About JumpStart Inc.

JumpStart is a non-profit venture development organization whose mission is to unlock the full potential of entrepreneurship to transform entire communities and our vision is to collaborate with partners to generate dramatically improved and inclusive economic outcomes by supporting diverse entrepreneurs, optimizing entrepreneurial ecosystems, and accelerating innovation.

Key to JumpStart’s success is its ability to leverage the skills, experience and creativity of its inspired team to transform entrepreneurial aspirations into actions with measurable impact. JumpStart leaders and teammates take great pride in JumpStart being a highly demanding yet incredibly fun place to work.

Position Summary

The Director, Mentoring is charged with leading and expanding the JumpStart Mentoring program, which supplements JumpStart’s engagement with client entrepreneurs, including startup and scaleup entrepreneurs, resulting in even more significant outcomes through the use of highly qualified volunteer mentors. Ideal candidates for the program include companies with high-growth potential and large-market opportunities, ranging from pre-revenue to cash-flow positive. The Director, Mentoring is responsible for recruiting and onboarding program mentors, who are selected into the program from the local business and entrepreneurial community. Mentors typically include successful tech entrepreneurs, experienced professionals in a particular technical area --e.g. advanced materials, biomedical device commercialization, etc.-- or functional areas --finance, operations, HR, etc.-- that match the needs of the mentoring client and are matched based on competencies and interests. Mentors work in an individual, team and/or ad hoc mentoring approach with client companies to provide guidance, advice and counsel on a regular, monitored basis. The mentors provide highly sought-after assistance and advice on activities such as product development, market analysis and go-to-market strategies, business development, intellectual property advancement, business model planning and financial analysis, and fundraising.

Primary Responsibilities:

65% - Continue to build a robust, expanding and increasingly self-sustaining Mentoring program

• Lead the qualification, recruiting and onboarding of mentors to satisfy program growth goals and ensure quality standards are upheld.
• Oversee the Qualification and recruiting of suitable client companies, in a coordinated way with existing resources. Provide clear guidelines and standards to help Services team and partner organizations make quality referrals to the program.
• Partner with JumpStart paid advisory staff to establish accepted framework of coaching to build consistency over free and paid advisory resources.
• Enhance and deliver a mentor and client onboarding and training program, to include continuous improvement education throughout the program.
• Enhance process for reciprocal pairing of appropriate mentors and companies to enhance the mentor and mentee engagement experience.
• Provide best practice tools and resources to mentors and entrepreneurs to enhance advisory relationship and accelerate client progress.
• Oversee the program office support management and administration.
• Incorporate practices from other disciplines that will enhance the program deliverable and outcomes.
• Assess and implement appropriate technology to track and monitor program results as well as coordinate activity between the entrepreneurs, JumpStart and the mentors.

35% - Provide outward visibility to community and regions as the leader of JumpStart Mentoring and as the internal subject matter expert on mentoring (be the face of JS Mentoring)

• Participate in a leadership role in meetings with funders/customers including the Burton D. Morgan Foundation
• Seek out opportunities to present and promote the JumpStart Mentoring program in the Northeast Ohio Community, with specific emphasis on the Corporate Community for mentor recruitment and Research Institutions for mentees through commercialization programs.
• Serve as the mentoring subject matter expert in support of JumpStart’s other mentoring initiatives, including the NWO Mentoring Program and the Encore Mentoring Program.
• Participate in ‘productization’ of mentoring program elements where applicable as opportunities to scale are presented.

Decision Making Responsibility

All final selections on mentors and program clients as well as the continued program participation of each. Determination of program direction, processes and methodologies based on input from Services Team and senior JS leadership as appropriate.

Direct Reports

This position will have two direct reports.

• Mentoring Program Manager
• Coordinator, Mentoring Programs

Physical Demands/Working Conditions

• Periodic invites to speak about the mentoring program may require travel
• Ongoing studying and sharing of best practices
• Significant day travel throughout NEO in execution of job functions of recruiting and networking

Required Qualifications

Education, Training and/or Experience

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience
• 7+ years of professional experience in a business development, strategy or program/project management capacity are required with progressive leadership responsibilities.
• A strong track record of results, to include the successful launch of new programs and products is also critical. Successful candidates will have significant experience engaging with diverse stakeholder groups, which include senior business leaders.

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities

• Impeccable communication, relationship building and connecting skills are required for success in this position.
• The ideal candidate will be a natural networker, who sees and facilitates solutions by connecting people and ideas.
• Attention to detail, meeting management and credible interaction with diverse stakeholder audiences are essential.

JumpStart’s Core Values and Key Cultural Behaviors

• Accountability: Act to deliver on commitments and generate results, and if expectations aren’t clear, ask
• Entrepreneurial: Embrace opportunity, continuous improvement, and change, and contribute to the solution as we evolve
• Equity: Committed to corrective action regarding historically underserved and underrepresented populations through entrepreneurship and innovation
• Energy: Address our work with focus, grit and enthusiasm
• Collaboration: Collaborate with others to play our most helpful role(s) and to increase effectiveness
• Humility: Balance self-assurance with listening to understand, having an open mind, and demonstrating patience

JumpStart’s Definitions for Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity

• Diversity: A measure of psychological, demographic, physical, and social differences occurring among any and all individuals in a specific group; including but not limited to racial identity, ethnicity, nationality, religion, socioeconomic status, education, marital status, language, age, gender identification, sexual orientation, culture, developmental ability, and learning styles.
• Inclusion: The act of promoting and maintaining an environment in which diverse groups of individuals are welcomed, respected, supported, valued, and empowered. An environment prioritizing differences and offers respect and acceptance in the words/actions/thoughts of all people.
• Equity: An acknowledgment and understanding there are historically underserved and underrepresented populations, and corrective action regarding these unbalanced conditions is needed to eliminate barriers and guarantee equality in the provision of fair treatment, access opportunity, and advancement in the provision of effective opportunities to all groups.
• Emphasis Statement: Historically, African Americans, Hispanic people, and women have been economically disenfranchised and disconnected from innovation and entrepreneurship. For these reasons, we place an emphasis on these populations as we work to diversify our culture and be inclusive in our daily interactions and decisions.

JumpStart’s Operating Style: JumpStart team members are expected to be:

• Honest: We speak the truth, plainly and simply, kindly and considerately. We will challenge you as we seek to accomplish great things. And we hope you will do the same with us.
• Responsive: We respond rapidly to your inquiries and actively communicate so we are all on the same page.
• Resourceful: We will be creative and efficient in helping you to access relationships, contacts and other resources to help you succeed.
• Insightful: We will provide the knowledge and insight about entrepreneurship and innovation you aren’t able to easily get from others.

This position description is not intended to be a complete list of all responsibilities, duties or skills required for the job and is subject to review and change at any time, with or without notice, in accordance with the needs of JumpStart. Since no position description can detail all the duties and responsibilities that may be required from time to time in the performance of a job, duties and responsibilities that may be inherent in a job, reasonably required for its performance, or required due to the changing nature of the job shall also be considered part of the jobholder’s responsibility.