Venture Studio Associate (Summer 2025)

About the Studio:

Drive Ventures, Optimize Operations with AltaML’s Venture Studio!

AltaML’s Venture Studio builds and invests in early-stage artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) companies. The Studio helps founders and startups fast-track their journey from zero to one by providing technical expertise, managing operational details, and incorporating insights from our corporate labs to build innovative applied AI ventures. By bringing together talent, capital, and expertise in AI/ML, the Studio elevates ideas with a competitive edge and transforms them into high-performing companies. 

Whether the concept originates from founders, internal ideation or the services side of the business, the Studio catalyzes venture inception - evaluating and selecting ideas that will drive transformative change and unlock boundless human potential. The team is dedicated to identifying exceptional founders and collaborating with them to nurture these groundbreaking ventures, propelling their advancement toward Series A.

About the Role:

As a Venture Studio Associate, your role involves assisting in streamlining the operations of the venture studio, exploring early-stage ideas and creating engaging content to keep stakeholders informed with the studio.

Responsibilities include ensuring smooth studio operations, timely responses to founders, maintaining templates for consistency, and contributing to the validation of potential ideas.  If you have a keen eye for detail, a passion for process improvement, and enjoy exploring venture ideas while meeting new people, this role is perfect for you! Additionally, if you have a strong interest in startups and ventures and want to pursue a career in this field, you'll find this opportunity particularly rewarding.

This will be a 4-month term starting in May 2025 and can be extended to an 8-month term as well.

Office as a Resource & Participating Universities: This opportunity is funded in partnership with Mitacs and therefore requires candidates to meet all eligibility criteria before being approved to hire. This role is currently open to anyone that is currently enrolled at the U of Alberta, U of Calgary (Masters Only), Mount Royal U, U Waterloo, U of Toronto, or Queens U. This role is based in Canada and will require you to occasionally work out of one of our offices in either Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto, and/or Waterloo. Please reach out if you have questions regarding your eligibility.

• Participate in founder calls, providing support during discussions and ensuring follow-ups are conducted promptly.
• Develop and maintain studio templates to streamline operations.
• Regularly update studio materials, including monthly opportunity pipelines and quarterly newsletters, to keep stakeholders informed and engaged.
• Create engaging content and marketing materials for the studio to attract potential founders and investors.
• Conduct comprehensive market research and competitor analysis to evaluate venture viability and potential impact, informing strategic decision-making.
• Attend venture studio and venture capital webinars to stay updated on industry trends and best practices to suggest improvements to our studio.
• Research and benchmark other venture studios' content and marketing strategies, gathering insights and ideas for continuous improvement.
• Explore backlog ideas, advancing promising concepts and discontinuing non-viable ones.
• Enhance and refine the Investigate phase of venture development, ensuring thorough evaluation and validation of ideas.
• Identify operational inefficiencies and propose solutions to optimize studio operations, improving overall effectiveness and efficiency.
• Assist with managing the studio dashboard and tracking important metrics

• You have a passion for venture studios, startups and entrepreneurship. 
• You may be pursuing a degree in business, marketing, or a more technical degree (CS, Engineering, Data Science).
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, with the ability to convey ideas clearly and persuasively.
• Proficient in Google Slides and Google Docs, with the ability to create visually appealing and informative content.
• Passionate about process improvement, constantly seeking ways to enhance efficiency and effectiveness.
• Solid research and analytical skills, able to gather and analyze data to inform decision-making.
• Strong attention to detail, ensuring accuracy and quality in all tasks.
• Your ability to work effectively in diverse teams, understanding and integrating different perspectives, is crucial. 
• You have a demonstrated history of entrepreneurial endeavors, having successfully initiated and managed a venture, which could range from a business to a course, charity, or club. You actively engage with communities of like-minded individuals, eager to contribute to and foster the rapid development of startups.

• Knowledge of machine learning / AI
• Knowledge of additional functional areas such as Engineering, Sales, UX/UI, Customer Support, Marketing, or Finance
• Familiarity with venture capital and the startup ecosystem 
• Experience with tools such as Figma, Airtable, etc.

About AltaML:

AltaML is a leading North American applied AI company with extensive experience in building and operationalizing AI software solutions in 3 forms: The Services we offer, the Reusable IP that allows us to build faster, and the product solutions we develop through our Venture Studio. Together, this forms our business model and allows us to truly elevate our human potential through Applied AI.

We are a company like no other – we believe in making small bets, failing fast, and being better together. We are looking for creative problem-solvers who obsess about the customer to find wins across different industries.

We don’t hire for fit; we hire to add. We are looking for people who play our core values of being: Agile, Gritty Humble, and Happy. If you’re passionate about AI/ML, thrive in a dynamic environment, and want to work with a diverse team of wickedly smart people, we want to hear from you!

Responsible AI (RAI)

AltaML employees, contractors, and associates must be trained and well-versed in the importance of Responsible AI and empowered to enact RAI principles by developing and deploying AI solutions. They should also be empowered to raise and escalate RAI concerns as required.

AltaML is responsible for elevating public discourse and awareness of AI through open, transparent communications with the broader public.

Equal Opportunities

AltaML is dedicated to fostering a safe, diverse, and inclusive workplace as an equal-opportunity employer. We welcome applications from qualified individuals of all backgrounds, encompassing ethnicity, religion, disability status, gender identity, sexual orientation, family status, age, nationality, and educational backgrounds. If you are invited for an interview and require accommodations during the interview process, please don’t hesitate to let us know.

AltaML acknowledges that its head office is located on Treaty 6 territory, and respects the histories, languages, and cultures of First Nations, Métis, Inuit, and all First Peoples of Canada, whose presence continues to enrich our vibrant community.

We Look for A-Players Who:

- Express our core values

- Are hungry for knowledge

- Want to learn new skills

- Are respectful

- Collaborate with others across the whole company

- Share knowledge with coworkers

- Educate and promote AI and ML concepts both internally and externally

- Have a high work ethic and are self-motivated

Our Perks:

🌴Flexible Vacation - For all full time, permanent employees. Seriously, take the time you need - when you need it.

🚀Make an Impact - Witness the impact your work contribution has on the success of our company.

👩🏿‍💻Working with PhD and Master Level Colleagues - Endless conversations around the latest in Machine Learning and Applied AI.

🩺Competitive Benefits - For all full time, permanent employees.

🏢 Office as a Resource -  Hybrid work environment with state-of-the-art office spaces that ignite collaboration.

⚡Big Slack Energy - IYKYK.

Our Culture:

You will be working in a high-paced environment focused on creating unique ML solutions to problems across multiple industries to generate impactful value. You will be working at a company with employees who have multiple years of industrial and academic experience in data science, software engineering, product development, and machine learning fields.

You will be able to experience a collaborative company culture, which means we believe in working hard, getting the job done, and enjoying the group social on Fridays. You’ll also get flexibility in where you work, what hours you work, how much vacation you take, and what you wear. We expect hard work but respect work/life balance.

Core Values:

At AltaML, we are driven by our core values. We believe that by embodying these values in everything we do, we will exceed our customer’s expectations while creating a positive and empowering work environment for our team members. We are dedicated to living our values and strive to make them the foundation for our success. 

Gritty - We are entrepreneurial, determined, and resilient, pushing through challenges to achieve our goals.

Agile - We make decisions based on “little bets” creating a safe space to take risks. We embrace an interactive process, allowing ideas to fail quickly or be scaled iteratively. Together, we continuously refine and improve our approach to reach the desired outcome. 

Humble - We listen to data, embrace new ideas, admit limitations and take ownership to solve problems. We constantly push ourselves to improve and excel.  

Happy - We ignite passion and purpose by fostering a dynamic work environment. We encourage tap dancing to work, common sense over rules, empowering team members to find joy in their contributions, and being your authentic self.