Programme Manager (Tech Nation)

The Opportunity

We are looking for a Programme Manager to support the delivery of Tech Nation’s Upscale and Rising Stars initiatives. In this role, you will work closely with Programme Leads to execute the planning and delivery of these key programmes, ensuring they meet their strategic goals.

Upscale is a unique 4 month accelerator programme for Series A Scaleups across the UK. The programme is designed to support founders and their leadership teams to address challenges unique to some of the most high potential tech companies in the country. We aim to deliver valuable peer-to-peer learning, facilitating an open dialogue between experienced entrepreneurs and founders, with in-depth masterclass sessions run by seasoned coaches, who can help guide the founders on their way. You’ll be joining the ranks of household names such as Bloom & Wild, Seedrs, Depop. Pact Coffee, Birdie, The Modern Milkman, Gophr. We are relaunching applications for the Upscale programme that will be running September - December. 

Rising Stars is a competition for early stage startups, designed to showcase and support the best the country has to offer at a local, regional and national level, culminating with a grand finale at London Tech Week. The Rising stars competition takes place from January to June. 

As our Programme Manager, you will play a key role in executing the planning and delivery of these two programmes. Reporting to the Programme Lead, you will support them in setting and delivering the strategic vision and will be instrumental in building a strong relevant network rallied around theseis initiatives, and engage strategic and commercial partners as well as alumni networks.  The result will be delivering a calendar of events and education across our platform member companies with strong engagement.

This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to the relaunch of Upscale and take Rising Stars to the next level, working day-to-day with some amazing startups and scaleups in the UK.

Responsibilities will include:

• Programme research, ideation, & curation:
  • Support the Programme Leads in researching and gathering information and industry insights to help refine the strategy for the Upscale programme and Rising Stars; ensuring it is truly valuable to the community and the tech ecosystem. 
  • Stay informed and at the forefront of all things happening in tech and develop ideas to iterate your programmes accordingly, alongside the Programme Leads.
  • Build relationships to identify and support Programme Leads with the curation of a package of prizes for our Rising Stars winners and perks for our Upscalers.
• Programme delivery:
  • Ensure we deliver an incredible experience for all companies in the programmes, that is impact driven and scalable
  • Organise a series of growth and investor based events, educational sessions and introductions that will appeal to the Upscale Community, helping the Programme leads to ensure the programme is delivering long term impact.
  • Work with the Upscale founders on a day to day basis to get their feedback and shape the support we can provide. 
  • Implement a clear judging process for both Rising Stars and Upscale with input and strategic oversight from our Programme Leads. 
  • Work with the Programme Lead to organise and deliver pitch events around the country for our Rising Stars with our Grand Finale at London Tech Week 
  • Collaborate with our Partnerships Lead to maintain communication with partners of the programmes
• Community engagement: 
  • Support Programme Leads to scale the community by developing a pipeline of candidates for the Upscale programme and Rising Stars via direct outreach, our partners and mobilising others in the ancillary network(s)
  • Maintain a close relationship with Upscale and Rising Stars companies, with day to day community management and align our services to their needs and goals
  • Work with the Programme Leads and wider team to execute and develop the alumni engagement strategy 
  • Network to continually source advisors and experts who can add to our Tech Nation offering
  • Play a key role in regional development, keeping in touch with regional stakeholders and identifying regional early stage talent. This role will involve travelling round the UK to collaborate with stakeholders.

Requirements

This role is for you if: 

• You are able to think proactively - you make things happen and can come to the table with ideas
• You are able to stay organised to timelines and project manage multiple deliverables 
• You have entrepreneurial drive - this means you are self driven, naturally curious and excited about working with startups and scaleups 
• You are a people person and enjoy building relationships across different type of stakeholders and you enjoy bringing these people together to create impactful events or connections
• You  thrive working in teams and are passionate about our mission at Tech Nation

Requirements: 

• Some proven experience in events, VC, accelerators, community
• Strong relationship builder and communicator 
• Strong organisational and project management skills 
• Right to work in the UK 

This role requires working 4 days a week in the office. This role will also require some travel around the UK. 

Benefits

• 25 days annual leave, plus an extra day off for your birthday and additional leave between Christmas and New Years Day
• Option to work remotely anywhere in the world for 3 weeks/year
• Join an ambitious and passionate team with quarterly team activities, lunches 1x/week, office drinks, snacks and team trips
• Access to the Founders Family network of businesses and wider tech ecosystem
• Mental health, wellbeing, and learning and development stipends 
• Private healthcare package