Job Description

The Associate Director provides leadership and management for Venture Lab's pitch competitions, including the annual Startup Challenge, pitch nights, and the B-School Disrupt event, and related awards for student founders at the University of Pennsylvania. This work will enable Venture Lab to deliver co-curricular learning opportunities in innovation and entrepreneurship to Penn students and connect them to Penn alumni leaders and experts for practical instruction, advice, mentoring, and networking support. The position is responsible for strategy, program design, and end-to-end execution of these competitions and related student founder programming, including alumni judge recruitment, budget and work plan management, and risk management.

Reporting to the Senior Director of Venture Lab, the Associate Director will:

• Lead the annual Startup Challenge, a multi-stage competition held throughout the academic year that provides Penn student contestants the opportunity to present their business ideas or startups and receive feedback from alumni judges. Develop strategy and manage execution, including the application process, analyzing competition data and tracking progress across multiple rounds to ensure reviews are completed on time, multiple rounds of judging, alumni judge recruitment, and coordinated delivery across cross-functional teams of the work plan, budget, communications plan, and risk management.
• Lead pitch nights throughout the academic year, providing Penn students with opportunities to develop effective communication skills, receive feedback, validate their business ideas, and gain exposure to the Penn entrepreneurship community. Responsibilities include strategy, recruitment and selection of student presenters, engagement of judges from the Venture Lab ecosystem, and partnerships with Penn organizations on themed events.
• Lead the relaunch and end-to-end execution of the B-School Disrupt event, partnering with peer institutions and internal functional teams to produce a cross-institutional showcase of student and alumni ventures and coordinate alumni judges. Collaborate with the Venture Lab founders team to manage the Summer at Venture Lab initiative.
• Prepare management reports and presentations for Venture Lab leadership. Design and maintain performance measurement frameworks, analyze program data to surface insights and recommend improvements, and support Salesforce data entry and management. Collaborate with Wharton External Affairs to produce donor stewardship reports and impact reports, incorporating feedback from Venture Lab and Wharton senior leadership.

The position requires frequent interaction with seasoned, accomplished alumni entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and other professionals engaged in entrepreneurship and innovation careers, including significant donors. The position is also responsible for cultivating an open rapport and a professional, supportive educational approach with undergraduate and graduate student entrepreneurs and innovators from all disciplines across the University of Pennsylvania.

Qualifications

Required:

• Bachelor's Degree and minimum 3-5 years of professional experience related to entrepreneurship, innovation, or program management, or an equivalent combination of education and experience is required. Master's degree and experience with co-curricular or experiential learning initiatives preferred.
• Demonstrated experience leading end-to-end program and/or event management across complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives, including strategy, program design, budget and work plan management, and risk management for time-sensitive, high-visibility events.
• Demonstrated forward-thinking mindset, creativity, and systems thinking, with strong problem-solving and analytical skills, including the ability to analyze and interpret competition and program data in Excel or similar tools to evaluate program outcomes and inform decisions.
• Ability to translate ideas into structured plans and executable workstreams and move them forward with initiative and follow-through.
• Demonstrated ability to take ownership of projects and exercise sound judgment in navigating time-sensitive, high-visibility situations involving internal and external stakeholders.
• Proficiency with Google Workspace and Microsoft Office required, including strong Excel skills; experience with Beautiful.ai, Monday.com, Typeform, ActiveCampaign, Qualtrics, and SurveyMonkey Apply preferred. Adobe Creative Suite experience a plus.