Studio Director - OneHealth (Indianapolis)

Alloy Partners is a venture builder with a radical thesis: that we can build and scale advantaged companies in partnership with corporations and entrepreneurs. We believe we can unlock growth and transformation for our partners through startup creation. Venture building has the potential to address society’s biggest problems, and the world needs more new companies to tackle these global issues. Launching new startups with scaled organizations enables them to address those challenges head-on.

Alloy Partners is teaming up with corporate investors to establish a first-of-its-kind venture studio designed to be a cornerstone for future innovation within the health community. The goal of OneHealth Studio is three-fold: 1) create a portfolio of startups that produce strategic and financial returns for participating investors, 2) provide a framework for cross-industry collaboration between large companies in plant, animal, and human health, and 3) drive the creation of the OneHealth economy in Indiana. 

The Studio Director will help lead the vision to catalyze cross-sector innovation at the convergence of animal, human, and plant health, create solutions (startups) based on the OneHealth imperative, and manage an ecosystem that can spur development. Candidates must have experience in the animal health, human health, or environmental health industries (e.g., subject matter expert understanding of zoonotic disease surveillance, sustainable agriculture, or integrated data platforms) and exposure to digital solutions (e.g., involvement in software startups). Ideally, candidates will have an existing network in the OneHealth innovation and investment ecosystem.

In this role, you will leverage your network and partnerships and lead a team to provide startups with access to participating corporate investors’ domain expertise, potential pilot partners (farms, clinics, public-health labs), strategic partners, and venture capitalists. As a trusted advisor, you will leverage your deep understanding of venture building and investor relations to ensure successful execution and maintain alignment with the strategic objectives of the OneHealth Studio.

What You’ll Do

Program Oversight

• Lead venture studio operations and incubate up to 16 early-stage companies over 4.5 years.
• Manage staged startup funding with milestone-based approach.
• Partner with participating corporate and state leaders to confirm strategic theses, governance principles, and funding agreements.
• Lead and nurture relationships with senior executives and partners to develop alignment on their complex business needs within the OneHealth domain.
• Lead meetings, facilitate discussions, and influence key stakeholders to drive consensus and achieve project objectives.
• Oversee the identification and definition of complex business problems at the intersection of animal, human, and plant health, applying analytical frameworks and methodologies to develop innovative solutions.
• Oversee and manage multiple venture incubations, ensuring their successful execution, on-time and on-budget delivery, and alignment with OneHealth objectives.
• Act as a thought leader, providing guidance and support to venture teams, ensuring effective problem-solving and decision-making.
• Design and execute Ideation Sprints and stakeholder workshops with university researchers, NGOs, and technology partners to clarify goal outcomes, develop opportunities, and shape new solutions.
• Mentor and coach team members, fostering their professional growth and development.
• Guide team on business design methodologies, problem-solving approaches, and effective project management techniques.

Ecosystem Development

• Develop a deep understanding of the OneHealth ecosystem, including existing initiatives (academic, public-sector, private) to identify whitespace and avoid duplication.
• Influence key stakeholders and Studio Advisory Board members to drive consensus.
• Create advantages for portfolio companies by developing trusted relationships with entrepreneurs, executives, industry leaders, universities, subject matter experts, and investors that may result in customers, pilots, investments, and/or other collaborations.

Venture Studio Fund Management

• Develop an investment perspective on startups developed and pitched in the Studio and provide recommendations to the Steering Committee regarding which companies to launch and fund.
• Partner with the Operations & Finance Manager on fund financial management (e.g., capital call schedule, funding drawdowns).
• Oversee Investor Relations for the Studio, including communications with investors and reporting requirements for private & public investors.

Studio Operations

• Manage day-to-day operations, serve as primary liaison to stakeholders, oversee financial discipline, and coordinate cross-venture resources.
• Partner with corporate domain experts to leverage proprietary datasets and R&D capabilities, facilitate data access, and open distribution channels.
• Partner with regulatory & legal counsel to navigate multi-agency compliance (FDA, USDA, EPA) for each incubation’s MVP and pilot.
• Oversee core team salaries, facility costs, shared services, and ecosystem events.

• Minimum of 10 years of professional experience with at least five of those years in, corporate innovation, venture investing, startups, and/or product management.
• Demonstrated business acumen, including financial modeling, strategy, operations, and/or product management.
• Deep curiosity and a contagious entrepreneurial spirit. 
• A deep enthusiasm for the OneHealth concept, encompassing the interconnectedness of animal, plant, and human well-being.
• Experience leading teams and problem-solving processes.
• Demonstrated success in managing partner relationships with senior-level leaders in large corporations.
• Exposure to/experience working in large organizations (e.g., corporations, universities).
• Experience advising C-Suite/executive-level professionals.
• Intellectual horsepower needed to think across industries & technology domains to identify the highest-value opportunities within OneHealth.
• Ability to interpret and communicate complex business ideas to different audiences, in addition to listening to the perspectives of others and changing your hypotheses based on new information.
• Ability to work in an unstructured environment with minimal direction.
• Located in or willing to relocate to Indianapolis

Preferred Experience

• Preference for those with experience in pharmaceutical, animal health, food science, and/or big data industries.
• Broad network of senior leaders in the OneHealth, venture, and public health communities.
• Experience with early-stage companies with a demonstrated understanding of how these businesses are built and what makes them successful.

• Salary plus phantom equity (Class B) plan
• Medical, Dental & Vision Insurance 
• A collaborative, entrepreneurial environment with a proven venture studio playbook

What we value:

WE BUILD

We make decisions with imperfect information and quickly move forward. We take action. We are comfortable with discomfort, and we measure our results in terms of what we build.

WE ARE BOLD

We seek, uncover, and speak truth. We are endlessly curious, we dream big and we lead through vision. Our ideas change the world.

WE CREATE OPPORTUNITY

We aim to create as much opportunity for as many people as possible, and we believe startups are a powerful vehicle for doing so. By creating opportunity, we create joy for ourselves, our loved ones, our corporate partners, and if we’re doing it right -- the world.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Alloy Partners is an equal opportunity employer, and we value diversity at our company. We do not just accept diverse backgrounds, we celebrate them. Our company, the work we do, and our partners benefit from the value of a diverse team. No team member's value lies alone in their diversity, and because we value diversity so highly, we reiterate that all hiring and employment decisions are made on merit, performance, competence, and business needs. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.