Director of Platform, Techstars Seattle Accelerator

Do you love planning, orchestrating, and successfully executing complex operations, events, and projects? Do you love working with founders of technology startups? Do you enjoy developing and fostering vibrant communities? Can you recruit and lead teams of people? If yes, we’d like to talk to you.

Techstars is the global network that helps entrepreneurs succeed. As one of the world’s leading venture accelerator businesses with a network of 50+ accelerators around the world, Techstars has helped over 2,500 early-stage startups find success via our mentor-driven accelerators. As early-stage investors, the market cap of our portfolio companies today stands at $29.4BN. Techstars Seattle, in particular, has generated outsized success - our alumni have raised well over $1BN of capital and include unicorns Remitly, Outreach, and Zipline.

Techstars is seeking candidates for the Seattle-based role of Director of Platform to work with the Managing Director and investment team to run our Seattle Accelerator, a second blockchain accelerator, and potential future accelerators located in the Pacific Northwest. You’ll be responsible for all operational and community aspects of our Seattle-based accelerators, as well as assisting with ongoing portfolio management. To assist you in your duties, you’ll need to hire and lead a team consisting of a Program Manager, Associates, and Contractors. The role is Seattle-based, and you will report to the Managing Director.

Role and Responsibilities

You and your team, working with the MD and investment team, will:

• Plan, coordinate, and successfully deliver remarkable accelerator experiences to our founders, mentors, investors, global network partners, and corporate sponsors; there will initially be two 13-week programs per year, but more may be added over time (with additional headcount provided to support this function)
• Recruit and oversee full-time and contract employees to support all operational aspects of the accelerators and community; this will initially include a full-time program manager and 1-2 part time contractors
• Recruit and manage our pool of 200+ mentors
• Build and drive year round vibrant engagement with the Techstars Seattle community; this includes producing events, managing our Slack workspace, delivering content, and finding new ways to provide value to our ecosystem (current program participants, alumni, mentors, local partners, and investors)
• Oversee our budgets and spending
• Work closely with the Techstars central accelerator operations and marketing teams and other program teams to ensure smooth delivery of programs and maintenance of best practices
• Maintain and use technology tools and processes to streamline and optimize accelerator and community experiences and capture program data
• Provide support to our portfolio companies and help them navigate the Techstars global network and menu of portfolio services
• Work with and manage our relationships with our Global Network Partners
• Oversee all aspects of our local and recruiting events
• Manage our relationship with our landlord and oversee all facilities-related matters
• Assist in marketing and promotion of our accelerators and in recruiting founders

Your Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in the tech industry or other fast-paced environment where you’ve had responsibility for business operations, event planning, project management, and/or community development
• Your integrity and honesty are unimpeachable
• You harbor a fierce drive to succeed matched with humility and a team-oriented attitude
• Your verbal and written communication skills are razor sharp
• Initiative and comfort working through uncertainty/unstructured environments come naturally to you
• You’re extremely organized and detail oriented, but you don’t lose the forest for the trees
• You’ve successfully built and led teams of people
• You’re enthusiastic about and very capable of using technology and tools to automate and streamline processes
• You’ve produced complex physical and virtual events
• Prior responsibility for managing a community of diverse stakeholders is a big plus
• You know how to track and oversee spending against budgets
• You’ve earned a BA/BS degree

A few words on Techstars Seattle’s culture and values:

• We embrace Techstars’ mission statement
• Here is our Techstars Seattle values statement - please make sure this is you before applying

Compensation range: $130,000-140,000 + 10% Bonus

US Benefits