Program Manager

Special Instructions to Applicants: 

All interested applicants should attach a resume in the Supporting Documents section of the application, preferably in a PDF format, to avoid any formatting issues.

This is a two-year term-limited position to align with FY26 and FY27 with a possible opportunity to extend FY28. 

About Rice:

Boasting a 300-acre tree-lined campus in Houston, Texas, Rice University is ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has a 6-to-1 undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio, and a residential college system, which supports students intellectually, emotionally and culturally through social events, intramural sports, student plays, lectures series, courses and student government. Developing close-knit, diverse college communities is a strong campus tradition, which is why Rice is highly ranked for best quality of life and best value among private universities. 

Rice is also a wonderful place to work. Rice faculty, staff and students share values that are essential to our success as a healthy community. Those values guide our decisions and behaviors and shape Rice’s culture. They come through in the way we treat each other and the welcome we extend to our visitors. These values can be recalled simply by our name — RICE — Responsibility, Integrity, Community and Excellence.

Position Summary:

The Liu Idea Lab for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (Lilie) is seeking a Program Manager to lead our Research Commercialization and Venture Acceleration programs. This is a unique opportunity to be at the forefront of innovation and help Rice entrepreneurs bring their cutting-edge ideas to market.

In this role, you will be responsible for identifying promising people, research, and companies from across the Rice University ecosystem and building immersive, experiential programs to catalyze their next great startup. You will work closely with student and faculty startup founders to help them accelerate their growth, secure funding, and achieve their goals while acting as connective tissue to the broader Texas and U.S. startup ecosystems.

In practice, this means you will:

• Facilitate mentorship and networking opportunities
• Develop and lead co-curricular and accelerator programs
• Manage relationships with partners, sponsors, and key stakeholders to ensure that Lilie’s research commercialization and venture acceleration efforts succeed

Lilie is a small, ambitious team that works collaboratively to achieve outstanding results, employing an iterative creation process where we share our work early and often.

Lilie is the beating heart of entrepreneurship, innovation, venture capital, and research commercialization for the entire Rice University campus. Our Center combines over 50 for-credit, experiential courses each year with a suite of programs, resources, competitions, and accelerators to support entrepreneurs and innovators at every stage of their journey.

Our mission is to serve Rice University students, faculty, and alumni from all majors and degree programs, helping them go from idea to real-world impact. We’ve been ranked as the #1 Graduate Entrepreneurship program in the country for the last six years in a row, but we need your help to aim even higher in the future. 

Ideal Candidate Statement:

The ideal candidate works collaboratively and has strong opinions that are adaptable to new information and Is a proactive communicator and service-oriented through and through

Workplace Requirements:

Rice Business primarily delivers residential classes and activities that take place almost daily between 7 AM and 10 PM. We value a highly collaborative and community-based culture, with expectations to provide in-person support and services to all members of our community.

Remote work options are limited. Most employment activities are required to be performed in-person and on campus. This in-person approach is central to successfully achieving our research and academic missions.

This position is exclusively on-site, requiring all duties to be performed Monday – Friday, 9 AM – 5 PM.

Hiring Range:

Commensurate with experience
Exempt (salaried) positions under FLSA are not eligible for overtime.

Minimum Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree
• 4 years of entrepreneurship, program management, and/or startup experience
  • In lieu of the experience requirement, additional related education, beyond what is required, may be substituted on an equivalent year-for-year basis.

Skills

• Ability to develop complex and multiple program partnerships and funding sources
• Ability to develop and initiate new strategies