Principal

At Entrepreneur First, we believe that a small number of exceptional people will have an extraordinary impact by creating the technology companies which will shape the future. We also believe that, for many of these individuals, entrepreneurship is not an obvious or entirely legible career path. 

We exist to identify and amplify the impact of these individuals. We do this via our unique approach to company creation, which sees us identify and work with outliers before they even know they are outliers, right through to the day they prove it.

The companies built at EF are now worth over $10bn. They include Tractable (a computer vision unicorn), Magic Pony Technology (AI, acquired by Twitter for a reported $150m), Omnipresent (future of work, valued at $700m after 2.5 years), La Vie (foodtech), Fello (Fintech), Unbox Robotics (Supply Chain), and Beatoven (MusicTech) and many more.

EF is funded and backed by some of the world's best tech founders and company builders, including Patrick and John Collison (Stripe), Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn), Tom Blomfield (GoCardless and Monzo) and Demis Hassabis (Google Deepmind).

Having raised our Series C round of investment, we are well-capitalised out to 2026 and have ambitious plans to further scale our impact over the coming years.

THE ROLE

We are looking for a Principal to lead an investment unit of 3-5 people and one of our company-building programmes. You will be accountable for driving investments into, and maximising outcomes for, exceptional individuals and the companies they build at EF. 

As a Principal, you have 6+ years of experience, ideally a mix of strategy and execution, with a proven track record of exceptional achievement. You have also gained expertise in company building and early stage investment.

Talent Investors come in many guises, but it’s essential that through your education, work and/or side projects you have been exposed to exceptionally talented people.

We expect this role to be intense, fast-paced and entrepreneurial, with an opportunity for enormous impact and upside.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

- Lead a team to develop and execute different theses on where and how to find non-obviously exceptional founder talent: You will work with your team to develop and test your hypotheses about where and how these people aggregate. This will involve identifying particular communities or institutions which are talent-dense (we call these “talent clusters”) and/or potential signals of exceptionalism (e.g. looking for winners of interesting prizes or scholarships). 

- Build relationships with key nodes who can help you navigate talent clusters: At EF, we seek to build a deep understanding of a small number of dense talent clusters. To do this, we need to build enduring relationships with key nodes within these clusters, such as Computer Science Professors, or the leaders of interesting societies. You and your team will be responsible for helping you team identify these nodes, and leveraging the power of the EF network to build these relationships.

- Be a trusted advisor to exceptional talent, from before they realise they want to be a founder through to the close of their seed round and beyond: You will unlock the potential of the deeply ambitious by working closely with them as a trusted professional and company building advisor. This means accompanying them through the process of deciding they want to be a founder, developing their first idea, finding their co-founder, reaching out to their first customers, right through to the moment they close their first round of external funding. You will leverage the power of EF’s global network to amplify your work. 

- Constantly train your mental model of what exceptional talent looks like: To be an excellent Talent Investor, you will need to constantly train your mental model of what exceptional talent looks like. This will require: (i) prolonged and repeated exposure to exceptional talent through the activities outlined above, (ii) learning from EF’s other great Talent Investors and (iii) the humility and discipline to learn from failure and success.  

- Drive investment decisions into individuals and the startups they build: You will be driving our investment decision-making. Together with your team, you will be evaluating which individuals we should invite onto the EF Programme. You will continuously evaluate the potential of teams formed at EF, and decide whether we should invest in companies built by individuals you and your team brought onto our programme. You will work on your ability to predict who will be successful over the long term.

- Build and manage a high performing team of Talent Investors: You will be responsible for building and managing a high performing, elite team of Talent Investors who are collectively motivated to unlock the potential of the world’s most exceptional people through company creation.

WHO YOU ARE

- You are intellectually curious 

Talent Investors have a deep and persistent desire to increase their knowledge of the world. They seek out the foundational ideas behind a concept or belief system. They often have multiple interests and hobbies, some of which may be quite obscure. They’re constantly updating their knowledge and beliefs through self-directed learning.

- You are a discerning judge of others

Talent Investors hold high expectations for themselves and expect the same of others. They are able to balance optimism and realism when they evaluate others. They are able to believe and see possibility in individuals where their potential may not be obvious to others. 

- You understand and appreciate technology’s potential for impact

Talent Investors are fascinated by technology’s potential for impact, particularly through early stage company creation. Even if not a technologist by training, they will have developed an understanding of, and appreciation for, various different technologies, likely through self-directed learning. 

- You are driven 

Talent Investors are innately driven to achieve ambitious goals. They “run through walls” and find creative ways to achieve their desired outcomes. They are restless in their pursuit of excellence, and won’t take no for an answer. 

- You are a network builder 

Talent Investors enjoy building, and immersing themselves within networks of exceptional people. They can build meaningful relationships with exceptional people; both at peer-level, and with individuals more senior to themselves. They enjoy making intra- and inter-network connections. 

- You are an exceptional people manager

Talent Investors at this level can manage and lead small, elite teams of talented people. They enjoy developing and enabling teams to achieve extraordinary outcomes, but aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty.  

WHAT WE OFFER

A competitive salary, carried interest and generous upside potential based on performance A buzzing space at HSR Layout full of ambitious founders working on world changing businesses The opportunity to supercharge your learning by working with a diverse global team across Europe, Asia and North America Attractive holiday allowance Enhanced parental leave, plus broader leave policies. We care about our team and enabling the right balance between home and working life.

EF champions diversity and is committed to creating an inclusive environment in which a wide variety of backgrounds thrive. We do not tolerate discrimination of any nature, including but not limited to: discriminating on the basis of race, colour, religion, culture, nationality, gender, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, sexual orientation, age, disability, or marital status.