We are recruiting for an Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) with experience in skilled trades to join Nesta’s Mission Studio
EIR role overview
Mission Studio is creating the future of mission-driven tech startups. We’re tackling the UK’s toughest social challenges - from net zero to obesity - by building commercially successful businesses.
Our Venture Design team has identified a promising problem space aligned to our Sustainable Future mission, and we are looking for an EIR to co-design a commercially viable, impact-led venture concept with us over 2 months, before pitching to become the concept’s founding CEO.
Then, as you transition to being a Mission Studio founder, you’ll receive a living stipend during an intensive 6-month build, plus funding to create an MVP and test it with real customers. You’ll work shoulder-to-shoulder with experienced builders, designers, technologists, and founders - and finish with the opportunity to pitch for £200k in pre-seed funding to spin out your venture as a standalone business.
Across the UK, delivering the green transition requires a step-change in construction capacity. While the headline is a shortage of 837k construction workers by 2032, the deeper issue is that SME trades businesses lack the capacity to recruit, train and deploy labour at the speed and quality required.
We believe there are multiple opportunities to enable these expert trades businesses with AI to become scalable organisations by:
- Recruitment: finding and hiring tradespeople
- Workforce development: training, upskilling and keeping people on the job.
- Business support: enabling the back office to run more effectively.
As an EIR, you will work with us to explore these opportunity areas, with an aim of identifying, developing and validating 1 venture concept ready to move into Build.
Who You Are:
We’re looking for someone who wants to be a founder in the trades & sustainability space, with the following skills:
- Excellent networks within skilled trades – ideally within green trades but broader is great too. That might be networks within independent trade companies (e.g. a range of traders running solo businesses) or networks within large enterprise organisations (e.g. British Gas, Octopus)
- Concept design experience – you’ve previously designed and validated an early-stage venture concept, and are familiar with testing assumptions, understanding markets and validating customer demand.
- Entrepreneurial experience – you’re an experienced founder or builder that can work from zero to one
- Commercial acumen – Must prioritise quickly validating the business model and go-to-market strategy to de-risk viability before scaling.
- Test & learn mindset – thrives in fast-paced, uncertain environments: rapidly testing and validating assumptions and pivoting as required
- Scrappiness and resourcefulness – takes initiative and is proactively able to get things done with low resources when needed
- Inspirational leadership – exceptional at rallying teams to achieve shared goals in an inclusive environment
- Skilled storytelling – effective at communicating with diverse audiences and stakeholders
What we offer:
- Location: At least 2 days a week at our Thames-side, Blackfriars office in London with the freedom to work remotely on other days.
- Compensation: Competitive salary equivalent, between £60-£70k pro rata depending on experience, paid in 2 installments
- Start Date and role duration: 2 month contract - starting end of June ideally
- Who You'll Report To: Leah Pattison, Senior Venture Designer
The founder package we offer, if you pitch to continue building the concept is successful:
- A de-risked concept with initial inroads into relevant customer and partner networks
- A living stipend of ~£4k per month for up to 6 months whilst you build with us
- £25k of additional funds to support the build and launch of the company
- Dedicated, hands-on operational support from a passionate team specialising in venture design and building, product development, fundraising, tech, and strategic partnerships
- Access to Nesta’s mission-relevant internal and external networks
- The opportunity at the end of 6 months to pitch for an additional £200K investment and establish the venture as an independent company - and receive a majority equity stake in the new company
Making an application
To apply for this role, please submit your application before midnight on Sunday June 14th via https://missionstudio.vc/role/eir-skilled-trades.
