Ventures Talent Lead – Deep Tech

At Octopus, we’re entrepreneurs and we’re investors, on a mission to back the people, ideas and industries that will change the world. 

We think working here is great, but we’re understandably bias. Click here to explore Life at Octopus.

About the Role

Octopus Ventures invests in early-stage tech companies with a mission to back the people, business, and ideas that will change the world.  We have backed the founders in industries that we believe will drive transformative change: health, fintech, climate, and beyond.  Our typical investment ranges from pre-seed to Series B, with the ability to continue supporting our portfolio companies all the way to IPO.

Since 2008, we have supported nearly 120 teams, including renowned names like Zoopla, SwiftKey, WaveOptics, Elvie, Many Pets, Permutive, Pelago, Vitesse, and more.

Joining the Portfolio Talent team at Octopus Ventures means playing a pivotal role in shaping the future of these innovative companies. You will be at the heart of a dynamic and forward-thinking environment, where your efforts directly contribute to the success of ground breaking ventures. If you're passionate about fostering talent and driving growth within a vibrant and visionary portfolio, Octopus Ventures is the place for you.

What's in it for you?

At Octopus Ventures we believe that people are core to every business, and as such, work closely with founders and CEOs to build great teams.  As a Deep Tech Talent Lead, you will work closely with the Founders, CEOs, and leadership teams of companies across the tech landscape, allowing you to contribute to the success stories of companies that are shaping the future. 

In your role as Talent Lead, Tech, you will partner closely with Deep Tech and Bio Tech companies, supporting them to build a strong team and culture.  You will partner with founders, leadership teams, and investors directors, to define and deliver talent initiatives that lead to high  performing teams and positive business outcomes.  Your technical focus will be shared in an advisory capacity across the OV portfolio of businesses, and you will partner closely with the team to develop relevant products and share your insights.

You will build and maintain a strong network of stage relevant candidates and service providers related to building technical teams. In an ever-evolving landscape of how technical teams are built and skills they need to have, you’ll be responsible for making sure that the team and portfolio have access to relevant updates and information. You will contribute to the overall product and experience the we develop and deliver.

The Team

You will be part of the Portfolio Talent Team working alongside 3 other Talent Leads.

Responsibilities:

Build foundational teams

• Work with the CEOs and Leaders of Deep Tech and Bio Tech businesses, advising and partnering on hiring and retention strategies
• Develop hiring roadmaps to meet business milestones informing org structure and recruitment strategy
• Share best practices and insights on org design, hiring process, management, and leadership
• Support the design of critical roles from scoping the job, recruitment approach, interview process and beyond
• Act as advisor and confidant to leaders when faced with people puzzles, pointing them to the appropriate resource as/when is necessary
• Partner with investor directors to address people needs in relevant portfolio companies

Product Delivery and Development

• Deliver the Talent Product, working to continuously develop and improve the impact on business and experience for founders
• Stay up to date and informed on shifting market dynamics related to hiring and org construction, including on new tools and partners that companies are leveraging to build their teams

Build a Strong and Relevant Network: 

• Build a network of relevant early-stage candidates across the most common roles that arise such that you can make relevant introductions
• Develop deep network of service providers, including exec recruiters and L+D specialists, that you can easily deploy into relevant projects. This includes onshoring and offshoring options.

Project Management and Reporting:

• Clearly document and articulate the measurable impact of talent initiatives to internal stakeholders and portfolio companies
• Work with the OV team to manage and track projects, contribute to consistent reporting of the impact delivered through talent initiatives

Qualifications

Core Competencies:

• Building technical teams – you love tech and can nerd out with the best of the team, you’ve applied this in your career when building the teams of a deep tech business
• Org design – you have a view and understanding of how technical teams are structured, and how they work with other parts of the organization, such that you can contribute to building out of organisations
• Heart and mind – you take a human centric approach to your work, and equally apply commercial logic/rational to plans/decisions
• Partner to founders – you approach problem solving and hiring with curiosity and actively practice coaching techniques to best understand challenges and deliver solutions
• Organization and planning – you are able to effectively prioritize and plan your workload such that you can execute in an efficient and autonomous manner
• Proactive and executes – you act without being told what to do, bringing new ideas to the team. And once you start a project or initiative, you see it through consistently and completely

Essential Qualifications:

• Has worked within a deep tech company, hiring into technical roles

What we offer

💰 A competitive salary, bonus, pension and share incentive plan 
✈️ Untracked holiday 
🏡 Hybrid working – our people spend 3 days a week in the office 
⚓ Anchor (our wellness hub) which includes Headspace, one to one coaching through Wellness Cloud, Digital GP, Shout & more 
👪 Up to 6 months paid parental leave regardless of gender 
❤️ Life insurance, critical illness cover and income protection 
🏥 Private medical insurance for you and your family 
🚗 Electric vehicle leasing 

Our Values 
At our core, we believe that how a company behaves is just as important as what it does. That’s why we chose to become an accredited B Corp (the equivalent of a Fairtrade coffee stamp but for companies) and to change our Articles of Association so that the interests all our stakeholders – employees, customers, communities, environment and shareholders – are considered in every decision we make.   

We are committed to building a workplace where diversity is valued, and inclusion is a priority. By providing equal opportunities for growth and development, we embrace and celebrate all races, genders, religions, sexual orientations, ages, disabilities, and socio-economic backgrounds. We believe teams achieve their best when every member feels safe, respected and empowered to be their authentic selves.

We're proud to be disability confident and are committed to supporting candidates with a disability, including neurodiversity and mental health conditions, throughout the recruitment process. Applicants are welcome to opt-in to the disability confident scheme as part of our application process. If you require any adjustments to the interview process, we’ll be happy to accommodate where possible.