Startup Portfolio Specialist
Full Time
Salary: $65,000-$75,000/year
Platform Calgary
You believe Calgary is a thriving tech ecosystem and can’t wait to accelerate its growth today and into tomorrow. Building a meaningful career and community, while putting your own innovative spin on things is what you were meant to do as Platform Calgary’s newest STARTUP PORTFOLIO SPECIALIST.
This role is ideal for individuals who are passionate about all things startup and tech, and are enthusiastic about helping companies progress along their startup journey. Reporting to the Manager, Founder Experience, the Startup Portfolio Specialist works with entrepreneurs to help them navigate through the support available to them through the Platform team, our programs, partners and community startup resources. The Startup Portfolio Specialist will support accomplishing team wide goals while developing their own skills through direct engagement with local founders and entrepreneurs.
The Startup Portfolio Specialist will thrive in a collaborative and entrepreneurial environment that always looks for ways to help each other out and is committed to a city-wide culture of collaboration anchored in inclusion, diversity, accessibility and equity.
This role is a contract position through December 31, 2025, with a possibility of extension.
The day-to-day activities of the Startup Portfolio Specialist will include:
- Portfolio Management. Work with a portfolio of early-stage startup founders to assess startup needs and determine next steps in regards to the programming offered by Platform Calgary and/or other community resources. Coordinate One-to-many coaching sessions between founders and the Startup Portfolio team and external coaches. Drawing on expertise and experience, actively contribute to coaching founders and facilitating the continuous improvement of resources available to founders within Platform Calgary and across the connected network.
- Facilitation. Lead in-person and/or online delivery of early stage programming at Platform Calgary. Contribute to the development and expansion of internal programming tailored to founders and startups, providing consistent feedback on program effectiveness. Collaborate with Program Managers and Coordinators to ensure the smooth execution of programs.
- Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Accessibility. Contribute to the development of initiatives that provide additional support to under-represented founders in the Calgary startup ecosystem and increase representation across programming, coaching and in the founder community.
- Communication & Relationship Building. Work cross-functionally to ensure alignment with organizational goals and achievement of KPIs across all initiatives. Develop and strengthen relationships with a diverse team including the Startup Portfolio team, Program Managers, coaches, investors, and partners. Maintain ongoing communication with startups post-programming, gathering feedback, providing support for the startup/founder's progress, and ensuring the smooth progression through the programming pipeline at Platform Calgary.
- Develop and Lead. Grow targeted efforts to expand Platform Calgary's network of startup founders including effectively managing inbound inquiries (voicemail, email, calls). Ensure timely and professional responses to establish a foundation for successful founder relationships.
- Ecosystem Connector. Act as a Platform Calgary ambassador, attending ecosystem events, actively seeking startups that could benefit from becoming a Platform member. Maintain an up to date knowledge of best practices in startup methodologies (eg,. lean startup, growth hacking, etc) and how best to support Calgary founders to learn and apply these methodologies. Cross-collaboration on marketing and outreach to aid with the recruitment efforts for Startup programming.
The right candidate will demonstrate the following qualifications on their resume:
- Experience presenting to groups; facilitating discussions, leading workshops and conducting learning opportunities.
- Creative problem-solving aptitude with the ability to work well independently and collaboratively as part of a team.
- Demonstrated experience working in entrepreneurship as a founder or as a member within a startup.
- Knowledgeable about entrepreneur development and team organization.
- Advanced skills in G-Suite, Asana, Slack, Eventbrite, HubSpot and Notion are considered an asset.
During the interview process, we will be looking for behaviors that demonstrate:
- Empathy. Founders are constantly stuck between a rock and a hard place. You must be there to push the rock back, advocate for the founder and surround them with resources so that they can make decisions that reflect reality and represent what is best for the business.
- Growth Mindset. Platform Calgary’s programming is designed to help support growth for the founder’s company and for themselves as entrepreneurs. Whether or not the founder decides to continue with their business, they should be left with a stronger foundation to begin anew someday.
- Breadth. You will be creating relationships with founders that come from diverse sectors. The ability to draw the right expertise into these conversations will be key to helping founders take the next step in their business.
- Organization. Prioritization of tasks will be essential in best serving founders at Platform Calgary. Reflecting this prioritization to key stakeholders is vital to the team’s success.
- Structure. Must be able to frame objectives and lead founders through programming or internal procedures.
Platform Calgary perks:
- Salary Range: $65,000 to $75,000
- Hybrid and flexible work: Our team enjoys the flexibility of hybrid work and flexible hours, so we can all do our best work.
- Great benefits from day ones: Health, dental and wellness benefits; RRSP matching program; parental leave top-up program development stipends and other perks!.
- Paid Time Off: We offer plenty of paid time off plus holiday closure in December.
- A unique place to work: The Platform Innovation Centre is Calgary’s home for innovators and includes the Platform Café.
We are fostering a culture of belonging that is diverse and inclusive. This begins with an equitable and accessible hiring process.
- We highly encourage applications from excluded and marginalized communities, regardless of race, creed, sex, gender, orientation, religion, and including persons with disabilities, visible minorities and foreign-born residents.
- You do not need to meet 100% of the qualifications to apply - if you think this could be the role for you and you bring something to the table, submit your application!
- Any candidates with disabilities or who may require accommodations throughout the recruitment process are encouraged to contact [email protected].
To apply, please upload your cover letter and resume here: https://platformcalgary.applytojobs.ca. We wish to express our appreciation to all applicants for their interest; however, only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted. This position will remain open until Aug 31, 2025
Job Type: Full-time
Pay: $65,000.00-$75,000.00 per year
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Calgary, AB
