"Executive Director, Venture Lab"

Job Description Summary

The Executive Director (ED) reports to the Vice Dean of Entrepreneurship and serves as the most senior staff leader of Venture Lab and its home in Tangen Hall. The ED is responsible for maximizing Venture Lab's impact, visibility, community, brand recognition, and partnerships, while ensuring the workplace functions as a high-performing, collaborative ecosystem. The ED works closely with students, alumni, faculty, staff, and external partners, aligning with University priorities and expanding stakeholder networks. This role drives organizational growth, leads change, and strengthens culture, ensuring priorities are clear, collaboration is effective, and work is both engaging and productive. The ED provides accessible, hands-on leadership to a team of professional staff, advancing strong management practices, operational efficiency, and a consistently high level of service to all constituents.

The ED has a critical leadership role providing strategic oversight of programming, core support functions, and resource management, including more than 80 funds comprising a self-sustaining budget of over $8 million annually. In close partnership with External Affairs and University Development, the ED supports donor stewardship and cultivates relationships that ensure financial sustainability. As the steward of Tangen Hall, the ED provides oversight so the facility operates as a vibrant, strategically aligned hub for the entrepreneurial community. This role requires balancing significant financial, managerial, and operational responsibilities with indirect but meaningful influence on day-to-day activities, while serving as a visible, trusted leader who engages broadly across students, alumni, and external partners.

Required Qualifications:

• A Master's degree and 10+ years of leadership experience are required, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Proven track record in organizational growth, change leadership, and building high-functioning teams.
• Ability to balance strategic vision with hands-on leadership, ensuring both high-level alignment and indirect oversight of daily execution.
• Strong people management skills with ability to coach leaders, address performance gaps, and strengthen collaboration.
• Demonstrated ability to engage with a variety of audiences (e.g., student, alumni, community) through workshops, office hours, or similar forums.
• Demonstrated success in partnership development, brand-building, and donor stewardship.
• Exceptional communication and relationship-building skills, with the ability to represent the organization effectively at local, national, and global levels.
• Proven ability to manage complex, multi-million-dollar budgets and diverse funding sources, with a focus on financial sustainability.
• Regular in-person presence is required. Must also be able to work evenings and weekends as needed, and travel domestically and internationally.

Strongly Preferred Qualifications:

• Demonstrated success leading within higher education or similarly complex, matrixed institutions with multiple stakeholders and governance structures.
• Substantive experience in the startup landscape and entrepreneurial ecosystem.

NOTE: Applicants must submit a cover letter. Applications submitted without a cover letter will not be reviewed.

Job Location

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Department / School

Wharton School

Pay Range

$164,500.00 - $215,000.00 Annual Rate

To apply, visit: https://wd1.myworkdaysite.com/en-US/recruiting/upenn/careers-at-penn/job/Tangen-Hall/Executive-Director--Venture-Lab_JR00112882-1