Program & Experience Design Coordinator, Venture Café London - UK

Are you ready to be at the heart of London's innovation scene? Venture Café London is on the lookout for a passionate Program and Experience Design Manager to lead our flagship Thursday Gathering and other groundbreaking initiatives.

Join us in creating a dynamic and inclusive community where innovators connect, collaborate, and drive change. If you're excited about making a real impact and fostering a vibrant ecosystem, you belong at Venture Café London!

ABOUT VENTURE CAFÉ GLOBAL INSTITUTE (VCGI) & VENTURE CAFÉ LONDON

Venture Café Global Institute (VCGI) began in 2009 within the Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC) in Massachusetts, aiming to connect people, ideas, and resources globally. Today, it has grown into a worldwide movement, facilitating over 750,000 connections among innovators, creatives, and leaders across cities like Boston, Berlin, and Tokyo. VCGI's mission is to drive global change by building a community of communities focused on solving humankind’s biggest challenges.

Venture Café London will launch in Q2 2025 alongside strategic partner ARIA. Venture Café London partners with companies and organizations that are evolving business, education, technology, social justice, science and the arts within London and beyond. Our flagship Thursday Gathering convenes hundreds of creative, resourceful people who are just as invested in improving life on this planet as you are.

YOUR DAY-TO-DAY WORK

We are looking for a curious doer to join our fun team to coordinate an impactful program of events for a community of innovators at the Venture Café’s flagship weekly event: the Thursday Gathering.

Your role would be to execute weekly Venture Café Thursday Gatherings including the following:

1. Coordinating programs and speakers before, during, and after the event.
2. Setting up and breaking down Thursday Gathering events, including managing program partner bump-ins and outs, setting up the Venture Café Kiosk, and placing signage.
3. Coordinating local Venture Café Ambassadors to assist at the Thursday Gatherings.
4. Connecting with the Venture Café Global Institute to share learnings and support the relationship between Venture Café London and its global counterparts.
5. Identifying and mitigating risks to the effective operation of the Thursday Gathering.
6. Collaborating with the awesome ARIA team to ensure a delightful event experience.
7. Great hospitality skills – able to keep community members engaged and happy even while resolving problems. Be able to enforce the Venture Café credo/guidelines in a friendly but firm fashion.

ABOUT YOU

With a background in event management, you bring creativity and flexibility to Venture Café London, driven by a passion for mission-driven work and a commitment to hosting successful events. Your customer service excellence, problem-solving skills, and openness to learning from failure, paired with meticulous attention to detail, prepare you for success in this role. You excel in executing and innovating event experiences, engaging diverse community members, creatively using spaces, communicating effectively in various settings, and leveraging social media to promote events. Additionally, you have:

1. Ideally at least 1-3 years of professional events experience.
2. English fluency.
3. Great hospitality skills – able to keep community members engaged and happy even while resolving problems. Be able to enforce the Venture Café credo/guidelines in a friendly but firm fashion.
4. Familiarity with social media channels and ability to leverage them as part of your work.
5. Willingness for domestic and international travel as needed.
6. Ability to legally work in the UK. We are unable to sponsor visas for this role at this time.

OUR OFFER

1. Competitive salary, commensurate with experience
2. 25 days of annual leave, plus bank holidays
3. Supplemental medical and dental insurance
4. £200 Monthly Commuter Allowance
5. Life insurance
6. Business Travel Insurance
7. Payment Protection
8. Employee Assistance Program
9. Hybrid work model – You will work three days per week in the office, with Thursdays required as a core in-office day.

ATTRACTIONS OF THE JOB

In addition to helping to make the world a better place, we work to ensure each talented team member feels nurtured by many benefits, here are just a few:

1. You’ll join a team of driven and bright collaborators who are eager to lend their own unique skills to building our inspiring community.
2. Learn and develop skills within the epicenter of the innovation community within a growing global network.
3. Travel to Venture Café locations across the globe.

Venture Café is committed to building teams that reflect the fabric of the cities we support. We welcome all candidates regardless of race, color, ancestry, gender identity or expression, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, Veteran status, or any other legally protected status. Any other human expressions and experiences not mentioned here are equally welcome. If you require an accommodation please let us know. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer.