Director of Industry Partnerships
Spring Innovation Fund · Full-time · Remote · Reports to the President
About Spring Innovation Fund
Spring Innovation Fund is a nonprofit venture philanthropy studio and fund building the next generation of humane animal agriculture technology, with a focus on fish and aquatic animals — fish, shrimp, lobsters, and other seafood species. We co-found new companies through our venture studio and back external ones through our investment portfolio, on a simple thesis: the most durable welfare gains come from solutions the industry actually wants to adopt — technologies that align animal welfare and producer profitability by design.
The Role
This is the bridge between Spring and the aquaculture and broader animal agriculture industry. You'll be the person producers, processors, trade groups, and certification bodies trust — and the person our studio and portfolio companies rely on to open doors. You'll translate in both directions: helping our companies understand what the industry will actually adopt, and helping the industry embrace the welfare innovations we build and back. You’ll bring industry intelligence into our work, helping us identify unmet needs, develop new company ideas, and understand where innovation can have the greatest impact. You'll turn relationships into trials, and trials into adoption at scale.
What You'll Do
- Be Spring's face to the industry — building and stewarding relationships with major producers, processors, retailers, technology suppliers, consultants, trade organizations, and certification programs.
- Bring a clear, current read on what producers need in welfare technology: the operational, cost, regulatory, and certification realities that drive adoption.
- Identify industry pain points and white spaces, and turn insights from industry conversations into clear recommendations about unmet needs and potential areas for new company development.
- Mobilize industry support, demand, and credibility for the companies Spring launches and invests in.
- Connect studio and portfolio companies with industry partners to run trials and pilots in real production environments.
- Build partnerships that lead to commercial offtake, co-development, distribution, or strategic investment.
- Advise our founders directly on go-to-market and landing their first customers, and feed industry intelligence back into our sourcing and diligence.
- Connect Entrepreneurs in Residence with potential customers, partners, experts, and other industry contacts.
- Identify potential Entrepreneurs in Residence, talent, and new company ideas through conferences, trade shows, and industry relationships.
- Build systems for collecting and sharing industry intelligence, including a CRM, producer maps, and market insights.
- Represent Spring at industry conferences and events.
Who You Are
- A genuine commitment to animal welfare and to building a more humane food system.
- Deep experience and familiarity with the aquaculture or seafood industry, with experience working closely with aquatic animal producers strongly preferred
- A track record working closely with major producers — ideally from inside a producer, processor, feed company, technology supplier, trade organization, or certification program — and an activatable network.
- Strong commercial instincts: you know how adoption decisions get made and how to move from interest to commitment.
- The ability to synthesize information from industry conversations and identify practical opportunities, unmet needs, and potential company ideas.
- An excellent relationship-builder, equally fluent with a hatchery manager, a sustainability director, and a startup founder.
- Outgoing, credible, candid, and diplomatic, with an approach centered on building trust rather than making a hard sell.
- Comfortable owning your domain end to end in a small, fast-moving organization. Able to travel frequently and internationally.
- Pluses: experience bringing new technology into the industry; familiarity with seafood welfare or certification standards; experience advising early-stage companies; a broad network spanning multiple aquaculture species, geographies, or parts of the value chain.
What We Offer
A senior, high-autonomy role at a mission-driven organization, with real leverage over which welfare solutions reach the market. Fully remote with flexible working arrangements and the opportunity to work with partners across the global aquaculture industry. We offer a comprehensive benefits package, and all work-related travel expenses are covered.
