Partnership and Growth Manager

If you’re excited about building systems that empower others to lead - and want to help shape Canada’s next generation of entrepreneurial, AI-ready talent for the future of work - we’d love to hear from you!

Venture for Canada is a national registered charity equipping talent across Canada with the entrepreneurial skills, mindset, and opportunities to succeed in a 21st-century economy increasingly shaped by rapid change and emerging technology. We believe that to be entrepreneurial is to act upon opportunities to create value for others.

The resourcefulness and creativity of people across Canada are essential to addressing our country’s greatest challenges. Venture for Canada serves as a catalyst for systemic social change by empowering individuals to create a more prosperous, inclusive, and innovative society.

I’m Kathleen, VFC’s Senior Manager of People Operations, and I’ll be guiding the recruitment for this role. Since joining in 2019, I’ve watched our team grow from 9 to 30+ mission-driven colleagues, and we’re thrilled to be expanding again. To learn more about our hiring process and workplace philosophy, visit our Careers page here.

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Strategic Partnership and Growth Manager:

The ideal candidate brings strong outbound instincts, strategic relationship-building experience, and a proven track record of driving measurable growth through partnerships, while also rolling up their sleeves to manage pipelines, track referral performance, and build scalable systems from scratch. You’ll represent VFC across Canada’s entrepreneurship ecosystem, convert new partners into active recruitment channels, and balance short-term enrollment targets with long-term ecosystem positioning. With a builder mindset and high ownership, you’ll create structure, strengthen national relationships, and bring a data-informed, growth-oriented approach to expanding VFC’s reach and impact. This is an in-kind and ecosystem partnerships role. We’re looking for expansion into the entrepreneurial ecosystem; this role focuses on relationship building vs revenue generation.

Role Responsibilities:

• Partnership Pipeline & Growth
  • Own and drive a national partnership pipeline that generates consistent, measurable participant recruitment into VFC programs,
  • Proactively identify, prospect, and engage new ecosystem partners across post-secondary institutions, technology, AI institutions, and entrepreneur-serving organizations,
  • Convert prospective partners into active referral channels through clear value propositions, presentations, and structured follow-up,
  • Track partnership performance, including referral volume and conversion outcomes, and continuously optimize outreach strategy,
  • Build repeatable systems and playbooks to scale partnership-driven recruitment nationally.
• Ecosystem Relationship Development
  • Cultivate and manage strong, trust-based relationships with managers, co-op officers, and ecosystem leaders across Canada,
  • Evolve transactional referral relationships into longer-term strategic partnerships where possible,
  • Collaborate with ecosystem partners to design in-person and virtual community events,
  • Represent VFC externally at events, panels, conferences, and ecosystem convenings,
  • Strengthen VFC’s presence and reputation within the Canadian entrepreneurship ecosystem.
• Recruitment Enablement & Collaboration
  • Partner closely with the Marketing team to align partnership outreach with recruitment campaigns and program timelines,
  • Collaborate with Program teams to identify opportunities for guest speakers, in-kind contributors, and ecosystem champions,
  • Share market insights and partner feedback to inform future programming and positioning,
  • Maintain accurate CRM records and clear reporting on partnership activity and outcomes.
• Strategic Contribution
  • Identify regional growth opportunities and emerging ecosystem trends.
  • Contribute to refining VFC’s partnership strategy and national expansion approach,
  • Operate with high ownership in a newly created role, helping define processes, priorities, and success metrics.

Role Requirements:

• 5+ years of experience in partnerships, business development, recruitment growth, ecosystem engagement, or a related field,
• Demonstrated success generating measurable growth through external relationship-building or outbound development efforts,
• Experience prospecting and developing new partnerships from scratch,
• Familiarity with Canada’s entrepreneurship ecosystem, post-secondary landscape, or startup community is strongly preferred,
• Strong outbound instincts: comfortable initiating conversations, pitching value, and following up persistently,
• Ability to move relationships from initial contact to active partnership,
• Strategic thinker who can balance short-term recruitment wins with long-term ecosystem positioning,
• Excellent communicator and presenter, both virtually and in person,
• Organized and data-informed, with experience managing pipelines and tracking performance metrics,
• Comfortable working independently with a high degree of ownership and accountability,
• Builder mindset: energized by creating new systems, markets, and relationships,
• Personally motivated and resilient, with strong follow-through,
• Mission-aligned and excited about supporting young Canadians in developing entrepreneurial skills,
• Willingness to travel nationally,
• The ability to work in French is an asset,
• Proficiency with Google Workspace/Gmail, HubSpot, Slack, Zoom, and the Windows operating system are assets,
• Must be legally authorized to work in Canada.

Why Join Venture for Canada?

We offer competitive salaries and robust benefits, including:

• Salary range: $70,000-80,000
• Stipend for phone usage
• Comprehensive health benefits plan after 3 months of service and RRSP matching after 6 months of service
• Four weeks of paid vacation
• Summer hours from May to Labour Day
• Additional summer office closures, holiday closures (Dec 25–Jan 1)
• Potential to work out of the country/province for up to 1 month annually
• Flexible work hours and a remote work environment
• Professional development funding
• Funding to support the setup of your home office

Location: Virtual, ability to travel into Toronto on a regular basis is an asset.

Start Date: April 2026

Deadline to Apply: March 15, 2026

Internal Job Level: M1

Commitment to Diversity and Accessibility:

Venture for Canada is dedicated to creating a workplace that fits your needs. We encourage applicants from all backgrounds and provide accommodations for accessibility. If you require accommodations, please contact us at kathleen@ventureforcanada.ca.

Additionally, all employees play a role in protecting company and customer data by adhering to the VFC information security policies and procedures.

This position is to fill an existing vacancy. Venture for Canada uses artificial intelligence-enabled tools to support certain aspects of the recruitment process; all hiring decisions are made by our recruiting and hiring teams. We will only contact applicants selected for an interview. In accordance with applicable laws, candidates who are interviewed will be notified of the hiring decision within 45 days of their final interview.