Head of Venture Café, United Kingdom

Are you a born leader with a big network? Are you driven to solve some of the world’s biggest challenges? Are you comfortable ‘wearing many hats’? Do you want to connect researchers, entrepreneurs, students, creatives, corporates, and investors to make things happen? Yes? Then you belong at Venture Café!

The Venture Café Global Institute (VCGI) seeks a strategic, dynamic, and self-driven Executive Director to lead the launch and expansion of Venture Café across three UK cities in 2025. This role, beginning with Venture Café London in King’s Cross, is a unique opportunity to establish and operate hubs for innovation and connection, in close collaboration with ARIA.

ABOUT VENTURE CAFÉ

Venture Café believes that isolation is the enemy of innovation and our mission is clear: Connect innovators to make things happen. We are a neutral and trusted center of gravity that connects the entire innovation ecosystem and is available for everyone.

Our flagship program, the Thursday Gathering, is a dynamic and intentionally designed experience freely accessible to all. Featuring vibrant networking sessions activated with captivating demos or immersion in the night’s theme by attending thought-provoking sessions led by inspiring speakers. Here, curiosity meets opportunity, connections flourish, and innovation thrives.

Venture Café was founded by Tim Rowe, founder and CEO of the Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC), in 2009 and helped fuel the growth of one of the world’s most powerful innovation ecosystems: Boston’s Kendall Square. What began with a modest gathering of 12 people at our inaugural Thursday Gathering has flourished into the Venture Café Global Institute (VCGI). Over the past 15 years, VCGI has united over 750,000 visionaries, developers, creatives, and civic leaders across 15 cities worldwide, building a global community of communities.

At VCGI, we believe if we’re going to solve humankind’s biggest challenges, we need as many amazing humans as possible involved in that process.

YOUR DAY-TO-DAY WORK

As Executive Director, your role will involve a dual focus: serving as the outward representative of Venture Café UK while managing the daily operations and leading a vibrant team. Your responsibilities will include overseeing the initial stages and growth of our operations as part of strategic expansion.

FIRST 12-18 MONTHS:

• Collaborate closely with VCGI to develop the launch strategy for each Venture Café program and lead the execution of the launch plan.
• As each Venture Café prepares to launch, you’ll work closely with VCGI and ARIA to ensure its success and align initiatives where appropriate.
• Develop and execute a robust strategy to attract and retain funding and program partners, including building a strong initial community of the UK’s leading startups, researchers, investors, and innovators. Working to engage key strategic partners across each ecosystem.
• Oversee operational launch and ensure proper coordination for space, vendor onboarding and implementation of internal systems.
• Working with Venture Café’s People Success Team to recruit, hire, and train a strong team of 13 total staff.
• Working with Venture Café’s Finance Teams to establish and execute accurate financial and KPI reporting for partners.
• Supporting the execution of marketing campaigns to drive membership growth and enhance brand visibility in the market.
• Collaborate with the ARIA team and Programme Directors to drive value to the ARIA Opportunity Spaces.

YOUR ONGOING WORK:

Business Strategy & Leadership

• Managing the business, including P&L responsibility. Setting revenue targets, managing costs, and developing forecasts.
• Representing the state of the business to company leadership.
• Reporting on evaluative data in a number of areas, including community and partner satisfaction and business performance.
• Leading the partnership efforts between Venture Café and partners to expand our services and reach.
• Employ an entrepreneurial mindset to improve our product.

Operations

• Developing relationships with partners, making sure they are engaged with Venture Café and connected to the innovation ecosystem both locally and globally.
• Learning the Venture Café Operating System (VCOS). It is important that you become familiar with the processes your team will be using to manage the day to day so you can train and lead others as well as assist when needed.
• Being the champion of Venture Café policies and philosophies, as well as the primary advocate for Venture Café’s UK team and clients alike.

Management

• Effectively building and leading operations, sales, programs, and strategic partnership teams; helping individuals grow professionally; strategically looking out for the needs and morale of staff. Directly oversee Program Director level reports.
• Creating a culture of inclusivity and equity as well as a sense of shared belonging amongst all staff, in a way that is clearly evidenced through company actions and communication.
• Communicating and directing work across local teams; serving as primary liaison to VCGI and ARIA.
• Growing and supporting the innovation ecosystem by developing relationships with our partners, as well as local entrepreneurs and community leaders through partnership building with key allies, networking, speaking engagements, and involvement with area civic and industry organizations.
• Expanding community offerings through partnership development.
• Nurturing existing initiatives to support Venture Café’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging (DEIB) efforts, while bringing a visionary approach to developing and expanding DEIB-driven programming and partnership opportunities.

ABOUT YOU

Venture Café seeks a highly capable, self-motivated individual who is able to launch the full array of functions of a successful community, which is in a constant state of improvement and evolution. Venture Café has become integral in every innovation community we support, and we are seeking a strong leader to continue the trend of success in the UK market.

As our ideal candidate, you have a track record of creative leadership within the UK's innovation and entrepreneurial sector, especially in London, with experience in nurturing new businesses and a solid understanding of financial statements or the capacity to learn quickly. You are skilled in managing operational budgets, adept in building positive relationships, comfortable in outward-facing roles, and willing to assist with day-to-day tasks as necessary.

YOU HAVE

• 10+ years of professional experience, which includes managing teams and developing staff.
• Experience in building or expanding a business within the UK market, coupled with strong financial acumen to navigate its nonprofit economic landscape effectively.
• Comfort with public speaking, in formal and informal settings.
• Knowledge of the UK’s innovation community, key influencers, networks and organizations.
• Minimum of a bachelor's degree (advanced degree preferred). Other diplomas and certificates are all welcome!
• Fluency in English (additional language preferred).
• Mastery of Google Apps for Business (Gmail, Calendar, Drive) and of Microsoft Office (Powerpoint, Excel, etc.) as well as Salesforce and WordPress.
• Demonstrated success leveraging and supporting others in the achievement of their goals.
• Ability to legally work in the UK. Venture Café is unable to sponsor visas for this role at this time.
• Global outlook with local roots and commitment.

Expectations include:

• Availability to work at the weekly Venture Café Thursday Gathering from 2-10pm.
• Frequent attendance at innovation community gatherings across the UK, after regular business hours and very infrequently on weekends.
• Domestic and international travel to other Venture Café locations as part of team events.

OUR OFFER

• Employment contract.
• Competitive compensation based on experience.
• Additional benefits in development.

Venture Café welcomes all candidates regardless of race, color, ancestry, gender identity or expression, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status or disability. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer.