Antler is the investor backing the world’s most driven founders, from day zero to greatness. Founded on the belief that people innovating is the key to building a better future, we partner with people across six continents to launch and scale high-potential startups that address meaningful opportunities and challenges. Knowing that exceptional founders can come from anywhere with any background, we have offices in 26 cities, including Austin, New York, London, Berlin, Stockholm, Bangalore, Jakarta, Singapore, Seoul, Tokyo, and Sydney. Our global community backs people from the beginning with co-founder matching, deep business model validation, initial capital, expansion support, and follow-on funding. Fueled by a personal passion that goes beyond traditional investing, we have helped create and invested in more than 600 startups across a wide range of industries and technologies, with the goal of backing more than 6,000 by 2030.

A better future won’t happen automatically—the world needs talented, determined, and resilient people to build it. Antler team members are part of an ambitious global community dedicated to helping the most driven founders move the world forward. We ease the path to entrepreneurship so more exceptional people can launch and scale companies that disrupt the status quo, create employment, contribute to GDP, and drive technology development and adoption. As the world presents an ever-increasing number of opportunities and challenges, founders are more needed than ever to address them. Join us to support them and help make progress inevitable.

About the job

As the Founder Scouting Manager, you will have full responsibility for the end-to-end scouting of Founders in France. This encompasses identifying, attracting, and assessing the most promising Founders in the region and beyond. You will play a pivotal role in building and enhancing internal processes, reports, and the founder selection process to continually improve our founders' experience and increase our operational efficiency. Additionally, you will contribute to shaping Antler's brand and positioning in the market, establishing us as the preferred choice for founders looking to build successful companies. 

Reporting directly to the local fund Partners, this position will involve operational tasks such as sourcing founders and early-stage companies, outreach, screening and evaluating of founders.

Responsibilities

Your main role will be to ensure that we continue building Antler into a brand that is able to attract the best founders to come and build their company with us. One of the most important aspects of this role is ensuring Antler provides a phenomenal experience to every founder we interact with. This will include:

• Develop, execute and own the outbound founder scouting strategy in France.
• Coordinating with the French team to establish relationships with key stakeholders at tech companies, hackathons, bootcamps, startup events, universities, and other founder communities.
• Build and engage with the founder community in France to activate our ecosystem network and drive top-of-funnel growth.
• Serve as the primary point of contact, collaborating and liaising with the global scouting team to improve and enhance our processes.
• Screen and evaluate founder applications, ensuring a thorough assessment of each applicant.
• Guide selected founders through the onboarding process, addressing their inquiries and concerns to ensure a smooth transition.
• Coach and support the Antler entrepreneurs throughout the residency, as well as the portfolio companies.
• Utilize data to identify areas for improvement and make necessary tweaks to our strategy and processes.

What do we look for in a candidate? 

• 5 - 7 years of experience in early stage startups and/or in the tech ecosystem.
• Strong passion for and deep familiarity with French tech ecosystem.
• Cultivated a vibrant network of potential founders and key players that span different regions and sectors in France. 
• Developed a point of view on what makes an exceptional founder, particularly in France.
• Demonstrated interest in sourcing, interviewing, and candidate experience.
• Excellent communication, written and verbal, in both English and French. 
• Proven track record of taking initiative and working autonomously to achieve goals.

What we offer

This role offers exceptional growth opportunities that will empower you to make a significant impact in the startup ecosystem. As the Founder Scout Manager, you will have the chance to:

• Clear ownership from day one.
• Drive startup success during the residency: Work closely with founders to launch their ideas and prepare for the investment committee, directly impacting their growth and witnessing the transformation of innovative ideas into venture-backed startups.
• A strong company culture of direct communication, highly entrepreneurial (most of us are former founders), collaborative, creative and strong bias toward action.
• Incredible growth and networking in the world of Venture Capital.
• International environment which treats everyone with respect, promotes diversity and gives you room to grow.
• Regular team events, including dinner and other activities.