Program and Entrepreneur Specialist

About VertueLab

VertueLab is a nonprofit fighting the climate crisis by providing funding and holistic entrepreneurial support to cleantech startups. Through a decade of work, we have proven that our model can accelerate climate solutions that are key to reversing the climate crisis. We were the first in the nation to utilize patient, risk-tolerant, concessionary, and flexible capital to invest in early stage cleantech startups.

Why we need you

We understand the challenges that early-stage climate tech and cleantech innovators and entrepreneurs face. Over the last 15 years, we’ve worked with hundreds of researchers, innovators, and startups and have developed holistic support programs to help climate-focused entrepreneurs succeed and become investor-ready. As best practices evolve and the needs of innovators and entrepreneurs in the Pacific Northwest change with changing context, we must forecast what is needed in the future to continue to find promising innovators and entrepreneurs, meet them where they are, and provide assistance that meets their needs.

This role will turn strategy into delivery, ensuring every program runs on time and on budget, every founder gets matched to the right resource at the right time, and every partner engagement actually delivers value. This role is the backbone that ensures everything we promise actually happens. Additionally, the Program and Entrepreneur Specialist is the human connector between founders, partners, and programs - making sure nothing falls through the cracks and that our equity commitments show up in real-time founder experience.

If you thrive on systems, love making things run smoothly, and believe climate tech needs to work for everyone, this role is for you.

Responsibilities

The Program & Entrepreneur Specialist is a part-time-to- full-time hire who serves as the operational backbone for VertueLab's programs. This role maintains and runs the centralized intake and onboarding infrastructure that ensures founders know where to start, partners know what's expected, and nothing falls through the cracks. They collaborate with the program team to translate strategy into reliable, repeatable systems that deliver exceptional experiences for all stakeholders.

Specific responsibilities of the position include:

• Refine, maintain, and operate intake/onboarding systems: Manage the program centralized processes, step-by-step pathways, orientation workflows (1-on-1 and group), and documentation that ensures every entrepreneur knows where to start and how to access support
• Coordinate founder-partner matchmaking - Conduct intake check-ins, match founders to mentors/service providers/investors, make warm introductions, track partner capacity, and maintain accurate program participation records
• Work with the internal team to design and refine founder routing logic by identifying bottlenecks, gaps, and opportunities for automation or process improvement. Surveying effectiveness of process and programs
• Support program operations - Ensure materials and logistics are ready on time, attend team meetings and program events as needed, track timelines, assist with reporting, and ensure equity commitments show up in founder experience
• Support program delivery when needed
• Manage program scope to ensure deliverables align with funder/partner contract requirements.

Ideal Candidate Profile

Successful candidates for the role will have most of the following:

• Alignment with VertueLab’s mission to unleash innovation and entrepreneurship that will solve environmental challenges and catalyze shared economic prosperity.
• Systems thinker who loves building order from chaos
• Process-oriented mindset comfortable with structures, flows, and linear task completion
• Some technical and/or business knowledge about climate tech and the markets and industries
• Customer service orientation, and commitment to delivering value.
• Ability to accept and wade into ambiguity and uncertainty
• Ability to develop and foster a collaborative network with other institutions, organizations, and individuals that support startups.
• Self-directed work style that can build and operate systems independently
• Commitment to building a diverse team and an organization that embraces diversity, equity, and inclusion in its internal processes, its programming and in the way it communicates externally.
• Excellent project management skills - both the technical skills of developing and managing budgets and timelines, and the critical soft skills of building team cohesion and engagement.
• MUST reside in Oregon or Washington State

Work Details

• Part-time to start: 25 hours/week, flexible schedule within business hours
• Hybrid with occasional in-person events in WA or OR
• Some Pacific Northwest travel for team meetings and program events
• Compensation: $29-34/hour

This 3-month part time work builds foundational systems for our renewed program launch. When converted to full-time, you would expand these systems and take on impact tracking, program management and quality assurance, and some light budget management.