Entrepreneurship Consultant Jobs

Our Values
Rural America is a place of untapped potential. As an organization, we believe it takes a culture of collaboration — one built upon integrity, respect, and trust — to achieve equity and help rural people and places take on meaningful roles in the 21st-century tech economy.
About Us
Rural Innovation Strategies, Inc. (RISI) is a social impact nonprofit consulting firm with a multi-disciplinary team of strategists, advocates, and capacity builders.
Our capabilities reflect the depth and breadth of our commitment to serve rural America, and the local leaders there working to advance tech-enabled economic development. Our work provides critical support to secure funding, develop infrastructure, and implement the programs needed to unlock the potential of America’s small towns and cities.
Rural America is home to 12% of the U.S. workforce, but just 5% of the tech workforce. In the age of innovation, this disparity has led to an unprecedented economic divide in our nation. We work with rural communities across the country as they build tech economies that support scalable entrepreneurship and tech job creation. From assessments and strategic planning to securing funding and launching accelerators, our team supports communities through the entirety of their tech-based economic development journey.
RISI and its collaborating organization, the Center on Rural Innovation (CORI), are headquartered in a historic general store building in the village of Hartland, Vermont, part of New England’s Upper Valley and greater Dartmouth College region.
Job Summary:
This role is responsible for the creation and execution of novel programs and products for rural communities developing tech entrepreneurship ecosystems. The ideal candidate brings experience in fields related to entrepreneurship and technology innovation and is an experienced manager of internal and external stakeholder relationships. This person has a track record of success planning and executing startup support programs such as Incubators and Accelerators, and can also conduct stakeholder interviews and design workshops to inform future Incubator spaces. This person will be a key contributor to RISI's Entrepreneurship Team and provide direct capacity-building and consulting on tech entrepreneurship and incubation support to rural communities across America.
Supervisory Responsibilities:
None
Duties/Responsibilities:

• Act as a primary liaison with community partners
• Contribute to the Entrepreneurship Team's strategic development and thought leadership in pursuit of new opportunities
• Develop content for new offerings and synthesize lessons learned to evolve programs and meet community goals
• Coordinating and building schedules, managing project documentation, tracking project activities
• Assess community assets and gaps relating to rural tech startup ecosystem development and create strategic program journeys
• Build community capacity to continue programs independently though coaching and the creation of program guides, playbooks, and other resources
• Work towards advancing equity in line withRISI's commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion
• Represent the organization and its interests during events and conversations with external stakeholders
• Perform other duties as assigned
• Lead virtual and in-person meetings and workshops
• Execute Incubator Feasibility Studies for Incubator Spaces in rural communities:
• Plan, develop, and execute tech entrepreneurship programs in rural communities:
• Leading project management, coordination, documentation and report drafting, and internal collaboration
• Assist with administrative functions that support projects with rural communities, including:

Location:
This is a remote position with requirements for travel for strategic planning and alignment with the team in addition to periodic travel to rural communities across the United States (25-30%) for short site visits, often including delivering trainings or workshop facilitation
Requirements
Required Skills/Attributes:

• Committed to the belief that rural America provides real economic opportunity and that sustainable, future-focused development is necessary to bridging geographic and economic divides facing our country
• Strong project management skills, and ability to organize and prioritize multiple tasks/projects to meet deadlines
• Demonstrated strength in rigorous research/analysis and structured problem solving
• Exceptional verbal communication skills, including active listening, small group facilitation, and public speaking
• Strong writing skills and experience developing effective presentations; an ability to articulate and synthesize information in a compelling and organized manner
• Demonstrated ability to interact well and manage relationships with a diverse range of people, experiences, and constituencies
• Self-directed, and able to thrive in a collaborative team environment

Education and Experience:

• Relevant experience ideally includes startup program design and administration
• 3+ years of relevant experience in professional services, aligned or adjacent subject matter, rural economic development, or public sector at the federal/state/local level
• Strong computer skills, including use of Google Suite, web based collaboration and project management tools, and virtual presentation platforms

Physical Requirements:
Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer. Travel via car and/or airplane
Benefits

• 15 days PTO (accrued) plus 8 floating holidays (pro-rated based on start date)
• Health, dental, vision, and short-term disability insurance
• The salary for this position is $83-93k depending on experience
• Employer matched 401k after 90 days
• Personal and professional development opportunities

Not considering any candidate that reside in California
Must be authorized to work in the US - no sponsorship offered at this time