The Company

Plug and Play Tech Center is the largest global technology startup Innovation Platform and Silicon Valley’s most active investor with 250 investments per year. With 20 industry-specific programs run annually over 40 locations, in 2021 we accelerated 2,539 startups and helped 500+ corporate leaders, such as ING, Mercedes Benz, Galeries Lafayette and Deutsche Bank meet their strategic goals and objectives. In Italy, we launched in 2019 a Food vertical now serving Barilla, Esselunga, Lavazza, Tetra Pak and then expanded to Fintech, with Nexi, Ubi Banca, UniCredit and Bper and Sustainability, with A2A and Buzzi Unicem. Motor Valley Accelerator is our newest office, located in Modena and focusing exclusively on mobility and automotive innovation activities with some of the most relevant OEMs, Tier 1 / 2 suppliers of the Italian automotive industry. Starting from 2022 we are also operating from Turin, tackling the Aerospace industry. Sicily is our next outpost.

How will you make a difference?

The Program Manager is responsible for the successful kick-off and management of a new Plug and Play office location. The selected candidate will establish a team, and support both the corporate partners in their open innovation journey as well as the investments and acceleration of startups accepted into the acceleration program to make sure they are getting the most out of the Plug and Play ecosystem.

Duties include but are not limited to: hiring a highly efficient team, structuring a selection and acceleration program for startups, managing the investment process, planning corporate events / demo day, taking care of the communication strategy. It is also important to be up to date with industry trends to help support the innovation community thrive as you will be the main interface with the Innovation divisions of our corporate partners, sourcing startups based on their requirements through industry-specific research.

Responsibilities

Office and Corporate Partnerships:

• As the owner of the Program, your mission is to be the reference person for the corporate partners, listening to their needs and supporting them through their innovation journey
• Hire and lead a small team that will support you in achieving the office goals (detailed below)
• Oversee the operations of the office, and manage the physical spaces

Startup scouting and community (with support of Ventures new hire):

• Research and analyze the market and industry trends to identify the best early-stage companies and founding teams in the “Infrastructure” sector in Italy and abroad
• Manage the selection process and the investment contracts into selected companies, from term sheet to the agreement closing
• Introduce the most innovative startups to corporate partners when there is a potential match or business opportunity to create win-win relationships
• Create meaningful and positive relationships with the startups involved into the program

Marketing and Events (with support of Ops new hire):

• Prepare documents for major events such as: Selection Day, annual Acceleration Program, flyers for meetups, and so forth
• Work with the communication team on the editorial plan (for social media, press coverage, …)
  
• Support in the event planning and in the general event organization (one main event per year)

How Plug and Play’s extended team will support you

• Support from the Italy team in organization and logistics of the main annual events, both in the run-up preparation and during the day
  
• Assistance in the set up of the processes and office, following the established guidelines of existing offices
  
• Support from central European teams for marketing, legal, finance, HR, …
  
• Usage of the industry-specific toolboxes and templates Plug and Play provides to accomplish goals (PM, startup sourcing, …)

Requirements

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in STEM (preferably electrical/electronics, energy, telecom, or industrial)
• Minimum 2 years of previous full time work experience in one of the following: high growth startup, consulting firm or large corporation in an innovation function, venture capital firm, startup accelerator
• Basic knowledge of how Venture Capital and startup accelerators work
• Fluency in both English and Italian

Additional Qualifications (considered as a plus)

• Master’s Degree / PhD (preferably electrical/electronics, energy, telecom, or industrial)
• Experience studying / working abroad

Soft Skills

• Self-motivated and hardworking individual with a proven ability to work independently, prioritize work, and achieve results
• Detail-oriented, highly organized, and comfortable working in a fast-paced environment
• Excellent analytical, interpersonal and written communication skills
• Strong leadership and project management capabilities

Our offer

• Office space in a main city of Sicily with everything you need to perform at best
• Flexibility between time at the office and work from home, based on activities of the year
• International environment with multiple chances to travel abroad and interact with colleagues from all over the world (Silicon Valley, Europe, …)
• Benefits
• Performance-based bonuses

• All applications must be submitted in English

• Plug and Play'g global attendance policy, 3 days at the office + 2 days home.