Director Venture Studio Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Venture Build Studio

Location: Hybrid / Remote, with occasional in-person meetings in Ann Arbor, Michigan

Employment Type: Full-Time or Contract-to-Full-Time

Function: Venture Building, Product Strategy, Business Development, Market Expansion

Seniority: Mid-Level or Senior

About the Role

We are seeking an Entrepreneur-in-Residence to help build and launch new ventures within a venture build studio focused on physical infrastructure, utilities, construction, capital projects, energy transition, and related asset-intensive industries.

This role is designed for a commercially minded operator who can move from idea to validation to business launch. The ideal candidate can work across market research, customer discovery, product-market fit, business model development, strategic partnerships, early sales, venture planning, and operating execution.

The Entrepreneur-in-Residence will work closely with venture studio leadership, engineering, product, subject matter experts, customers, and external partners to shape new business opportunities into investable, scalable ventures.

Key Responsibilities

Venture Development

• Lead or support the development of new venture concepts from idea through validation, business case, launch planning, and early commercialization.
• Conduct market research, customer discovery, competitor analysis, and industry validation for new venture opportunities.
• Translate customer pain points and market gaps into clear venture theses, product concepts, business models, and go-to-market plans.
• Develop venture business plans, financial models, pitch materials, customer presentations, and board/investor-facing materials.
• Help define the problem, target customer, value proposition, product scope, pricing model, market entry strategy, and commercialization roadmap for each venture.

Customer and Market Validation

• Engage with potential customers, industry experts, channel partners, utilities, infrastructure owners, contractors, engineering firms, and other market participants to validate demand.
• Identify urgent, expensive, and repeatable customer problems that could support scalable venture opportunities.
• Support pilot development, proof-of-concept discussions, early customer commitments, and strategic partnerships.
• Convert ambiguous market feedback into actionable product, commercial, and operating requirements.

Physical Infrastructure and Technology Applications

• Support ventures focused on physical infrastructure, utilities, grid infrastructure, construction, capital program delivery, field operations, asset management, geospatial applications, computer vision, AI-enabled workflows, and related technology-enabled services.
• Work with technical leaders to evaluate the feasibility of products involving geospatial data, visual recognition, field data, imagery, infrastructure assets, enterprise workflows, and AI-enabled analysis.
• Help bridge the gap between industry problems and technical product solutions.

Business Building and Execution

• Operate in early-stage, ambiguous environments where the business model, product, customer, and operating model may still be evolving.
• Coordinate cross-functional work across engineering, product, design, finance, legal, sales, operations, and external vendors.
• Help recruit or identify founding team members, advisors, operating partners, vendors, and early employees for new ventures.
• Develop launch plans, operating plans, milestone plans, and execution cadences for new ventures.
• Support the transition of validated venture concepts into stand-alone portfolio companies, business units, or dedicated operating teams.

Strategic Partnerships and Commercial Growth

• Identify and develop relationships with customers, investors, strategic partners, channel partners, vendors, and ecosystem participants.
• Support early revenue generation, pilot agreements, strategic alliances, and commercial expansion.
• Represent venture concepts in customer, investor, partner, and leadership discussions.
• Help assess partnership structures, build-versus-partner options, market entry paths, and scaling strategies.

Required Qualifications

• 6+ years of experience in startups, venture building, product strategy, business development, consulting, corporate innovation, infrastructure, utilities, construction, technology, or related fields.
• Demonstrated ability to take ambiguous ideas and turn them into structured business plans, customer validation plans, commercial strategies, or operating initiatives.
• Strong business judgment, strategic thinking, and ability to evaluate market opportunities.
• Experience working directly with customers, executives, partners, or investors.
• Ability to create clear written materials, pitch decks, business cases, financial models, and executive-level presentations.
• Strong communication skills and ability to translate between business, technical, and operational stakeholders.
• Ability to work independently, move quickly, and create structure without waiting for fully defined requirements.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in utilities, energy infrastructure, construction, engineering, capital projects, asset management, GIS, geospatial technology, AI, computer vision, or infrastructure software.
• Experience launching or scaling a startup, product line, consulting service line, innovation program, or new business unit.
• Familiarity with venture studios, venture capital, private equity, corporate venture building, or early-stage company formation.
• Experience with enterprise B2B products or services serving complex, asset-intensive organizations.
• Experience developing customer discovery interviews, pilot programs, go-to-market strategies, pricing models, or partnership structures.
• Comfort working with technical teams on products involving AI, geospatial data, imagery, automation, analytics, or workflow platforms.

Equal Opportunity

We are an equal opportunity employer and welcome candidates from diverse backgrounds who are excited to build new companies and technology-enabled businesses for complex, real-world industries.