Senior Associate, Scale Up Program
- Job Type
- Contract / Full Time
- Job Level
- Experienced (non manager)
- Location
- Toronto, ON
- Impact Area
- Economic Development
- Impact Category
- Nonprofit
- Company Type
- Nonprofit
About this position
About MaRS
MaRS Discovery District (@MaRSDD) in Toronto is the one of the world’s largest urban innovation hubs. MaRS supports promising young ventures tackling key societal challenges in the Health, Energy & Environment, Work & Learning and Finance & Commerce sectors. In addition to helping startups launch, grow and scale, the MaRS community is dedicated to cross-disciplinary collaboration, commercialization of discoveries and driving ideas to impact.
About Venture Programs
MaRS Venture Programs help entrepreneurs build their companies through specialized programming geared to support every stage of growth.
Through a range of year-round workshops, roundtable discussions, mentorship events and online resources, MaRS venture programming connects ventures to the tools, experts and methodologies needed to grow and scale. Whether it’s sales, business development or go-to-market planning, we help companies develop a solid growth strategy, so they can win on the global stage. From exclusive in-person courses such as Grow Camp to our flagship online Entrepreneurship 101 course, our programs help ventures navigate their innovation journey. Built by entrepreneurs and delivered by experts, our programs help founders go from idea to IPO, from business creation to scaling globally.
Since 2005 we’ve delivered our programs to hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs both in person and online. Millions more use our online resources every year.
Scale Up Programs is a key component of the MaRS Venture Programs team and will directly support the scaling-up of high-potential small and medium enterprises (SMEs) into larger-scale firms that are globally competitive. This is essential as scale-up companies are responsible for a large proportion of economic growth and job creation.
However, new and emerging technology-driven firms often face unique challenges in accessing the expertise and assistance they need to grow and rapidly scale-up. To assist these companies in overcoming challenges, MaRS is designing specialized programming to support these firms as they tackle these unique challenges.
About this Opportunity
Reporting to the Senior Manager of Ontario Scale-Up Vouchers Program, this role will be an integral part of the Venture Programs team – a group of people who are passionate about helping entrepreneurs and innovators succeed.
Please note this is a 6-month fixed-term contract.
The Senior Associate, Scale-Up Program will be responsible for managing multiple stakeholders, committees and advisors involved in Scale-up program elements. This includes the recruitment, facilitation, communication and administration of the various committees and program partners involved in Scale Up Programs. Additionally, the Sr. Associate will provide logistical and administrative support to the Scale Up team, including program management, communications, event planning and execution, data entry and meeting management. Venture Programs is a very collaborative team and the Sr. Associate will be expected to support and lead initiatives within the broader team on specific projects and work from time to time.
Position Responsibilities
- Manage and support stakeholder
- Engage and oversee Scale Up company communication
- Assist in full life-cycle development for new Scale Up programs
- Design marketing and presentational material, effective informational graphics, and data visualization for program metrics
- Support outreach to partners and program sponsors
- Assist in reporting on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis
- Manage the program website and manage related events.
- Consolidate lists of other programs to support Scale Up companies
- Assist in actively improving processes and efficiencies through integrations, streamlining and optimization of tools and programs
- Support the develop operations manuals and process maps for new programs
- Support and update stakeholder onboarding and training manuals
- Act as a connecting point between the team and the various departments at MaRS as appropriate
- Maintains relationships within a community made up of:
- Entrepreneurs and members of the startup community
- Internal MaRS Staff
- Business, community and industry associations
- Government agencies and ministries – at all levels, federal, provincial, and municipal
- Members of other innovation centres, external delegations, etc.
- Responsible for other administrative duties agreed upon from time to time to support the Venture Programming team
- Write articles, summaries of program events and spotlight pieces to showcase ventures and programming on an occasional basis
- Manage the logistics for scale up events and meetings
Qualifications:
- Minimum Bachelor’s degree and 2-5 years of relevant work experience
- Strong communications skills – oral, written, and presentation skills
- Extremely high attention to detail
- Strong project management / organizational coordination skills
- Maturity and high level of personal integrity
- Self-motivated – able to work independently or as a team member
- Personal accountability and commitment to achieving and exceeding goals and objective
- Service minded, with the ability to support and meet the needs of multiple stakeholders
- Strong interest in entrepreneurship and
- Strong capabilities in MS PowerPoint, and Excel
- Superior interpersonal skills
- Ability to multi-task and adapt to quickly changing environment
- Comfortable working in a fast-paced, high energy environment
- Passion for entrepreneurship, building businesses and social innovation a must!
Working Conditions
Open-concept office environment with operating business hours of 8:30am to 5pm Monday to Friday.
Frequent evening events (Meetups, industry networking events), attendance encouraged but not mandatory.
Applications are due by 6:59 PM Eastern Time on the Close Date indicated at the top of this job posting.
Applicants must be legally eligible to work in Canada.
MaRS Discovery District is committed to diversity and encourages applications from all qualified candidates, including aboriginal persons, francophones, members of sexual minority groups, persons with disabilities, visible minorities and women. We will provide any requested accommodation to candidates with disabilities throughout the recruitment process.
About us
Based in Toronto’s Discovery District, MaRS is the world’s largest urban innovation hub.
Focusing on four key sectors – health, energy & environment, finance & commerce and work & learning – MaRS supports more than 1,000 ventures that are striving to make the world a better place. MaRS provides these ventures with expert advice, and connects them to capital, talent and new markets to accelerate their growth and scale up their impact.
MaRS is also home to cutting-edge research institutes advancing knowledge in areas like healthcare and artificial intelligence, as well as the Canadian offices for several globally leading tech companies like Facebook, PayPal, Autodesk and Airbnb.
Our Impact
MaRS supports scaling ventures that create jobs, increase prosperity and help tackle important societal issues like climate change or rising healthcare costs.
MaRS has also been instrumental in growing Canada’s market for socially conscious investments through its Centre for Impact Investing and SVX online investing platform.
On the capital side, MaRS manages a fund (MaRS Catalyst Fund) that invests in companies creating positive social or environmental change, and also manages the StandUp Ventures fund, which invests in women-led tech startups.
What it's like to work here
The MaRS Centre is a vibrant, architecturally inspiring innovation hub. It draws 6,000 researchers, innovators and entrepreneurs to work each day at a diverse, curated tenant mix of startups, scaleups and multinational high-tech companies in the building.
MaRS itself is a lean organization with a flat management structure. Dedicated to supporting startups, the culture is entrepreneurial and employees are encouraged to find unique solutions to problems. Teams tend to be small and responsible for the full lifecycle of a project, from ideation and design to development and rollout.
MaRS employees enjoy extras, such as:
i. Access to a wide range of tech industry events that take place in the MaRS Centre, such as the MaRS Mornings entrepreneur talks.
ii. An active social committee that organizes regular events, “serendipity coffees” to meet members of other teams, a summer games tournament, team-building outings and summer golf day.
iii. MaRS softball team, free weekly yoga in the atrium, and discounted gym memberships
iv. Indoor bike parking and showers
Career Growth Opportunities
Career growth at MaRS is fostered by the breadth of experiences and educational opportunities available to employees, as well as exposure to startups, entrepreneurs and diverse networks. Personal development opportunities set the foundation for a successful career within and beyond the organization.
For employees at an earlier stage in their career, the innovation ecosystem and entrepreneurial environment offer opportunities to develop expertise in some of the most important sectors of the economy.
What We Look For When Hiring
MaRS seeks candidates who have an entrepreneurial spirit, who are collaborative and team-oriented and share a passion for innovation and MaRS’ mission.
Candidates should be motivated by the prospect of continuous learning, improving their skills and being given the responsibility to manage projects and find novel solutions to problems.
MaRS looks for people whose unique personal experiences and background can add to its culture of innovation.
Application instructions
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