Startup and Innovation Manager I Venture Creation 80 - 100 %

Description du poste

### The University of Zurich, Switzerland's largest university, offers a range of attractive positions in various subject areas and professional fields. With around 10,000 employees and currently 12 professional apprenticeship streams the University offers an inspiring working environment on cutting-edge research and top-class education. Put your talent and skills to work with us. Find out more about UZH as an employer! ### Your responsibilities In this new role, you will be responsible for the development of the UZH venture pipeline, focusing on the stage of product-market fit. You will work with our team, coaches, and experts to develop high impact pro-jects towards successful ventures. Your tasks include: * Continuously develop and improve pathways to guide diverse startup teams from the value proposition stage through to investment readiness. Support teams in the technological, market-related, and entrepre-neurial development of their projects (e.g., strategic development of proof-of-concepts, setting up pilot projects, building a team, and go-to-market strategies). * Coordinate cooperation with internal and external entrepreneurship coaches and mentors, including founder-coach matching, onboarding, and feedback processes. * Further develop the portfolio and performance monitoring system for the venture pipeline, providing transparency regarding the progress, quality, and long-term success of projects and delivering data-driven insights to inform the continued development of support offerings. * Work with the team to strengthen the identity of UZH Founders and foster an active entrepreneurial com-munity. * Strengthen teams' investor readiness by preparing them for meetings with investors, pilot-, and industry-partners. * Participate in internal and external startup ecosystem events in different roles (speaker, ambassador, assistant) to inspire and inform stakeholders about the work of the UZH Innovation Hub. Your profile * University degree in any field. * Several years of direct experience in developing technology- or science-based startups, e.g., as a co-founder, venture builder, or member of a very early startup leadership team. * In-depth knowledge and direct practical experience with startup development - from idea validation through product development, pivoting, and go-to-market to fundraising and investor relations. * Direct experience with accelerator/incubator program management, startup coaching, investor relations, or other key startup ecosystem activities. * Strong ability to build and maintain trust-based relationships to achieve UZH goals with diverse stake-holders including researchers, founders, mentors, and investors. * Fast-thinking, analytical, and strategic mindset combined with strong execution skills, initiative, and a hands-on approach. Passion for taking on responsibility in a dynamic work environment, and a willingness to go the extra mile to help UZH members to achieve their entrepreneurship goals. * Experience with benchmarking and process improvement in any startup or commercial context. * An existing local and/or international startup-related network (investors, customers, etc.) is an advantage. * A team-oriented personality and a strong communicator with a passion for enabling talents to become entrepreneurs, translating research insights into economic and societal impact. * Excellent command of written and spoken English; good working knowledge of German required.