Program Manager, Cohorts

About MaRS

MaRS Discovery District (@MaRSDD) in Toronto is one of the world's largest urban innovation hubs.

MaRS supports promising high-growth companies to scale their businesses globally, while tackling key societal challenges in areas such as Health, Cleantech, Finance, Transportation, AI, and others. In addition to helping start-ups launch, grow and scale, the MaRS community is dedicated to cross-disciplinary collaboration, commercialization of discoveries, and driving ideas to impact.

MaRS is the place where you can play a meaningful role in our innovation economy.

We understand qualifications on a job posting can be daunting. If you're passionate about the role and believe you can make a meaningful impact, we want to hear from you, even if you don't meet every listed qualification. We're always looking for great talent to join our team on planet MaRS. 

We actively encourage all candidates, including equity-deserving communities, including those who identify as BIPOC, racialized, women, people with disabilities, and people with diverse gender identities, expressions and sexual orientations. 

We want you to be comfortable being your most authentic self throughout our recruitment process. Please reach out to if there's anything we can do to make your experience more accessible and inclusive, including accommodations. Include 'Accessibility Request' in your subject line.

About the Position

As a member of the Cohort Acceleration Programs team, the Program Manager's primary role will be to lead the design, delivery, and strategic growth of venture cohort programs, including the MaRS' Women in Cleantech (WIC) program. The WIC cohort advances MaRS' mission by supporting women entrepreneurs who are developing transformative clean technology solutions, while ensuring strong alignment with the broader Climate team's objectives.

The Program Manager will oversee all aspects of program execution, from recruitment to venture support, stakeholder engagement, and serve as the primary liaison for internal teams and external partners. Through these efforts, the Program Manager will cultivate strong relationships with investors, industry partners, government agencies, and ecosystem stakeholders to ensure program excellence, deliver high-quality venture support, and drive measurable impact at the intersection of gender equity and climate innovation.

This is position is a 12-month contract.

Key Responsibilities

1. Program Delivery & Execution (~50%)

• Lead the end-to-end design and delivery of assigned cohort programs, including Women in Cleantech, ensuring alignment with MaRS Climate team objectives and funder requirements
  
• Oversee program service delivery including workshops, showcases, and demo days
  
• Ensure program milestones and contractual obligations are met, including allocation of program funds and reporting
  
• Serve as the primary point of contact for participating ventures, providing ongoing guidance, troubleshooting, and access to resources
  
• Collaborate cross-functionally with Finance, Ventures & Ecosystems, Legal, Digital Platform, and Marketing & Communications to ensure seamless delivery

2. Program Design & Development (~20%)

• Evaluate and refine program offerings to ensure they are tailored to the needs of the program participants. 
  
• Identify and integrate mentorship, investor readiness, commercialization support, and other services into the program model
  
• Align with the broader Ventures & Ecosystem portfolio to ensure scalability, repeatability, and best practices across MaRS cohort programs

3. Convening & Community Building (~15%)

• Curate and deliver high-profile events, including demo days, speaker series, showcases, peer sessions, and networking receptions, while partnering with groups such as the Women in Cleantech Network program lead to co-develop and execute initiatives that increase visibility, foster engagement, and maximize impact for participating ventures
  
• Build and strengthen connections between ventures, investors, corporates, government, and ecosystem stakeholders
  
• Recruit and manage relationships with senior-level advisors, program champions, and industry members
  

4. Reporting & Program Evaluation (~10%)

• Track, analyze, and report program outcomes and KPIs for funders and internal stakeholders
  
• Lead the preparation of program impact reports, success stories, and case studies in partnership with the MaRS
• Marketing & Communications team
  
• Maintain accurate documentation of program activities, timelines, milestones, and budget
  

5. Thought Leadership & Representation (~5%)

• Represent the cohort programs, such as Women in Cleantech, and the MaRS Climate team at external events, conferences, and in media
• Contribute to the thought leadership strategy by sharing insights on advancing women entrepreneurs and climate innovation
  

Qualifications

• Undergraduate/Bachelor's degree or relevant experience (focus in business, finance, science, technology and/or environment an asset)
• 5 years of experience in a business or technology-related field, with background in cleantech or decarbonization sectors (e.g., agriculture and food, advanced materials, energy, carbon management, or circular economy)
  
• Proven project management experience, including planning, execution, and delivery of complex initiatives
  
• Understanding of the startup landscape and respective stakeholder roles in the ecosystem
• Experience building/managing community programming (peer-to-peers, advisory services, etc.) is an asset
• Strong critical and strategic thinker, planner and organizer
  
• Brings a strong understanding of the climate sector in Canada through an innovation lens
• Familiarity with Salesforce, G Suite, Slack, Calendar, Asana, and Mailchimp an asset

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Applications will close at 5pm EDT on November 14, 2025, however, we may close the posting earlier if we receive a high volume of qualified applications or if the position is filled before the deadline. We encourage interested candidates to apply as soon as possible.

Applicants must be legally eligible to work in Canada and reside in Ontario.

This is position is a 12-month contract.

Salary Range: CAD$74, ,000, extended healthcare benefits, lifestyle spending account, and paid time-off.

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