UKIMEA and Europe Ventures Manager

Arup Ventures:

Our in-house venture building and investment arm, developing staff ideas and working with external organisations to develop and launch products and businesses that have transformative impact on the built environment and create new revenue streams outside of our consultancy model. We build our own ventures, and invest in external startups, across core themes of Water, Energy, Transport, SIT and Construction Tech, and in doing so helping us further our goal of shaping a better, more sustainable world.

Role description:

As Ventures Manager, you will work closely with the region Ventures Lead, region Scout network and broader global team to implement the strategy for Ventures in the Region and Globally. This will include the development and shaping of investment propositions, supporting our active portfolio of ventures, and developing and implementing strategies and programs that engage our staff. Your work will entail project management, client and partner outreach, market research and commercial strategy, with opportunity to get involved in broader activities such as comms, ecosystem engagement and financial modelling as your interests, skills and the needs of the Ventures programme dictate.

The role will require proactivity, strong organizational skills, and commercial and strategic reasoning, and presents an opportunity to learn and develop in an exciting strategic area for Arup.  

Role responsibilities will include but are not limited to:

Sourcing and Opportunity Management

⦁    Acting as a first responder to staff members with venture opportunities to understand their proposition, explore the potential in relation to our investment strategy, and guide first steps.
⦁    Working with the Ventures Lead to run and strengthen opportunity scouting activities in the region, including day-to-day responsibility for managing our scouts network and scaling its impact. This involves working directly with our scouts to filter and shape opportunities as above.
⦁    Working with external stakeholders (startups, accelerators, incubators, VC funds, and innovation ecosystems relevant to Arup) to identify opportunities.
⦁    Maintaining, and tracking the opportunity pipeline and individual and program performance metrics against strategic plans.

Ventures Validation, Commercialisation and Due Diligence

⦁    Providing guidance and direction to internal members in developing funded ventures. This may involve providing on-the-ground support with activities such as research, workshopping, user interviews and partner engagement.
⦁    Scoping and evaluating the commercial viability of external investment opportunities alongside Arup’s subject matter experts.

Financial Analysis and Investment Collateral Preparation

⦁    Building and reviewing financial models.
⦁    Supporting the creation of pitches, due diligence materials, and relevant proposal collateral.
⦁    Preparing and presenting go/no-go investment memorandum documentation to support key decision-making governance by Ventures and Business stakeholders.

Portfolio Management and Support

⦁    Supporting Ventures portfolio companies, and Arup teams delivering investment scopes, throughout the period that Arup remains an investor.
⦁    Tracking and managing region portfolio performance metrics.

Communications

⦁    Working with the Global and Regional Ventures team to promote ventures in the Region.
⦁    Supporting the creation of relevant Ventures marketing and collateral.

Market Research

⦁    Leveraging market research, internal workshops, networking events, social networking, trade shows/events/publications to increase your and Arup’s knowledge of industry trends and emerging technologies, and to identify new investment theses and sectors of interest.

Requirements:

⦁    Strong organisational skills, with demonstratable experience of strategic thinking and an ability to prioritise work while handling multiple complex tasks and projects concurrently.
⦁    Relevant work experience, be it financial, commercial and market analysis, managing innovation projects, programme management, external partnering, strategic advisory, and/or engaging with or working in the venture ecosystem.
⦁    Excellent relationship management skills, with demonstrable experience of building relationships with both internal and external stakeholders.
⦁    Excellent written and oral communication skills.
⦁    Commitment to teamwork and willingness to work collaboratively with stakeholders from across the Region.
⦁    A good understanding of Arup and the breadth of our capabilities.
⦁    An enthusiasm for emerging technology in the built environment.
⦁    Bachelor’s Degree in a relevant discipline.

While a UKIMEA-focused role, Arup Ventures is a global programme and there will be ample opportunity to engage with colleagues across regions. As Arup’s UKIMEA and Europe regions consolidate, there is also opportunity to build out the programme in Europe. Applications are therefore accepted from staff in any UKIMEA or Europe office location. #LI-JW3