Senior Managing Director of Entrepreneurship

Senior Managing Director of EntrepreneurshipDIAL Ventures | Purdue Applied Research Institute | West Lafayette, INYou have helped build a company from ground zero before. Maybe you founded a company that found its market. Maybe you led the innovation function inside a major agrifood company and learned that the best ideas often die on the corporate vine. Maybe you have spent years operating inside a complex system and know how hard it is to move from insight to execution. Either way, you have seen what it takes to turn an opportunity into a company, and you want to do it again with better partners, faster cycles and real industry pull on Day 1.DIAL Ventures is looking for our next Director of Entrepreneurship.About DIAL VenturesWe are a venture studio focused on system-level digital problems in the North American agrifood supply chain. We work upstream from the grocery shelf, in the places where the gap between what is and what could be is widest: inputs, production, logistics, operations; the underlying plumbing of the agrifood system.In Fund I, we built nine companies in under four years. Seven remain in the market today. Several have raised seed rounds at meaningful valuations. We do this through a tight operating loop:•    18-week studio cycles, two per year at full cadence•    Four Innovation Fellows per cycle, recruited as future co-founder CEOs•    Direct industry engagement through FASIC, our upstream agrifood research consortium•    Dedicated pre-seed investment support for launched companies through DIAL Ventures Fund II, managed alongside Grit Road PartnersOur Fund II LPs and industry partners include John Deere, AGCO, UPL, JA Timmerman Cattle Company, Beck's Hybrids, Compeer Financial, Bunge, and BASF. We sit inside the Purdue Applied Research Institute, which gives us the credibility, network, and convening power of one of the country's leading land-grant universities while operating with speed, urgency, and industry orientation of a venture studio.Our next studio cycle launches July 2026. We need someone to help lead it.The RoleAs Senior Managing Director of Entrepreneurship, you lead the studio alongside the Executive Director and Senior Director of Business Development and Industry Engagement.Run the cycle. Every six months, you guide four Innovation Fellows from problem discovery through investable startup formation. You manage the innovation process week by week facilitating the work, sharpening the thinking, and helping determine when concepts should accelerate, pivot, or stop.Recruit exceptional Fellows. You build a pipeline of entrepreneurial leaders who can grow into agrifood founder-CEOs. You evaluate talent, assess founder potential, and recruit Fellows who can operate in ambiguity while building in partnership with industry.Quarterback industry engagement. Our network of more than 1,000 senior agrifood experts is one of our greatest advantages. You ensure Fellows spend meaningful time with operators, customers, and decision-makers throughout each cycle. You help design the residency experience, company visits, workshops and milestone events that create real-world market pull from the beginning.Engage the venture community. Work with early-stage agrifood ventures and angel investors to apprise them of studio cycle strategies and promote portfolio company investment interest.Support Fundraising and Ecosystem Growth. Fund II is actively growing. You work alongside the Executive Director and Senior Director of Business Development on capital strategy, FASIC member growth, direct LP conversations and partner development. The role is expected to contribute meaningfully to relationship-building and ecosystem expansion.Represent DIAL across Purdue and the industry. You help make DIAL visible across the Purdue entrepreneurship ecosystem and throughout the agrifood industry. That includes engagement with Purdue Innovates, faculty, students, industry partners, and external innovation networks.What Success Looks Like•    Four high-quality Innovation Fellows recruited and retained every cycle, with consistent graduation into founder-CEO roles•    Four credible venture concepts advanced per cycle, with strong customer discovery and commercial validation•    High engagement and retention across FASIC members and Fund II LPs•    Strong contribution to DIAL’s reputation, ecosystem growth, and Fund II momentum.Who You AreYou likely have eight or more years of experience building, operating or scaling things. That experience could be as a startup founder, an operator inside a venture studio, a leader of an innovation function inside a major agrifood company or building complex initiatives inside established organizations. What matters most is that you have shipped before, not just strategized.You are deeply comfortable with ambiguity and rapid iteration. You can hold the long view while running this week's standup. You know the difference between a real customer signal and a polite nod. You can challenge founders directly while still helping them grow.You either know agrifood well, or you are urgent about learning it fast. Subject matter depth in any one corner of the system matters less than your willingness to immerse, ask better questions, and earn the respect of operators. You are comfortable in a room with senior executives from large industry companies, and equally comfortable in a packing shed.You understand that ecosystem-building, relationship development, and fundraising are part of building enduring companies, not distractions from the work.A bachelor's degree is required. A master's degree, MBA, or equivalent depth of experience is preferred but not required.Why This RoleStudio leadership is one of the most leveraged jobs in agrifood innovation. In three years, you will have helped build eight to twelve companies, worked directly with hundreds of senior agrifood executives, and shaped the next generation of agrifood founders. You will do this with a small, capable team, the backing of a dedicated pre-seed fund, and the convening power of Purdue behind you.Location and Work ArrangementThis role is based at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. The intensive, in-person nature of the studio (Fellow coaching, milestone events, industry visits) requires significant on-site presence, with reasonable hybrid flexibility available. Travel is regular but manageable, typically 20 percent during active studio cycles for industry visits, partner meetings, and Fellow recruiting.How to ApplySend a resume and a short note explaining why this role fits where you are headed to Allan Gray at . We are recruiting on a rolling basis, with a target start before the July 2026 studio launch.Purdue University and the Purdue Applied Research Institute are EO/EA Institutions. Purdue University and the Purdue Applied Research Institute are committed to building a team that reflects a wide range of backgrounds, perspectives, and lived experiences.