Senior Manager, Advisory Services

Position Profile

Reporting to the VP, Founder Success, the Senior Manager, Advisory Services leads ventureLAB's ecosystem of Advisors (paid experts) and Executives in Residence (volunteer leaders), a critical network that delivers hands-on expertise to help founders grow, scale, and expand globally.

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This role ensures that ventureLAB's Advisors and EIRs are fully integrated into the organization's mission, culture, and programming, enabling them to provide high-impact support to founders across business strategy, technology development, fundraising, commercialization, and global market entry.

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The Senior Manager serves as both the strategic architect and operational leader for this network, overseeing engagement, performance, and alignment to ventureLAB's broader goals of building a scalable, sustainable, and internationally connected founder-support model. This position combines people leadership and workforce management, cross-functional collaboration, and ecosystem-building to ensure the advisory function continues to evolve alongside ventureLAB's growth and the needs of its founder community.

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Responsibilities

The Senior Manager, Advisory Services, will:

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1. Lead and Strengthen the Advisor & EIR Community

2. Build and maintain strong, trust-based relationships with ventureLAB's Advisors and EIRs, ensuring they feel integrated into the organization and connected to our founder community.

3. Design and execute engagement frameworks that ensure clarity of roles, expectations, and outcomes for all advisors and EIRs.
4. Maintain a deep understanding of the network's collective skill sets and identify capacity gaps aligned to founder needs, particularly in commercialization, IP strategy, fundraising, scaling, and global expansion.
5. Proactively recruit new advisors and EIRs with complementary expertise and global experience to strengthen ventureLAB's bench and ensure readiness for future founder needs.
6. Develop programming that promotes collaboration and peer learning among advisors and EIRs (e.g., quarterly community events, training sessions, and best-practice sharing).

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1. Operational Excellence & Performance Management

2. Develop and manage systems, processes, and dashboards that track the performance, engagement, and impact of advisors and EIRs.

3. Lead ongoing performance evaluations, feedback cycles, and engagement reviews to ensure high-quality, outcome-driven advisory support.
4. Work closely with the Director, Founder Growth Operations and the Sector portfolio teams to align Advisor and EIR engagement with defined KPIs for the Founder Success department.
5. Ensure operational efficiency in scheduling, founder-matching, onboarding, invoice and contract processing, and communications between advisors, EIRs, and ventureLAB teams.
6. Translate data and feedback into actionable recommendations to enhance quality, responsiveness, and overall impact.

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1. Strategic Growth & Global Expansion

2. Collaborate with the VP, Founder Success and the Senior Leadership Team to evolve the Advisor & EIR Network in alignment with ventureLAB's global growth strategy.

3. Lead efforts to position the network as a differentiating asset for founders scaling internationally, connecting them with global markets, investors, and corporate partners.
4. Contribute to the design and implementation of a scalable, sustainable business model for advisory services that can grow with ventureLAB's international footprint.
5. Strengthen strategic partnerships that expand access to expertise and global opportunities for founders (e.g., collaboration with foreign innovation hubs, accelerators, and investment networks).
6. Represent ventureLAB in ecosystem discussions and forums to promote collaboration and attract high-calibre advisors and EIRs with international experience.

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1. Leadership & Cross-Functional Collaboration

2. Foster strong collaboration with other ventureLAB departments (across the Founder Success teams as well as Partnerships, Operations, Marketing, and Finance) to ensure seamless integration of Advisor and EIR support across initiatives.

3. Serve as the voice and advocate for the Advisor & EIR community within ventureLAB, ensuring their perspectives inform organizational strategy and program design.
4. Promote a culture of accountability, inclusivity, and continuous improvement across the network and internal teams.

Qualifications

Given your background and work experience, you are bold and can readily delve into managing internal and client-side requirements. You have the ability and desire to thrive and excel in a fast-paced, rapid-growth environment.

Also, to be a successful candidate, you need to have:

• Relevant Experience: 5–7 years of progressive experience in innovation ecosystems, accelerators, venture capital, or technology commercialization, ideally with startup operating or advisory exposure.
• Ecosystem Network: Extensive network across startups, investors, and industry partners, including venture capital, private equity, and angel groups in Canada and the United States.
• Strategic & Analytical Thinking: Advanced analytical and strategic skills to assess opportunities, articulate value propositions, and inform executive-level decisions.
• Founder & Market Insight: Deep understanding of the founder journey, startup lifecycle, and pathways for global commercialization and scale.
• Leadership & Team Development: Demonstrated ability to coach, motivate, and develop high-performing teams, fostering a culture of accountability and growth.
• Soft Skills & Professionalism: Excellent interpersonal, communication, negotiation, and conflict-resolution skills; strong judgment, discretion, and emotional intelligence when engaging senior executives and stakeholders.
• Mindset & Education: Self-motivated, adaptable, and passionate about innovation and entrepreneurship; MBA or equivalent executive-level experience preferred.

Salary Range

$80,000 to $90,000 CAD per annum

Why join ventureLAB?

• Opportunity to be part of a dynamic innovation ecosystem.
• Collaborative and inclusive work culture.
• Impactful role in supporting startups and technology leaders.

Our Hybrid Work Structure

At ventureLAB, we have a hybrid work model that balances flexibility for employees with opportunities for in-office collaboration. This position is eligible for hybrid work.

At ventureLAB, we value diversity, inclusion, and respect. Diverse experience, perspectives, and backgrounds bring great ideas and create stronger teams — we embrace it, because we know that by including everyone, we all thrive. Accommodations are available on request for candidates with disabilities taking part in the recruitment process.

We thank all applicants for their interest, however, only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.