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We are currently hiring for two positions:

Lab Manager and Biosafety Officer
Business Advisor

Lab Manager and Biosafety Officer

Are you passionate about the cutting edge and commercialization of technology in the sciences? Do you want to make an impact for future tech companies in Waterloo Region, Canada, and beyond? Ready to embrace the complexities of operating a dynamic and highly interdisciplinary product development laboratory space?

Velocity is hiring a Laboratory Manager! Velocity is Canada’s most productive early-stage company incubator where founders begin their journey of building a startup from the earliest days of incorporation through to launching as a growing and thriving company. Velocity has set forth to change the game on value creation for deeptech/science companies by offering unparalleled resources for early product development. Part of the suite of resources Velocity offers for companies are highly equipped laboratory spaces totalling 5,000+ sqft of chemistry, biology (including BSL2), along with more generalized and flexible lab capabilities. At any one time 10-20 companies will use these labs in working toward product proof-of-principles, demonstration devices, performance testing and more. Almost all teams have interdisciplinary projects and will bridge between the worlds of science, electronics, and hardware. The Velocity Lab Manager is responsible for overseeing lab operations along with maintaining and continuously improving lab policies and procedures. Velocity’s labs are outfitted with dozens of key pieces of laboratory equipment and shared instrumentation. Included amongst these resources is PerkinElmer’s co-location of its customer demonstration lab which Velocity maintains.

Candidates for this position will have had prior experience managing laboratory spaces and strive for excellence in environmental health and safety, development of efficient policy and procedures, and value tight coordination between users, stakeholders, and Velocity management. Prior experience in biosafety, biosecurity, and formal risk management are strong assets as the Velocity Lab Manager will also serve as Velocity’s biosafety officer. An important aspect of the lab manager role is being creative and resourceful in finding solutions to support company’s projects while fully adhering to safety and risk management regulations and policies.

Lots of opportunity exists to make an impact for numerous startups and their founders! If your interest is piqued and you believe you have the skills to thrive as Velocity’s new Lab Manager, please click on the Apply button below to submit your CV along with a cover letter linking your past experience this role.

Role, Responsibilities, Qualifications

A detailed description of the role can be found here.

Position details

2 to 3-year contract
Salary band: Staff position, USG 8
Target start: Nov 2019

Apply

Our first review of applications will begin ~Oct. 14, 2019 with interviews tentatively scheduled for late Oct / early November. We will do our best to consider applications submitted after that date (until this posting is removed)

Velocity Background

Velocity’s mission is to ignite and fuel the entrepreneurial spirit in the pursuit of economic and social value creation. We do this in two ways: supporting startups and cultivating an entrepreneurial culture and pipeline within the University of Waterloo community. Pipeline building within the campus community is focused around providing inspiration, information, and guidance as it relates to entrepreneurship and startup commercialization. Supporting startups is focused around discovering opportunities, building products, and preparing for growth/scale. We pay special attention to cultivating a high-performance environment in which founders can grow and succeed.

Our mission is executed via several University of Waterloo entrepreneurship programs, including the Velocity startup incubator, a >37,000 sq. ft. facility in downtown Kitchener (open to all startups, not just UWaterloo affiliated), campus programs such as the Velocity Student Grant pitch competition,Velocity Science–an on-campus lab and community for entrepreneurial science discovery, and Velocity Start, a place for students to discover entrepreneurship through weekly workshops, startup coaching, and more.

Velocity has been in operation for 10 years and has a demonstrated track record, having helped incubate 300+ companies, which have raised $950+ million in investment and employ >2,250 people.

Business Advisor focused on fundraising & revenue growth

Interested in making an impact on the startup community in the Waterloo Region and beyond? Velocity is hiring a Business Advisor to support startups with one or more of:

Raising capital (focused on pre-seed or seed, but later stage is great as well)
Accelerating growth via sales and marketing (built on strong signals of product-market fit)

As a member of the Velocity team, you will become an integral part of Canada’s most productive startup incubator, where an awesome community of entrepreneurs is solving global problems by building scalable startups.

You will join a high performance and tight-knit team that focuses on Velocity’s startup incubation mission. You will also interact with other members of the team who focus on entrepreneurship pipeline-building activities on University of Waterloo campus.

Summary of Role

Reporting to the Director of Startups, the successful candidate will join 1 of 5 Business Advisors directly supporting founders and startups working out of the Velocity Incubator. The Business Advisor team is comprised of individuals with first-hand startup relevant experience (who have either had or been part of the early stages of a startup themselves). They use this first-hand experience, combined with their other industry experiences, to support founders via:

1:1 coaching of startups
On-going company advisory meetings
Supporting the creation of programs, events, and infrastructure
Leveraging and extending the Velocity support network of other domain experts

Additional responsibilities include:

Reviewing and interviewing prospective startups who apply to Velocity
Managing the use of Velocity resources and space
Making startup acceptance and exit decisions
Representing Velocity within key events, partnerships and tours

The Business Advisor team supports ~70 companies at Velocity. Each Advisor is the primary Advisor for a portion of that portfolio. This enables Business Advisors to develop a deeper relationship with the startups and a greater understanding of their portfolio companies and founders.

We take pride in our commitment to build deep and lasting relationships with the founders we support. Our Business Advisor team digs in and “gets their hands dirty”. This is possible because of the full-time nature of the team and their orientation towards solving the often complex, messy, and difficult-to-navigate challenges of startups.

Qualifications

We are looking for a Business Advisor who has in-depth experience in one or more of the following:

Founder/early-employee at a startup from concept to scaling
Raising capital (focused on pre-seed or seed, but later stage is great as well)
Accelerating growth via sales and marketing (built on strong signals of product-market fit)

We have a strong preference for this position to be full-time, but for exceptional candidates, we would consider part-time (minimum 3 days per week). A high degree of organizational abilities, interpersonal acumen, and problem solving are required to assist startups and founders while balancing Velocity’s multiple priorities, partners, facilities, and programs.

Feeling uncomfortably excited about this opportunity/role? Think you’re a great fit? We’d love to hear from you. Please apply with a resume and letter of interest via this link.

Apply

Our first review of applications will begin on Sept. 29, 2019 with interviews tentatively scheduled for the first half of October.

We will do our best to consider applications submitted after that date.

Position details

1-year contract
Salary band: Staff position, USG 12
Target (we have some flexibility) start: Oct/Nov 2019

Velocity Background

Velocity has been in operation for 10 years and has a demonstrated track record, having helped incubate 300+ companies, which have raised $950+ million in investment and employ >2,250 people.