Venture Head of Business & Growth - UP.Labs

Job Overview:

We are seeking a results-driven Venture Head of Business & Growth with deep experience in the airline and aviation sectors to spearhead business development efforts, establish strategic partnerships, and drive growth. This leader will play a pivotal role in building foundational partnerships, setting up initial contracts, and collaborating with cross-functional teams to ensure ventures align with partner needs and market opportunities. The ideal candidate will have a strong ability to identify and secure opportunities, build relationships across the industry, and translate these efforts into impactful ventures.

Key Responsibilities:

Business Development and Partnerships

• Build and cultivate strong relationships with airline industry stakeholders, including business unit owners, operational leaders, and regulatory authorities.
• Lead efforts to establish initial contracts for new ventures, defining key terms, mutual goals, and partnership structures.
• Partner with corporate clients to identify their critical needs and align those with venture opportunities.
• Work closely with product teams to validate the value and feasibility of proposed solutions, ensuring they address the specific pain points of airline partners.
• Develop tailored engagement plans to onboard partners, set success criteria, and outline clear roles and responsibilities.
• Identify high-potential opportunities within the airline sector, crafting compelling business cases to secure buy-in from leadership and partners.
• Build inroads with corporate business units, fostering trust and collaboration to ensure alignment and long-term success.

Incubation and Commercialization

• Partner with product, engineering, and design teams to shape and launch new ventures in the aviation sector. Mobilize the initial build of new products/services, establishing roles, partnership structures, and success criteria.
• Drive lean, agile processes to test and iterate minimum viable business models for high-impact solutions.
• Implement feedback loops, managing both customer and business performance metrics to refine and scale successful ventures.

Operational Excellence and Performance Tracking

• Define and monitor key performance indicators, reporting frameworks, and service-level outcomes to optimize product-market fit and growth.
• Lead post-launch operational planning, ensuring efficient scaling, continuous improvement, and achievement of customer success metrics.

Qualifications:

• 8+ years of experience in strategy development, business planning, and/or partnerships within aviation, airlines, or adjacent industries.
• Proven success in business development, partnership-building, and commercial strategy in a complex, highly regulated environment.
• Strong analytical abilities to quantify venture potential and growth opportunities.
• Master’s degree or equivalent experience preferred; consulting or startup experience in a high-growth, multidisciplinary setting a plus.

UP.Labs Summary:

We build high-growth technology startups that enable faster, cleaner, and safer movement of people and goods. Our vision is to transform the moving world by pairing leading corporations and entrepreneurs with a proven methodology for launching and scaling software and hardware companies.

Our platform is unique in three ways:

1. Risk: We reward our entire team and ecosystem of partners with meaningful equity.
2. Technology: We build and launch scalable technology products that form the basis for each venture.
3. Industry Focus: We stay focused on the underlying fabric of society mobility and transportation.

We work with corporate investors over a multi-year period to launch a portfolio of mobility-focused ventures. Our team is dedicated to the first year of a new venture’s life cycle: from ideation to minimum viable product build (and beyond) to recruiting and hiring the full-time team who will scale the business. We rapidly ideate concepts from scratch and vet them for early indicators of product-market fit.

Location: San Francisco Bay Area

Hybrid Work Environment: onsite Monday-Thursday, remote Friday