Rookridge Ventures
Partner - Venture Development, Studio Program Director
Rookridge Ventures, San Francisco, California, United States, 94199
Compensation
Equity only at studio level, founding team role, meaningful long term upside
Location UK or US, remote first, with potential relocation to UAE or KSA as the studio scales
About Rookridge Ventures
Rookridge Ventures is a venture studio that builds and scales companies from zero using a lean, execution driven model inspired by Rocket Internet and Atomic. We do not run cohorts or accelerators. We build real businesses with founders in residence, centralised technology, and a small senior operating team.
We are deliberately lean. Each core role replaces what would traditionally be multiple teams. This role sits at the heart of the studio.
The Role
As Program Director, Studio Operations, you are the execution backbone of the studio. Your primary mandate is to track venture progress rigorously and make each venture investment ready within a defined timeline.
You work directly with the Managing Partner and Entrepreneurs in Residence to ensure ventures hit the right milestones for fundraising, weak ideas are shut down early, and strong ventures are packaged clearly for investors.
This is not a programme management or events role. It is a senior operator role focused on execution, fundraising readiness, and leverage across multiple ventures in parallel.
What You Will Own
Own venture level progress tracking against agreed milestones and timelines
Ensure each active venture becomes investment ready for pre seed or seed fundraising
Support Entrepreneurs in Residence with structure, prioritisation, and decision making
Define and enforce fundraising readiness criteria, deck quality, metrics, and narratives
Maintain and evolve the studio playbook, operating cadence, and execution standards
Own venture timelines, weekly operating rhythm, and delivery discipline
Track KPIs, assumptions, and traction in a clear investor friendly format
Act as the connective tissue between founders, tech, growth, and research
Identify bottlenecks early and unblock teams quickly
Enforce capital efficiency, accountability, and pace
What You Will Not Do
Build bloated reporting or unnecessary bureaucracy
Manage layers of junior project managers
This role exists to move ventures to fundable outcomes, not to create process for its own sake.
Ideal Background
5 to 10 years experience in startups, venture studios, consulting, product operations, or high growth environments
Hands on experience preparing startups for fundraising, including milestones, metrics, and investor narratives
Strong understanding of pre seed and seed fundraising dynamics, investor expectations, and timelines
Proven ability to run multiple initiatives in parallel with limited resources
Strong judgement and comfort making decisions with incomplete information
Experience working directly with founders and investors
Clear communicator who can translate execution into investor ready stories
Operator mindset with a bias towards outcomes and capital efficiency
Experience in venture studios, founder led companies, or fundraising environments is a strong plus.
Mindset Fit
Comfortable with ambiguity and zero to one environments
Motivated by ownership and long term equity value rather than salary
Hands on, pragmatic, and execution focused
Sees fundraising readiness as a discipline, not an event
Views structure as a tool for speed, not control
You may be a successful founder or early operator who has built before and now wants to help other founders build and raise better
Why This Role Matters
This role determines whether ventures raise or stall. You act as the internal owner of progress and fundraising readiness, ensuring founders build companies that investors can clearly back.
If this resonates, we would like to speak.
Seniority level Director
Employment type Full-time
Job function Marketing, Public Relations, and Writing/Editing
#J-18808-Ljbffr
Equity only at studio level, founding team role, meaningful long term upside
Location UK or US, remote first, with potential relocation to UAE or KSA as the studio scales
About Rookridge Ventures
Rookridge Ventures is a venture studio that builds and scales companies from zero using a lean, execution driven model inspired by Rocket Internet and Atomic. We do not run cohorts or accelerators. We build real businesses with founders in residence, centralised technology, and a small senior operating team.
We are deliberately lean. Each core role replaces what would traditionally be multiple teams. This role sits at the heart of the studio.
The Role
As Program Director, Studio Operations, you are the execution backbone of the studio. Your primary mandate is to track venture progress rigorously and make each venture investment ready within a defined timeline.
You work directly with the Managing Partner and Entrepreneurs in Residence to ensure ventures hit the right milestones for fundraising, weak ideas are shut down early, and strong ventures are packaged clearly for investors.
This is not a programme management or events role. It is a senior operator role focused on execution, fundraising readiness, and leverage across multiple ventures in parallel.
What You Will Own
Own venture level progress tracking against agreed milestones and timelines
Ensure each active venture becomes investment ready for pre seed or seed fundraising
Support Entrepreneurs in Residence with structure, prioritisation, and decision making
Define and enforce fundraising readiness criteria, deck quality, metrics, and narratives
Maintain and evolve the studio playbook, operating cadence, and execution standards
Own venture timelines, weekly operating rhythm, and delivery discipline
Track KPIs, assumptions, and traction in a clear investor friendly format
Act as the connective tissue between founders, tech, growth, and research
Identify bottlenecks early and unblock teams quickly
Enforce capital efficiency, accountability, and pace
What You Will Not Do
Build bloated reporting or unnecessary bureaucracy
Manage layers of junior project managers
This role exists to move ventures to fundable outcomes, not to create process for its own sake.
Ideal Background
5 to 10 years experience in startups, venture studios, consulting, product operations, or high growth environments
Hands on experience preparing startups for fundraising, including milestones, metrics, and investor narratives
Strong understanding of pre seed and seed fundraising dynamics, investor expectations, and timelines
Proven ability to run multiple initiatives in parallel with limited resources
Strong judgement and comfort making decisions with incomplete information
Experience working directly with founders and investors
Clear communicator who can translate execution into investor ready stories
Operator mindset with a bias towards outcomes and capital efficiency
Experience in venture studios, founder led companies, or fundraising environments is a strong plus.
Mindset Fit
Comfortable with ambiguity and zero to one environments
Motivated by ownership and long term equity value rather than salary
Hands on, pragmatic, and execution focused
Sees fundraising readiness as a discipline, not an event
Views structure as a tool for speed, not control
You may be a successful founder or early operator who has built before and now wants to help other founders build and raise better
Why This Role Matters
This role determines whether ventures raise or stall. You act as the internal owner of progress and fundraising readiness, ensuring founders build companies that investors can clearly back.
If this resonates, we would like to speak.
Seniority level Director
Employment type Full-time
Job function Marketing, Public Relations, and Writing/Editing
#J-18808-Ljbffr