About Activate
Activate is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to turning scientific discoveries into real-world impact. Through partnerships with government, philanthropy, universities, and industry, Activate builds the cross-sector ecosystem that drives hard tech innovation—equipping scientists and engineers with world-class resources, training, and community to bring their work from discovery to deployment.
Since 2015, Activate's flagship fellowship has supported nearly 350 fellows across the United States, who have launched more than 275 companies and secured over $5.5 billion in follow-on funding. Now expanding beyond its flagship program, Activate is reaching scientists and engineers at more stages of their entrepreneurial journey across the world—multiplying the pathways from innovation to commercialization. Learn more at Activate.org.
Position Summary
The Fellowship Manager, New York, is the strategic and operational program lead for Activate's New York community, supporting a cohort of scientist-entrepreneurs. In this role, you will work closely with founders throughout their two-year Activate fellowship journey as they build breakthrough hard-tech companies in fields like climate tech, new materials, biomanufacturing, and aerospace.
The Fellowship Manager, New York, is responsible for delivering an exceptional two-year fellowship experience while cultivating one of the nation's leading hard-tech founder communities. This role combines founder support, community building, operational excellence, ecosystem engagement, and team leadership to create a program helping fellows successfully commercialize transformative technologies.
Each Activate community supports about 20 fellows and is run by a three-person team.
- The Fellowship Manager (this role) leads the local community and reports to the Fellowship Director, who oversees all five US communities.
- The Fellowship Associate reports to the Fellowship Manager and is responsible for the community’s daily operations.
- The Managing Director is an experienced entrepreneur who mentors the community’s fellows and leads external ecosystem efforts.
All three roles sit within the Fellowship team and benefit from being on a team of peers performing similar work in other communities. This role is one of 5 Fellowship Managers at Activate, each responsible for one of our US communities.
Primary Responsibilities
- Own end-to-end fellow experience, including the strategy and health of the Activate New York community, continuously evolving the fellowship experience through programming, partnerships, operational improvements, and community-building initiatives.
- Direct New York community programming, including bi-weekly in-person programming and quarterly virtual programming.
- Manage local program operations, including fellow selection, fellow onboarding, fellow data, and fellow benefits.
- Manage the Fellowship Associate to ensure high-performance execution of local community operations and support their professional development.
- Partner with the Managing Director to provide targeted support to New York fellows.
- Oversee community budgeting, strategy, team meetings, and team-wide coordination.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to translate fellowship insights and stories into strategies that amplify organizational impact.
- Contribute to broader Fellowship team-wide initiatives, operations, and cross-functional working groups.
- Oversee and coordinate ecosystem events hosted by Activate in New York
- Represent Activate across New York's hard tech innovation ecosystem by cultivating partnerships, engaging alumni, and participating in conferences, recruitment events, and industry convenings.
- Champion a positive, welcoming environment while contributing to the wider Activate culture.
The Ideal Candidate...
- Has 4+ years of professional experience, including at least 1 year supporting scientists, research, hard tech, or entrepreneurship.
- Has a passion for and experience with community building.
- Is experienced with facilitating personal connections, collaborations, and mutual support within a community.
- Gets the details right and takes pride in being organized and prepared.
- Can smoothly manage a complex program through changing external circumstances.
- Proactively collects and analyzes the data needed to drive continuous improvement and be two steps ahead of any problem.
- Is eager and capable of gathering the shared challenges of entrepreneurs and translating them into programming.
- Communicates nuanced information clearly in any context, including on a stage, in a heartfelt conversation, or with a graph-filled presentation.
- Is excited to grow their skills as a manager and help others reach their full potential.
- Switches smoothly between collaboration and individual work, between words and numbers, and between strategic and nitty-gritty tasks.
- Is passionate about building entrepreneurial ecosystems and supporting hard-tech founders tackling society's hardest challenges.
- Loves science and is ready to learn a lot of it.
About the Role
This is a full-time position with a competitive annual salary of $100,000 and a generous benefits package that includes professional development, $2,000 in annual wellness funds, flexible paid time off, healthcare coverage for employees and dependents, with 90–100% of premiums covered, and the opportunity to join a retirement plan with a 3% match beginning after 3 months at Activate.
This position is based in New York City. Because we operate an in-person community, our team typically works from the office Tuesday through Thursday each week.
Encouraging Applications from All Backgrounds
We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating a welcoming workplace for all employees. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to age, race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran, or disability status. We will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics. Activate Global, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
Skills Required
- 4+ years of professional experience
- At least 1 year supporting scientists, research, hard tech, or entrepreneurship
- Experience with community building
- Experience facilitating personal connections, collaborations, and mutual support within a community
- Ability to manage complex programs through changing external circumstances
- Ability to collect and analyze data for continuous improvement
- Ability to identify entrepreneur challenges and translate them into programming
- Clear communication skills across presentations, conversations, and data-driven contexts
- Interest in developing management skills and supporting others’ professional growth
- Passion for entrepreneurial ecosystems and hard-tech innovation
- Interest in science and willingness to learn scientific concepts
What We Do
We empower scientists to reinvent the world by bringing their research to market. Founded in 2015, Activate is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that empowers scientists to reinvent the world by bringing their research to market to address climate change and other global challenges. Activate works between government and the private sector, transforming scientists into high-impact entrepreneurs through a fellowship that guides them along every step of the journey. The Activate Fellowship provides two years of funding and connects fellows with the resources, knowledge, and networks they need to succeed. The fellowship does not take equity in fellows' startups. Activate's entrepreneurial fellowship model originated at Cyclotron Road, a division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and founding Activate partner. Today, Activate supports 20-30 new Activate Fellows each year in with plans to expand to 100 new fellows, across the United States, each year. For more information, go to Activate.org.
