Senior Venture Associate

A career with purpose

Our team is growing and we’re looking for a purpose-driven, passionate individual to join the Venture Support Team, to help start-ups, SMEs and corporations develop solutions in response to resource and sustainability challenges. Our support works to progress technology development and commercial exploitation through several core areas: venture development, delivery of start-up/SME programmes, accelerators, special projects and corporate innovation programmes.

The Role 

You will have a commercial skillset, great interpersonal skills and a demonstrated capability of working across programmes and projects, in corporate innovation and directly with start-ups to achieve successful commercial exploitation. We’re especially interested in candidates that have experience in providing support to sustainable / cleantech / climate tech start-ups through programmes of business support, accelerators, incubators or similar.  Experience of building and scaling a business is also desirable. Tasks will include, but are not limited to:

Delivery Support

• Quickly understanding, assessing and developing start-up business models and market opportunities.
• Creating support plans for SMEs we are working with to prioritise the most relevant support to be provided.
• Providing advisory support to start-ups/SMEs across a broad range of business topics including but not limited to:  review and input to business plans,  investor pitch packs and investment readiness, advice on financial models, strategy and market placement.
• Preparing and presenting webinars, workshops and clinics on a broad range of business topics.
• Contributing to bid applications for partner organisations (e.g. local authorities).

Project Management

• Working with team members and across the SV Group on assigned projects and programmes, ensuring that time, quality and budget parameters are met;
• Stakeholder relationship management;
• Connecting and building our community of sustainably-focused businesses;
• Building relationships with designated SMEs, capturing relevant information within the Sustainable Venture’s CRM system, identifying and executing opportunities (directly or through referrals to relevant team members) for further revenue generation and;
• Ensuring compliance and maintaining required evidentiary documentation.

Requirements

Delivery Support

• Quickly understanding, assessing and developing start-up business models and market opportunities.
• Creating support plans for SMEs we are working with to prioritise the most relevant support to be provided.
• Providing advisory support to start-ups/SMEs across a broad range of business topics including but not limited to:  review and input to business plans,  investor pitch packs and investment readiness, advice on financial models, strategy and market placement.
• Preparing and presenting webinars, workshops and clinics on a broad range of business topics.
• Contributing to bid applications for partner organisations (e.g. local authorities).

Project Management

• Working with team members and across the SV Group on assigned projects and programmes, ensuring that time, quality and budget parameters are met;
• Stakeholder relationship management;
• Connecting and building our community of sustainably-focused businesses;
• Building relationships with designated SMEs, capturing relevant information within the Sustainable Venture’s CRM system, identifying and executing opportunities (directly or through referrals to relevant team members) for further revenue generation and;
• Ensuring compliance and maintaining required evidentiary documentation.

/ We expect you to have: 

• 6+ years’ relevant experience - our people have worked at high growth startups, started their own businesses, been in the armed forces, come from professional service organisations, studied for MBAs & run fashion brand;;
• Knowledge and/or experience of the sustainability sector, and an understanding of technological and commercial innovation – this could be directly related to your previous roles or something that you have pursued outside of the office;
• A commercial skill set - this might include business planning, financial modelling, product R&D, market research, market analysis/characterisation, customer proposition testing, go-to-market strategy, fundraising or anything related to successfully growing a business;
• A project management skill set - experience of planning and delivering multi-year projects, on time and within budget, utilising effective communication, stakeholder engagement and peer leadership abilities; 
• Demonstrable experience in undertaking client-facing work - producing high-quality outputs to time/budget/quality objectives;
• Proven success in meeting revenue/business development targets; and
• Proven organisational skills - for managing multiple projects/clients simultaneously, co-ordinating deliverables and meeting deadlines.

Benefits

/ Desirable

• An undergraduate degree in business, technology or sustainability-related field;
• A postgraduate qualification in business, economics, technology or sustainability;
• Experience in venture development and/or sustainability innovation; and
• Motivation to learn about other Sustainable Ventures functions, for example investment, product design and venture development.

Candidates are expected to demonstrate experience and aptitude for each of these functions, obtained through professional experience, educational attainment, and/or voluntary activities, in their application.

/ Remuneration & Benefits

• Remuneration: £46-51k pa (based on experience) + bonus 
• Holiday: 25 days per year + Bank Holidays 
• Monthly Wellness Day + additional, enhanced benefits

/ Additional details

We’re based at County Hall, on the South Bank. We operate a hybrid working model and this role requires a minimum 3 days a week, working in our vibrant, collaborative workspace.

/ Diversity 

Our people are what makes SV great. They infuse the business with fresh ideas, turn plans into actions and are the backbone of providing outstanding support to our ecosystem. As such, we’re an equal opportunity employer; we’re committed to recruiting a diverse workforce, celebrating differences and creating an inclusive environment so that everyone can be themselves at work. The climate crisis is a social and inclusion issue, as well as an environmental one, and we are especially keen to encourage applications from individuals underrepresented in the climate space. We also welcome applicants who may have different but relevant experience to those exactly specified above. These are both full-time roles, however, we will seek to accommodate requests for flexible working schedules.

/ Application Instructions

Applications will be considered on a rolling basis.

/ Recruitment process

• 30 min phone screening interview
• In-person interview with members of the senior management team

About Sustainable Ventures

We are Europe’s largest ecosystem of climate tech startups. Following our recent expansion of our Central London headquarters, we’re focused on our mission to develop 1000 new businesses by 2025, and expand our operations across UK regions.

Our impact on the planet’s climate and its natural resources is being felt more often and by more people than ever before. It is clear that significant changes must be made to achieve the targets set by the IPCC and reach Net Zero by 2050. This presents the world’s biggest challenge and it is something that SV has been addressing since 2011. We believe in the power of commercial innovation to address the twin challenges of climate change and resource scarcity.

Over the past 12 years we have expanded our services to cover: Investment with 45+ to date, Workspaces with 100+ member companies, and 500+ businesses supported to scale. These startups have created 5500 jobs and raised over £1bn of investment, a number of which have been acquired by corporates e.g. Ecar Club by Europcar, Zeigo by Schneider Electric, and Sennen by Octopus Energy.

We have also recently secured a strategic equity investment led by Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital. This investment will be applied to fund the Company’s growth plans, including the launch of regional locations across the UK and expanding the professional services provided to startups and scaleups. In addition, we’ll be working in partnership with Barclays, to leverage their experience as an advisor, bank and investor through developing a number of joint initiatives to accelerate the net zero innovation sector.