Plug and Play is a global innovation platform and venture capital firm. Our mission is to make innovation open to anyone, anywhere. Each year, hundreds of entrepreneurs join our vertical-specific accelerator programs to team up with our corporate members or receive a direct investment from Plug and Play. Plug and Play has over 40 locations across the world and our corporate members include: The Alliance to End Plastic Waste, USAA, Visa, Nationwide, Aflac, Daimler, Ford, Nissan, BP, Johnson & Johnson, Roche, Pfizer, Walmart, Coca Cola, Adidas, and over 500 more. Plug and Play’s corporate members utilize Plug and Play to identify the best startups to meet their challenges. Plug and Play’s proven investment track record includes Honey, Guardant Health, ApplyBoard, BigID, Kustomer, Rappi, Flutterwave, Hippo, PayPal, Lending Club, Dropbox, and many more.
We’re a diverse team with backgrounds in technology and entrepreneurship and we’re growing rapidly to deliver on our mission. We’re actively seeking a Director who will perform the following activities:
Responsibilities:
- Manage and support team in place and grow team as deemed appropriate based on partner and business conditions
- Maintain and grow current innovation platforms, supporting the vertical leaders to achieve their partner retention and growth objectives.
- Lead and support expansion into new regions, cities and verticals throughout Central Asia
- Develop thought leadership around key industry trends to demonstrate to partners, startups, and investors that Plug & Play is at the cutting edge of innovation
- Engage local startup community with events, mentor sessions, deal flows as applicable
- Ecosystem Management
- High level corporate partner strategic management - ensure clients are satisfied and delighted with a high level of service
- Build and maintain relationships with media, incubators and accelerators, investors, corporations, universities, and other strategic partners
- Ensure startups are satisfied and delighted with the Plug and Play experience, understand their individual metrics of success and ensure they're achieved
- Coordinate closely with the corporations to understand where opportunities are for engagement Corporate Development
- Engage existing and potential future corporate partners as part of this process, invite to key PNP events
- Be attentive to partner requests and market developments and evolve and adapt the product/service offering in line with these developments.
- Maintain and strengthen the internal relationship and collaboration between the PNP teams and platforms and the global PNP platforms.
Requirements:
- At least 5 years’ experience in a management role in Central Asia, preferably in a consulting or startup environment.
- Experience in a sales / growth strategy role.
- Fluent in Uzbek and English
- Extensive Experience in working with large corporations at a high level, governments is a plus
- Extensive connections with the Central Asian and European innovation ecosystem, including corporations, startups, venture capital firms etc.
- A strong motivator and people leader with a problem-solving mindset
