Head of Venture Creation

Roadrunner Venture Studios; United States; On-site; USD 190,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Roadrunner Venture Studios is seeking a Head of Venture Creation to lead our venture pods and guide new deep-tech companies from concept to market. You will assemble deal teams, conduct due diligence, and drive the DVFO-based process to 0→1, while building teams, securing capital, and shaping product and commercialization strategies.

Based in New Mexico or willing to spend significant time there, you will mentor founders, advise on portfolio development, and strengthen our platform to scale

Qualifications

• History of building venture-backed deep-tech companies from 0 to 1.
• Experience as founder/CEO or senior operating executive.
• Experience raising $10M+ in venture capital.
• Ability to translate science into customer-demanding products.
• Based in or willing to spend time in New Mexico.

Responsibilities

• Lead multidisciplinary venture pods and guide from thesis to scale.
• Develop venture theses and identify talent and tech for new ventures.
• Oversee due diligence and investment decisions in the pipeline.
• Lead creation of companies from 0→1 using DVFO methodology.
• Support portfolio with customer pilots and early commercial traction.
• Mentor Venture Architects and assess technologies, markets, founders.
• Act as Operating Advisor or Board Member over the long term.

Skills

Deep-tech expertise

Startup leadership

Product strategy

Fundraising

Non-dilutive funding

Team building

Customer discovery

Strategic thinking

Job description

About Roadrunner Venture Studios

Roadrunner Venture Studios is the nation's leading platform for founding breakthrough ventures in deep technology. Our mission is to transform frontier science into venture-backable companies that solve meaningful problems for the benefit of the American people.

About Roadrunner Venture Studios

Roadrunner Venture Studios is the nation's leading platform for founding breakthrough ventures in deep technology. Our mission is to transform frontier science into venture-backable companies that solve meaningful problems for the benefit of the American people.
Together with scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and investors, we build companies from the ground up—developing products, validating markets, recruiting exceptional teams, securing early customers, accessing non-dilutive funding, and raising the venture capital required to scale.
Our work is concentrated across advanced energy, advanced materials, advanced manufacturing, and compute.
At Roadrunner, the future doesn't just happen—we build it.

The Opportunity

Roadrunner Venture Studios is seeking an accomplished deep-tech company builder to join us as Head of Venture Creation leading Venture Creation.
We are looking for someone who has personally built, funded, and operated venture-backed deep technology companies from zero to one You have lived through the earliest and hardest stages of company creation: turning technology into a product, finding the first customers, building the initial team, raising institutional capital, and creating a business where none existed before.
The Head of Venture Creation will join Roadrunner full time and help lead our venture creation platform. The Executive in Residence path is designed for an accomplished deep-tech founder or executive who wants to spend time building inside Roadrunner, for others, while determining what they want to build or lead next.
In either capacity, you will lead Roadrunner's venture pod teams and founders to guide the creation of new companies across product, engineering, talent, commercialization, capital formation, and non-dilutive funding.

What You'll Do

Lead Venture Pods From Thesis to Scale

• Lead and coordinate multidisciplinary venture pod teams across RRVS’s Venture Development Pathway: Identify, Evaluate, Build, and Scale.
• Identify: Develop venture theses around industry problems and identify the talent and technologies that can form the basis of new ventures.
• Evaluate: Help assemble the deal team, conduct due diligence, and support investment decisions on opportunities moving through the pipeline.
• Build: Lead the venture pod through company creation, leveraging RRVS’s DVFO methodology, Venture Architects, and Platform capabilities to build the company from 0→1.
• Scale: Support portfolio companies in securing customer pilots, corporate investment, and commercial offtake to advance commercialization and scale.
• Establish priorities and sequencing across the venture pod and ensure the right Studio and Fund resources are engaged at each stage of the Venture Development Pathway.

Do the Work of Building the Company

• Work directly with founders, scientists, and engineers to turn breakthrough technologies into products and companies.
• Define the product, customer, market, business model, and commercialization strategy needed to build a scalable venture.
• Drive customer discovery, product development, pilots, partnerships, and early commercial traction.
• Help build the founding team and recruit the executives and technical leaders required to scale.
• Develop the financing strategy and prepare founders and companies to raise venture, strategic, and non-dilutive capital.
• Step into hands‑on operating roles, including interim CEO responsibilities, when needed to move a company forward.

Stay Engaged as Companies Scale

• Serve as an experienced operator and thought partner to founders as their companies develop.
• Serve as an Operating Advisor or Board Member for our companies over the long term.
• Bring lessons and pattern recognition from across the portfolio back into Roadrunner’s venture creation model and teams.

Strengthen Roadrunner's Venture Creation Platform

• Develop repeatable approaches and frameworks for building deep-tech companies.
• Bring founder‑level judgment and pattern recognition into venture selection and company formation.
• Mentor Venture Architects and other members of Roadrunner's venture creation teams.
• Help evaluate technologies, markets, founders, and new venture opportunities.
• Raise the operating standard across Roadrunner's portfolio of emerging companies.

Who We're Looking For

The defining qualification for this role is repeated experience building deep-tech companies from zero to one.

We are not looking primarily for consultants, advisors, investors, or traditional corporate executives. We want people who have personally experienced the realities of building venture-backed deep-tech businesses.

Preferred Experience

• Built and operated at least one venture‑backed deep‑tech company from 0→1, preferably multiple, in advanced energy, materials, manufacturing, or compute.
• Served as a founder, CEO, or senior operating executive with direct responsibility for product, commercialization, team building, and company growth.
• Raised or played a central leadership role in raising $10M+ in venture capital, ideally across multiple institutional rounds.
• Strong product‑building capability, translating complex science and technology into products with real customer demand.
• Experience working directly with scientists and engineers to commercialize technically complex technologies.
• Experience with non‑dilutive funding, government programs, or technologies originating from national labs, universities, or research institutions.
• Exceptional judgment, urgency, and ability to build and make decisions in highly ambiguous environments.
• Based in—or willing to spend significant time in—New Mexico.