LabStart Seeks High Impact Program Associate

About LabStart

LabStart is a 501c3 nonprofit deep climate technology venture studio backing climate solutions that are too early, too hard, and too important to ignore.

We work hands-on with seasoned entrepreneurs, first-time founders, and industry experts to launch fundable, high-impact ventures. From lab to launch, we provide the earliest support—bridging the gap between breakthrough innovation and investable startup.

Our lean, mission-driven team is backed by private and public funders who believe in moving faster, funding smarter, and building a more inclusive climate future.

The Role

LabStart is hiring a Program Associate to help run the LabStart fellowship, our year-long program that moves climate tech founders from initial ideas  to launched, fundable startups. The fellowship is the clearest expression of our mission, and this role is what keeps it running: coordinating recruitment and selection, keeping fellows supported and on track, organizing and supporting curriculum sessions and mentors, and executing the events that bring our community together.

We are looking for a Swiss Army knife—someone personable, exceptionally organized, and proactive, who is energized by owning a wide variety of tasks and does not need to be managed closely. LabStart's culture is entrepreneurial, which means work is sometimes unstructured or ad hoc, priorities shift with the program calendar, and everyone is expected to wear many hats and contribute across several areas.

This role is designed for someone early in their career, but we are open to candidates with more experience who want deep ownership of an exciting program and room to grow into a broader leadership role. You will step into a structured program with a thorough onboarding and handoff from the team that built it, and you will work closely with LabStart's leadership, our fellows, and the wider Bay Area climate, research, and investor community.

This is a hybrid role open to candidates based in the San Francisco Bay Area, with an average of 2 days/week in person at our Oakland office. Proximity matters here—the fellowship depends on close in-person collaboration with our team and access to the startup and investor community concentrated in the Bay.

Key Responsibilities

• Fellowship operations: Own the day-to-day mechanics of the year-long fellowship—the program calendar, session scheduling, materials prep, attendance, and follow-ups—so every cohort touchpoint runs on time and without friction.
• Fellow support: Be a consistent, responsive point of contact for every fellow. Track progress against startup milestones, surface blockers early, and connect fellows to the people, funding, and resources they need.
• Recruitment and selection: Run the annual application cycle end to end—managing the applicant pipeline, coordinating the review process, and recruiting, briefing, and supporting the external reviewers who evaluate candidates.
• Curriculum and mentor coordination: Coordinate curriculum sessions and manage scheduling, briefing, and follow-up for coaches, mentors, and guest experts. Gather feedback and help sharpen the content cohort over cohort.
• Program events: Plan and execute in-person and virtual events including: Fellowship Kickoff, demo days, milestone celebrations, and LabStart's presence at SF and NY Climate Weeks—venues, vendors, invitations, RSVPs, travel, A/V, catering, and post-event follow-up.
• Alumni community: Keep LabStart alumni engaged and activate the network for mentorship, referrals, and fellow introductions.
• Systems and documentation: Keep program data accurate and current in our CRM and project management tools, and turn what you learn into repeatable SOPs so that the program never depends on one person's memory.
• Tracking and reporting: Track fellow and program metrics throughout the year, and turn them into clear report-outs for the board of directors, leadership, funders, and prospective investors.
• Materials and communications: Draft and refresh program slides, fundraising slides, and fellow-facing communications that help LabStart tell its story to fellows, partners, and funders.
• Whatever else the moment needs: Pitch in across partnerships, communications, and operations as priorities shift. This list will not stay static, and neither will the role.

Qualifications

• 2–3 years of professional experience in a role where you were accountable for a program, a community, or events. This is not an entry-level position.
• Bachelor's degree required. 
• A track record of keeping something complicated on the rails—a fellowship or accelerator, but equally an alumni program, volunteer corps, membership organization, event series, or education program. You do not need to have run an entrepreneurship program before.
• Exceptional organization and follow-through. You catch the details other people drop, and nothing goes missing on your watch.
• Proactive and self-managing. You spot what needs doing before you are asked, and you make progress without waiting for direction.
• Personable and easy to trust. You build genuine rapport across a wide range of people—first-time founders, national lab scientists, investors, funders, and partners.
• Strong written and verbal communication, and comfort representing LabStart to people outside of it.
• Fluency with everyday web tools and a willingness to learn new ones quickly. We work in Monday, Asana, Notion, Slack, and Google Workspace.
• Real enthusiasm for climate solutions and entrepreneurship. You have to be genuinely into this work—it is not a role you can phone in.
• Based in the San Francisco Bay Area and able to work from our Oakland office on a hybrid schedule.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in an external-facing role. You will spend most of your day with people outside the organization, including entrepreneurs, mentors, curriculum staff, and funders.
• Experience supporting entrepreneurs or founders, or working inside an accelerator, incubator, fellowship, or venture program.
• Familiarity with the climate tech ecosystem, technology commercialization, or the national lab and university research landscape.
• Background in science or engineering is a plus, but we welcome candidates from any field of study.
• Experience at a small nonprofit or early-stage startup, where you have seen what it takes to operate with a lean team.
• Event planning experience that includes venue and vendor negotiation, RSVP management, and travel logistics for multi-day, multi-stakeholder events.
• Comfort building and refreshing slide decks in Google Slides, Canva, or similar.
• Existing relationships in the Bay Area startup, research, or investor community.

Compensation & Benefits

Compensation Philosophy
LabStart offers competitive base compensation, robust benefits, and quarterly performance bonuses (determined by personal and company performance) to attract and celebrate people aligned with our mission and values. Our compensation program reflects our commitment to fairness, transparency, and excellence in nonprofit management.

• Salary: The base salary for this role is $75,000 - 85,000/yr. This reflects the good faith minimum and maximum range LabStart reasonably expects to pay for this position at the time of posting. If offered, the salary will be determined based on the candidate's specific skills, experience, and geographic location.
  
  • Note: In accordance with the California Fair Pay Act, LabStart does not request salary history from applicants.
• Flexible time off, 5% retirement matching, QSHERA (healthcare) reimbursement, 12 paid company holidays, home office reimbursement, paid parental leave, etc.