage operating experience in healthcare, life sciences, physical products, robotics, software, or a related field.
• Firsthand experience building, leading, or holding a senior operating role in an early‑stage company.
• Strong judgment around company strategy, commercialization, customer development, fundraising, partnerships, and go‑to‑market.
• Familiarity with industry‑specific issues such as regulatory pathways, clinical validation, reimbursement, or healthcare stakeholder dynamics.
• Demonstrated ability to quickly understand complex businesses and help founders identify the decisions and actions that matter most.
• Comfortable challenging assumptions and providing direct, thoughtful feedback.
• Able to move fluidly between strategic thinking and hands‑on execution.
• Strong communicator who can build credibility and trust with founders.
• Organized, collaborative, reliable, and able to operate effectively in a fast‑moving accelerator environment.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Innovation Works, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer committed to creating a respectful and welcoming workplace. We do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, or veteran status. All employment decisions are based on qualifications, merit, and business needs.