Job Description

Let's build new business together

At whataventure, we work with leading companies to identify, build and launch new business.

We are looking for a Venture Director who combines deep venture-building expertise with strong commercial and client leadership – someone who can shape new business opportunities, lead complex venture engagements and build trusted relationships that grow beyond a single project.

This isn't a role where you step away from the work and simply manage from above. You will stay close to ventures and clients – from identifying and shaping opportunities to validation, business model development, go-to-market and launch. At the same time, your responsibility goes further: developing client relationships, creating new business opportunities and helping shape what we build next – for our clients and potentially from our own venture pipeline.

What you will be doing

Shape & build ventures

• Shape new venture opportunities together with clients, from identifying promising opportunity spaces to defining how they should be explored, validated and built.
• Take responsibility for large, complex or strategically important venture-building engagements.
• Guide ventures from opportunity identification and validation through business model development, go-to-market, launch and growth.
• Contribute to selected opportunities from our internal venture funnel, helping assess, shape and advance ideas with strong business potential.

Lead clients & projects

• Act as a senior counterpart to client decision-makers and build trusted, long-term relationships.
• Take overall responsibility for project quality, client satisfaction and commercial success across your engagements.
• Lead complex stakeholder environments and help clients make decisions in situations with high ambiguity.
• Steer project teams and project leads while creating the space for others to take ownership of execution.
• Ensure that our work creates tangible outcomes for our clients and the ventures we build.

Create & grow business

• Proactively identify new business and venture opportunities with existing and new clients.
• Turn opportunities into concrete engagements by shaping approaches, developing proposals and leading pitches.
• Build and grow client relationships beyond individual projects, identifying opportunities for follow-on work and broader collaboration.
• Take meaningful ownership of revenue and contribute to growing whataventure's client and project portfolio.
• Bring market and client insights back into whataventure and help shape where we should build capabilities and pursue new opportunities.

Develop people & whataventure

• Develop Venture Architects and Leads through coaching, feedback and sparring.
• Act as a Development Lead and help others grow their expertise, leadership and commercial capabilities.
• Contribute to internal strategic topics and the continued development of our methods, services and venture-building approach.
• Build recognized expertise in selected industries, venture-building topics or areas of our service portfolio.
• Help strengthen an entrepreneurial culture where people take ownership, challenge assumptions and turn ideas into action.

What you need to be successful in this role

You might come from venture building, strategy consulting, entrepreneurship, corporate innovation, business building or a combination of these worlds.

What matters most is that you bring:

• 8+ years of relevant experience in venture building, strategy consulting, entrepreneurship, new business development, corporate innovation or a comparable environment.
• A strong track record of leading complex projects, multidisciplinary teams and senior client relationships.
• Experience identifying, shaping and winning new business opportunities.
• Strong commercial judgment and the ability to connect client needs with compelling venture and project opportunities.
• Deep understanding of customers, markets, business models, go-to-market and the financial implications of building new businesses.
• Confidence working with senior executives and navigating complex stakeholder environments.
• The ability to move comfortably between strategic thinking, commercial conversations and hands-on venture building.
• An entrepreneurial mindset and comfort working in ambiguity.
• Strong communication, presentation and facilitation skills.
• Fluency in German and English.

Why whataventure?

Build, don't just advise.

We don't stop with recommendations. We test, build and work toward creating real businesses. At Director level, you'll also have the opportunity to help shape which opportunities we pursue in the first place.

Take real ownership.

You will have meaningful responsibility for ventures, clients, teams and commercial outcomes – with the freedom to shape how we create impact.

Shape what comes next.

You'll be in a position to spot opportunities and turn them into something tangible – whether that's a new venture with a client, the next engagement in a long-term partnership or an opportunity emerging from our own venture pipeline.

Develop your own expertise.

Great venture builders don't all look the same. Whether your strength lies in go-to-market, product, sales, technology, venture strategy or another area, we want you to build depth, become recognized for it and bring that expertise into our work.

Work directly with decision-makers.

You'll work closely with senior leaders at ambitious organizations – not only delivering projects, but helping them identify where their next growth opportunities could come from.

And you'll do it as part of a collaborative, entrepreneurial team with learning and development opportunities, daily lunch and transportation benefits, team events and regular off-sites.

Ready to build?

If you've spent the last years building businesses, leading complex client engagements and turning opportunities into new projects or ventures, and want more ownership over both what gets built and what comes next, we'd love to meet you.

Let's build what comes next.

In accordance with Austrian legal requirements, the minimum salary under the applicable collective agreement is EUR 70.457 gross per year. Our actual compensation is based on our career and salary framework and will be significantly above the collective-agreement minimum, depending on your qualifications and experience.