Accelerator Project Specialist

**Accelerator Project Specialist at Captains of Innovation**

Leveraging our 25 years of experience directly managing world-renowned innovation programming and spaces, CIC Captains has partnered with Saudi Arabia’s National Technology Development Program. Known as NTDP, this program contributes to developing the technology ecosystem in the Kingdom through a number of initiatives aimed at making it a regional center for innovation and investment.

For its part, CIC Captains will be managing NTDP’s Empowering Accelerators, a program that seeks to enable local and global business accelerators to adopt international best practices based on quality standards, to enable entrepreneurs to come up with distinctive business models by providing financial support. The Captains team will bring best-in-class practices to propel the existing successes of Empowering Accelerators, and along the way, identify strategic improvements that maximize program impact.

Captains will be supporting the Empowering Accelerators program by delivering quality and efficient program operations and services that help startups to maximize the output of their growth journey. These efforts are part of an overarching strategy that Captains will deploy to develop the Kingdom’s reputation as a leading international tech hub, in turn attracting entrepreneurs, academics, venture capitalists, corporates, and others.

**This is a contractual assignment beginning as soon as possible and ending August 31, 2025.**

**ABOUT THE CAPTAINS OF INNOVATION TEAM**

The professional services arm of CIC - Captains helps governments, universities, and large organizations with the development of world class innovation ecosystems and programs. We leverage our on-the-ground work as operators of innovation centers to provide actionable solutions. Our lived experiences in cities around the world have taught us the importance of excellence and the commitment required to achieve it.

**ABOUT THE POSITION AND YOUR DAY-TO-DAY WORK**

This position is based in Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia. As an Empowering Accelerators Specialist, you will be responsible for helping the local team (2-3 people including yourself) oversee the day-to-day operations support for the national accelerator programs — supporting several accelerator organizations operating four to six month long cohorts of startups. This work will be done in close collaboration with members of the NTDP organization.

Overall, as part of the Riyadh team, you and your colleagues will focus primarily on two work streams: administrative duties related to compliance and operations of the accelerator programs, and field work compliance assessments and reporting. It is expected that local partner organizations will hire additional personnel as needed to ensure a successful partnership and launch of operational programming. As a Specialist, you will play a key role in carrying out work related to all aspects of our operation.

You and your colleagues will oversee day-to-day operations, managing communication lines with external and internal parties, including companies in the Empowering Accelerators program (accelerators and venture capital firms), as well as internal NTDP leadership units, and leading in the development and distribution of reports to all project stakeholders.

Your specific work will include:

- Improving processes as needed in coordination with the team.
- Providing direct support, tracking to-dos, and managing relationships with various accelerators and other stakeholders.
- Ensuring adherence to schedule and budget.
- Evaluating the performance of the accelerator programs including:

- reviewing and evaluating accelerator outputs and subsequent results, while leveraging best practices used in accelerator programs and innovation ecosystems
- preparing evaluation reports.
- Communicating with and collecting information from the Accelerator programs, including tracking needed follow-ups with key stakeholders.
- Preparing and delivering weekly and monthly reports on the accelerator programs.
- Preparing presentations for various committees.
- Attending events and building relationships with accelerators and other stakeholders.

The Riyadh team will also be responsible for onsite observation and support to the accelerator programs throughout Saudi Arabia. Field visits will be part of this effort and are expected to include:

- Interviews with companies to obtain feedback on the most prominent advantages of the program and points of improvement, and to ensure that the accelerators adhere to the standards of the program plan.
- Conduct surveys for startups to assess the quality of the accelerator from the point of view of the beneficiary companies.
- Ensure that accelerators adhere to the standards of the program plan.

The team will receive ongoing support from Captains leadership (based in Cambridge, MA) for ongoing strategy development, program refinement, and issues resolution. The Capta