Head of Platform

Special Instructions to Applicants:All interested applicants should attach a resume in the Supporting Documents section of the application preferably in a PDF format to avoid any formatting issues.

About Rice:

Boasting a 300-acre tree-lined campus in Houston Texas Rice University is ranked among the nations top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has a 6-to-1 undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio and a residential college system which supports students intellectually emotionally and culturally through social events intramural sports student plays lectures series courses and student government. Developing close-knit diverse college communities is a strong campus tradition which is why Rice is highly ranked for best quality of life and best value among private universities.

Rice is also a wonderful place to work. Rice faculty staff and students share values that are essential to our success as a healthy community. Those values guide our decisions and behaviors and shape Rices culture. They come through in the way we treat each other and the welcome we extend to our visitors. These values can be recalled simply by our name RICE Responsibility Integrity Community and Excellence.

Position Summary:

We believe that when people are activated around meaningful work it creates an economic engine that generates an abundance of opportunities for our community to prosper. We exist to help people pursue their lifes work.

We are seeking a Head of Platform to launch and build this Founder Advantage Platform. This opportunity is to be part of something bigger than any one person by serving as the connective tissue of the Houston innovation ecosystem with a mission to help high-potential founders build scale and win in Houston.

The Head of Platform serves as the operator and orchestrator of this system centered on developing and managing the relationship networks and crafted journeys and experiencesbuilding this product to deliver repeatable advantages in support of our mission. This role sits at the intersection of founder success ecosystem orchestration and platform build-out.

The Head of Platform will serve on the Rice Alliances leadership team in support of our ambition for the Ion to become a globally recognized hub for innovation.

Ideal Candidate Statement:

The ideal candidate is / was a startup founder operator or venture capital platform leader who understands the early-stage needs of founders and can convert ecosystem complexity into structured advantages. Using their experience building their own successful startup and working with investors and ecosystems the ideal candidate is ready to build and operate a differentiated venture platform that gives founders measurable advantages by expanding their access to capital customers talent expertise and community. This person will be energized by the opportunity to work with founders and has the network and experience to connect them to what they need when they need it. They will be comfortable and have experience in dealing with startup investors and activating a source of high-quality deal flow. The ideal candidate believes in Houstons potential and will propel Houston to become a destination where founders choose to build iconic companies.

They will often represent the Ion at various networking opportunities around Houston and host regular networking events at the should understand the unique needs of startups and what programming will help them further their ventures and how best to engage investors with these startups.

Workplace Requirements:

This position is exclusively on-site necessitating all duties to be performed in-person at the Ion. PerRice policy 440 work arrangements may be subject to change.

Hiring Range:Hiring salary commensurate with experience and qualifications.

Minimum Requirements:

• Bachelors Degree

• Five or more (5) years in leadership roles at early-stage startups or venture capital

Preferences:

• 10 years in leadership roles at early-stage startups or venture capital

• Successfully led and developed high-performance teams

• High-credibility networks with founders operators investors and corporate partners.

• Founder empathy and a founder-first mindset biased towards action and outcomes

• Excellent storyteller who can articulate our vision and the Ions value proposition and advantages

• High-velocity AI-native operator who is a systems thinker who can manage and lead complex relationship networks

• Community builder who creates trust belonging and momentum

• Strong analytical and strategic ability to track outcomes and refine the platform to gain leverage

Essential Functions:

• Leads the development and implementation of programs initiatives and plans to advance the Ions mission and strategic objectives in regard to the venture advantage platform.

• Leads mentors and directs the platform team fostering a culture of collaboration innovation and excellence

• Provides visionary leadership sets clear objectives and drives initiatives to maximize business growth.

• Works with marketing team to directs outreach including communications marketing and events for startup and investor engagement.

• Serves as a key liaison with stakeholders and constituency groups and is responsible for managing external relations.

• Performs all other duties as assigned.MOU1

Additional Functions

• Represents the Ion at various events in the Houston entrepreneurial ecosystem including frequent evening events.
• Gives tours of the Ion for startups and investor groups and other groups as needed.

Rice University HR Benefits: Mission and Values:Mission and Values Rice University

Rice University is committed to ensuring Equal Employment Opportunity and welcoming the fullness of diversity into our candidate pools. Rice considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to race color religion age sex sexual orientation gender identity national or ethnic origin genetic information disability or protected veteran status. Rice also provides reasonable accommodations to qualified persons with disabilities. If an applicant requires a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process please get in touch with Rice Universitys Human Resources Office via email at for support.

If you have any additional questions please email us at. Thank you for your interest in employment with Rice University.