Director of Ecosystem

Alchemist is an early-stage venture firm — a premier investor and community for deeply technical founders building in enterprise tech, deep tech, and foundational infrastructure. Alchemist began as the enterprise accelerator for technical founders; today we invest alongside qualified venture partners and back every portfolio company with a commercialization system built over more than a decade of founder work: expert coaching, playbooks, a selective community of founders and operators, and direct access to customers, investors, and Silicon Valley.

Since 2012, we've backed 750+ companies — a portfolio that includes 5 unicorns, 80+ exits, and more than $5B in follow-on funding. We believe enterprise commercialization can be coached — and we measure success in enterprise traction: customer evidence, pipeline, and revenue.

Alchemist's value beyond capital is a system: customer access, operating leverage, and a network that opens doors founders can't open alone. The Director of Ecosystem owns that system. You will drive perks, sponsorships, customer introductions, and strategic partnerships for Alchemist portfolio companies — and own the sponsorship engine behind them, with an ambitious annual revenue target and a mandate to grow sponsorships into a durable revenue line.

This is a leadership role on the platform team. You'll carry a revenue target, a relationship map, and the credibility of the Alchemist brand — and you'll be a fixture in the Bay Area startup ecosystem.

The ideal candidate has 10+ years of business development, partnerships, or ecosystem experience. They should be:

• A closer, experienced running a revenue pipeline end-to-end — sourcing, pitching, negotiating, closing, and renewing. You're comfortable being measured on a number.
• Relationship-driven & extroverted, energized by rooms full of people. You come with your own network of corporates, sponsors, and ecosystem players — and you grow it everywhere you go.
• A founder advocate, you understand that every sponsorship, perk, and intro exists to move a portfolio company toward its next commercial milestone — not the other way around.
• Startup-fluent, you've worked in or around early-stage companies and speak the language of technical founders and the enterprises that buy from them.
• Biased toward action, you love planning, executing, and iterating in real time — comfortable wearing many hats on a small, fast-moving team.
• Motivated by ownership, excited to build a business line, not just run a playbook.

• Sponsorships. Own Alchemist's sponsorship business end-to-end — strategy, pipeline, pitch, close, delivery, and renewal — against an annual revenue target.
• Customer introductions. Build and activate relationships with enterprises and executives who become customers, design partners, POC customers and champions for Alchemist portfolio companies. Customer access is core to what founders get from Alchemist; you make it repeatable.
• Perks & operating leverage. Negotiate and manage the credits, services, and benefits that give founders immediate practical value — and help quantify that value so it's legible and compelling to founders.
• Strategic relationship building. Meet and qualify high-potential relationships with enterprises, VCs and ecosystem organizations that strengthen the platform and the Alchemist community.
• Ecosystem presence. Be a visible leader in the Bay Area startup and venture ecosystem. Community engagement is a core value of Alchemist, and this role will be a highly visible participant in Alchemist and venture communities.

• 10+ years in business development, partnerships, sponsorships, or ecosystem roles
• Track record closing and renewing six-figure-plus sponsorship or partnership revenue
• Startup and/or venture ecosystem experience; enterprise / B2B fluency
• Exceptional relationship-building and communication skills
• Comfort carrying a revenue target
• Emotional intelligence, active listening, empathy

• Experience monetizing accelerator, venture, conference, or community assets
• Corporate innovation or ecosystem partnership experience
• People management experience
• AI-forward working style

• Sponsorship revenue closed & renewed against annual target
• Qualified customer introductions and resulting pipeline for portfolio companies
• Partner satisfaction and multi-year renewal rate
• Portfolio company commercial outcomes attributable to ecosystem programs