Description
NB: Location is across Australia, preference for Brisbane
Applications close: 14 January 2024
About Beanstalk:
Beanstalk exists to unleash the potential for agriculture to be a leading force for good. We believe our food system needs reinvention to feed a growing global population on a healthy planet, and we are working hand-in-hand with innovators, agribusinesses, and public sector leaders to make it happen. If this excites you, we would love for you to apply!
We are a specialised team of strategy, venture building and innovation experts dedicated to the agriculture and food sector in the Indo-Pacific. Our role is to catalyse the adoption of new technologies and build capabilities that help to unlock our ability to produce nutritious food in a responsible, ethical and sustainable manner.
Beanstalk achieves this through two arms of its organisation: Beanstalk Advisory, its Indo-Pacific consulting business that partners with agribusiness, governments, and donors to tackle their most pressing challenges in the agriculture value chain; and Beanstalk Ventures, its venture building arm focused on venture creation and building, investing and scaling impact-focused solutions shaping our future food system.
About the Beanstalk Drought Venture Studio:
Australia is one of the driest continents on earth, yet we have a vibrant agricultural sector that constantly adapts to climate change challenges - necessity has made us amazing innovators. This resourcefulness makes Australia the natural home for our Drought Venture Studio.
This world first partnership between the Commonwealth - through its Future Drought Fund - and Beanstalk AgTech will identify problems from the ground up and develop and fund solutions through practical commercialisation. Beanstalk will work with the eight Drought Innovation Hubs across Australia and industry to enable the creation of new startups and technological innovation in response to drought.
The program’s mission is to support nearly 100 commercial solutions, and to back 8 high growth ventures over the next 2 years, positioning Australia as a global leader on drought and climate solutions to agricultural resilience.
About the role:
We are hiring a Studio Operations Lead that will join the Beanstalk Ventures team. They will be responsible for the coordination and organisation of venture studio programs launched under Beanstalk Ventures. The first landmark studio program is the Drought Venture Studio. You will be working closely with the Studio Director and Head of Ventures and leveraging the programmatic knowledge of the Beanstalk Advisory team to ensure the Drought Venture Studio runs like a well-oiled machine.
You will be leading the design and operation of the Drought Venture Studio’s internal operating system. This is not a copy and paste, we are looking for a leader who we can entrust to really take the reins and own the creation a high-performance workflow to underpin the world-first Drought Venture Studio.
In this role, you will:
- Build the operational workflow for key activities including (but not limited to):
- Internal communications
- Application and selection processes
- Onboarding and orientation of the Venture Builders
- Reviewing and support with refining the accelerator and venture program
- Facilitate processes for continued learning and development
- Programmatic evaluation, feedback and reporting
- Solidifying a manual for the entire program
- Crisis management
- Be responsible for the day-to-day management of the Drought Venture Studio, leading the operations and functions of the Studio
- Engage regularly with Studio participants to ensure clarity of expectations and timelines
- Develop and maintain a strong culture within the Drought Venture Studio – focused on high performance, collaboration, mutual support etc.
- Review the service-level outcomes across support partners, ensuring accountability and providing feedback for change where required
- Manage and track outcomes across the accelerator and Drought Venture Studio to ensure participants are well supported, and have clarity on the program journey
- Work with the Studio Comms and Community Lead to design and implement Founder/CXO recruiting strategies
- Organise the logistics of field trips, workshops, and get togethers for the Drought Venture Studio participants and team members
- Organise networking events, knowledge-sharing sessions, and community-building activities to enhance engagement and connection across the program
- Own feedback surveys and metric collection on program outcomes, regularly collate into a report for the broader organisation
- Support the Studio Director in monitoring and evaluation requirements and reporting.
Still with us here? You are probably one of us. Research out there suggests that women and underrepresented people are less likely to apply for a role despite being perfectly qualified. We would love for you to introduce yourself – as a business with global ambitions and working deeply amongst remote communities, diversity in people, experiences and perspectives brings us closer to our mission of building a regional food system that serves the communities we work across. We're looking for people of all genders, races, ethnicities, orientations, abilities, and disabilities to join us.
Beanstalk highly encourages Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people to apply, and are seeking applicants who have demonstrated knowledge and understanding of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander culture and social ways of life.
Requirements
About You:
- 4+ years of experience in program or project management of larger scale programs
- Experience in program management in the startup ecosystem will be considered favourably
- Highly organised, with the ability to use project management software to manage key programmatic milestones and coordinate with all roles across the Venture Studio
- Strong communicator with good interpersonal and relationship-building skills
- Proactive problem solver who can be relied on to take initiative, ownership and getting things done
Location:
- Based in Australia, preference for Brisbane based
- Ad hoc travel across the program for workshops, events and showcases
Beanstalk AgTech
Beanstalk is an innovation agency dedicated to unleashing the potential for agriculture to be the leading force for good. We exist to support industry leaders, start-up innovators, investors, and government bodies across the Indo-Pacific to advance sustainable, ethical, and responsible food systems. Our core competency is in helping our clients to navigate and adopt leading practices and technologies, with purpose and clarity. Our advantage lies at the intersection of our deep domain expertise, our open innovation mindset, and our regional network. Our team consists of agriculture, innovation, strategy, and operation experts based out of Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, and Singapore.