Lead

About Airtree

Airtree is a venture capital firm with a mission to back the most ambitious Australian and Kiwi founders who are building the iconic technology companies of tomorrow, right from the start. As one of the largest and most active funds in Australia and New Zealand, you'll be working with 80+ of the most exciting startups in our region, including Canva, Linktree, Who Gives a Crap, Employment Hero, Go1, Brighte, Eucalyptus, Immutable and Mr Yum.

In early 2022, we announced a new $700m fund with $250m dedicated to investing in early stage companies.

We're a down-to-earth team from diverse backgrounds but with the same passion: startups and technology. We've written a lot about what we do at Airtree, check out our blog and our team bios on our website.

We are committed to building a world-class VC platform for Australia and New Zealand startups with global ambitions. This is an opportunity to help shape Airtree and make an impact on our region's tech ecosystem.

About the role

Although still emerging, the concept of Impact in VC is rapidly gaining pace. VC investors have always had an eye to the future, it’s in our DNA. But as Impact takes shape in the startup ecosystem, we are actively investing in programs across ESG, DEI, supply chain management, responsible investment and sustainable ecosystems.

Your work will span these domains, looking at ways to bring our Impact strategy to life. We’re looking for someone who feels just at home reporting to our investors as they do taking a data-driven approach to building programs that tackle big issues in our sector.

What you’ll do

We’re looking for someone to continue to develop our Impact program as an industry-leading offering that we are proud of and which, most importantly, makes the world a fairer and more sustainable place for future generations.

This will predominantly include developing programs that move the dial on diversity in VC, fostering industry collaboration and maintaining high quality reports and engagement with our investors. You will be responsible for continuing to bring Airtree's impact strategy to life.

• Data analysis: working with our impact metrics to analyse and identify trends, partnering with our Ops and Data teams to build an efficient system for data collection and access
• Program design and delivery: using these data-driven insights, design and deliver programs that make a measurable difference
• Resource design: creating Impact and ESG resources, frameworks and events that we can share with our portfolio companies and the wider VC community
• Industry collaboration: social and environmental issues will not be solved in a vacuum, actively working at collaboration with industry peers, taking a leadership position that matches Airtree’s ambition for the ANZ ecosystem
• Diversity programming: given the significance of diversity as an issue in the VC ecosystem globally, engaging with diversity best practice and using this to build programs that meet Airtree’s portfolio and team diversity goals
• Work within the system: develop new ways of working and reporting that matures our approach to Impact piece-by-piece across all teams at Airtree
• Technical knowledge: understanding of ESG and how it applies to investment due diligence and asset management
• Influence effectively: intelligently and deftly creating space for Impact with all level of stakeholders, including the Airtree partnership, team and portfolio companies
• Leadership: advocate for the role of Impact in VC, internally and externally, enabling Airtree to use its thought leadership on issues across the ecosystem

Requirements

• 8+ years experience developing and executing Impact programs, preferably within a high growth company

• Can build trust and relationships quickly
• Strategic thinker with a focus on execution
• Strong communicator with great stakeholder management skills
• Takes initiative and works well with autonomy
• Understands investment, ideally venture capital
• Enthusiasm for and interest in the start-up space
• Understands why impact and ESG are relevant and how they add value to the business and its stakeholders

We are looking for someone who has great influencing skills. This may mean you have either held a leadership position or worked closely with leadership previously. You don’t need to have worked in an investing or financial institution but we are looking for someone who understands the role of impact in a for-profit environment.

Benefits

Location, Flexibility & Support

• Airtree’s headquarter is based in Sydney, but our team enjoys a flexible (WFH days), supportive and family-friendly work environment

We also offer:

• 5 weeks of leave: 4 weeks annual leave + 1 bonus week of lifestyle and well-being leave
• An annual budget for your training and development
• A range of health and wellness benefits including EAP, mental health first aid training, skin checks, flu vaccines and more

We celebrate and value diversity and are committed to being equitable and inclusive in the way we hire and work together.

Therefore, we strongly encourage you to apply even if you are not sure you fit all of the criteria we've mentioned above. All of our roles involve a range of skill sets and we recognise that everyone has different strengths and experiences that can add value to our team.

How to Apply

Please apply via the Workable link with your CV and a cover letter with a short paragraph response for each of the following questions:

• What is the best Impact project or program you’ve developed in a for-profit environment? What made it successful?
• What do you think makes an effective influencer at work?
• What makes you thrive in your role?

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