About the job
Tin Alley Ventures Pty Ltd is hiring an Investment Associate to help identify, diligence, and support deep-tech investments and company creation emerging from the University of Melbourne and partner institutes.
This is a high-trust, high-pace role for someone who can move fluidly between frontier science and commercial judgement, someone who thrives on learning quickly, writing clearly, and making strong decisions with imperfect information.
Location: Carlton, Melbourne, Australia
Commitment: Full-time, fixed term
Reports to: Managing Partner
What You'll Do
- Identify and assess high-potential research and early ventures from academics, research labs, spinout pipelines, and the broader deep-tech ecosystem.
- Translate complex technical material into investable insight; mapping the core "truth," the key risks, and the milestones needed to unlock value.
- Run commercial diligence: market mapping, customer and partner conversations, competitive analysis, adoption barriers, pricing/value hypotheses, and go-to-market pathways.
- Support technical diligence: literature reviews, expert calls, IP/claims framing, technical roadmaps, and milestone planning.
- Build crisp investment materials: screening notes, internal briefs, investment memos, and (where relevant) models and scenario analyses.
- Work alongside Tin Alley Ventures' team, syndicate partners, and university stakeholders to progress opportunities from "interesting" to "investable."
- Support founders and portfolio companies with targeted projects (fundraising materials, hiring support, strategic analysis, introductions, and operational problem-solving).
- Contribute to a high-performance culture: act with integrity, curiosity, and urgency.
What We're Looking For
- Tertiary qualifications. A top-tier academic record, with strong scientific depth (an MD or PhD in a scientific discipline is preferred).
- 2–3 years' experience in a top-tier environment such as MBB (McKinsey/Bain/BCG) or bulge-bracket investment banking (GS-equivalent) or a similarly demanding, high-standard role.
- Exceptional logical thinking, writing and synthesis; you can make the complicated simple without making it wrong.
- Strong analytical horsepower paired with practical judgement.
- Ability to build trust quickly with researchers, founders, and investors and to ask sharp questions without ego.
- Comfort with ambiguity, rapid learning, and high autonomy.
- Genuine alignment with Tin Alley Ventures' values: Daring, Excellence, Curiosity, Integrity, Partnership, Fun.
Non-traditional backgrounds are explicitly welcome. If you're "quirky but exceptional", a top sportsperson with elite discipline, a brilliant lab scientist ready to build, a founder/operator, or someone with an unconventional path who has done something undeniably outstanding — we want to hear from you.
Nice to Have
- Exposure to venture capital (as an investor, founder raising capital, or working in an incubator/accelerator).
- Experience in deep tech areas such as biotech, advanced materials, AI/ML, robotics, energy, or climate tech.
- Strong financial modelling, scenario analysis, and capital planning skills.
- Evidence you've built something real: a product, a company, a program, a research platform, a community.
What You'll Get
- A front-row seat in one of Australia's most interesting deep-tech ecosystems
- High ownership and steep learning across sourcing, diligence, decision-making, and founder support
- Direct access to a network of founders, researchers, operators, co-investors, and domain experts
- Mentorship and apprenticeship in deep-tech venture investing and company creation
- A real potential pathway to Founder-in-Residence at the end of the year, if mutually agreed
Salary: Competitive
Visa: Sponsorship available
Application Process
We recruit for people, not just CVs. You need evidence of excellence, judgement, and the drive to do hard things well.
Please submit a CV and a short statement (max 500 words) covering: why Tin Alley Ventures, why this role, why now.
Email: admin@tinalleyventures.com
Ad opens: 15 May 2026 · Ad closes: 15 June 2026