Director of Operations and Development –Founders at the University of Cambridge
Cambridge Enterprise | West Cambridge | Full-time (hybrid) | Salary From £80,000
What if your next role helped shape the future of deep tech?
What if your to-do list included launching the next generation of world-changing ventures — and making sure they ran like clockwork?
Why you’ll love this role
You’ll be at the centre of something big. As Director of Operations and Development for Founders at the University of Cambridge, you’ll support early-stage founders in turning their ideas and research into successful ventures that benefit society, the UK economy and the University.
It’s a hands-on, high-impact role where no two days look the same. One moment you’re helping fine-tune the delivery execution of our incubator and accelerator programmes, the next you’re putting together a proposal for a partnership or building the back-end infrastructure that’ll help us scale. You’ll steer the operational side of our mission — and have the autonomy and tools to make it happen.
You’ll be joining a flagship initiative at the heart of Europe’s leading research and innovation cluster. We’re part of the University’s commercialisation arm, Cambridge Enterprise, and eighteen months in, we’ve already seen our portfolio of early-stage ventures raise over £14M. But we’re just getting started — and this is your chance to shape what comes next.
You’ll grow with us too. With support, stretch, and a brilliant network behind you, you’ll sharpen your leadership, build your ecosystem profile, and have a real, measurable impact on society and the economy.
What we’re looking for
We don’t expect you to tick every box, but you’re likely to have:
* Strong operational leadership experience in early-stage ventures, accelerators or partnerships
* Proven ability to lead cross-functional teams and juggle multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment and working closely with a department head
* A knack for building systems and workflows that scale (think tools and CRMS such as Airtable, Notion, mailchimp, wordpress, etc)
* Experience designing or running accelerator or incubation programmes
* A good grasp of legal, financial and governance processes (e.g. SAFEs, IP, contracts, cap tables)
* Excellent programme and stakeholder management skills
* An analytical mindset — you're confident with data, dashboards and impact reporting
* Strong founder empathy — and a genuine interest in building ventures that matter
* The confidence to represent the platform externally and contribute to strategic thinking
* A collaborative, adaptable, get-it-done approach
Nice to have
* Experience in deep tech, venture capital, or legal operations
* Familiarity with university commercialisation or research institutions
* A strong UK or European start-up ecosystem network
* Experience with fundraising, grants, or donor communications
We’re based at the Hauser Forum on the West Cambridge site — and we’d love you in the office at least 3 days a week (more if you prefer). We offer a competitive salary based on experience, plus brilliant benefits including 30 days’ holiday, a generous University pension, and flexible working (including up to 30 days a year abroad).
We offer exceptional benefits and invest greatly in our team’s happiness, wellbeing, and growth. Our benefits include:
* 30 days holiday per year plus bank holidays
* Generous University pension scheme
* Flexible working environment with the opportunity to work from abroad for up to 30 days per year for most roles
* Family friendly policies (including enhanced parental leave & childcare benefits, fertility leave, and pregnancy loss leave)
* Mental health & wellbeing support
* A commitment to personal development, including free access to LinkedIn Learning
* Retail & travel discount cards and schemes
This is alongside a modern office space on the West Cambridge site (home to a thriving academic and research and development community) and the chance to work in a vibrant team in one of the world’s leading Technology Transfer offices.
We’re committed to building a diverse, inclusive team. If you meet most of the criteria above, we’d love to hear from you — even if you’re not sure you tick every single box.
Cambridge Enterprise is an equal opportunity employer and will strive to reduce unconscious bias throughout our hiring process. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, family or parental status, national origin, veteran, neurodiversity status or disability status.
We endeavour to embrace diversity, and promote an inclusive environment for all employees, and actively work towards this with our EDI Working Group.
Ready to help shape the future? Apply now on our website .
Closing Date: 15th August 2025
First Interviews: (online) 21st August onwards
Please note - we reserve the right to close the role early, if we have a high response rate