The Flywheel is a venture studio that builds companies at the intersection of AI and three sectors critical to national resilience and industrial competitiveness: Manufacturing, Defense, and Energy.
We don’t wait for exceptional companies to appear. We co-create them with outlier entrepreneurs, accelerating their path from concept to commercialization with scale, defensibility, and real-world impact.
As we expand the studio, we are building a distributed network of strategic partners across Europe that can help us identify, attract, and engage exceptional founders and operators. We are seeking an Ecosystem Partnerships Manager to help us build and activate a network of local hubs and multipliers across Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
This is a relationship-driven, commercially minded role focused on building high-leverage partnerships across the Nordics & Baltics region that can generate a repeatable pipeline of exceptional Founder-in-Residence (FiR) candidates for The Flywheel.
We are looking for someone who understands how innovation ecosystems actually work on the ground: who the key institutions are, where technical talent clusters, which organizations act as multipliers, and where overlooked opportunities may exist outside the obvious hubs.
Your primary focus will be to identify, prioritize, and establish formal partnerships with institutions and networks such as universities, research centers, incubators, accelerators, technical communities, industry associations, and other ecosystem builders that can create sustained access to high-potential founders.
This is not a generic business development role, and it is not a passive community role. It is a strategic ecosystem-building role designed to create long-term sourcing channels for exceptional founders in AI x manufacturing, defense, and energy.
Develop regional partnership strategy
- Map the Nordic & Baltic innovation ecosystem across manufacturing, defense, energy, and adjacent deep-tech domains
- Identify high-potential geographies, institutions, and network nodes that could serve as founder sourcing multipliers
- Prioritize both flagship hubs and under-recognized “hidden gem” ecosystems where strong technical talent may be underexposed to venture formation pathways
- Help shape The Flywheel’s regional partnership strategy based on ecosystem insight, partner potential, and likely founder yield
Build and manage partnership pipeline
- Identify, qualify, and engage target partners across the Nordic & Baltic regions
- Build and manage a structured pipeline of universities, labs, incubators, accelerators, applied research institutes, industry groups, founder communities, and other strategic organizations
- Initiate and advance conversations with relevant decision-makers and ecosystem leaders
- Maintain consistent follow-up and relationship progression across all active opportunities
Establish formal partnerships
- Develop partnership concepts and proposals tailored to different partner types
- Work with the Managing Partners to define the right collaboration model, value proposition, and structure for each partner
- Negotiate and help formalize partnerships, including MoUs and other agreed collaboration frameworks
- Focus on quality over quantity, prioritizing partnerships with real downstream sourcing potential
Activate partnerships into founder pipeline
- Work with partners to turn signed relationships into actual founder sourcing activity
- Create pathways for referrals, introductions, co-hosted initiatives, targeted outreach, curated programming, or other mechanisms that can yield FiR applications over time
- Support the design of partnership activities that position The Flywheel as a specialist venture creation partner for top technical or commercial talent
- Track which partnerships are producing signal and which are not
Collaborate across the studio
- Share market and ecosystem intelligence with the Managing Partners and broader studio team
- Surface patterns, insights, and opportunities that can refine The Flywheel’s founder sourcing strategy
- Help shape The Flywheel’s external positioning and messaging so it resonates with ecosystem partners across the Nordic & Baltic regions
- Act as a strategic bridge between regional partners and the studio
What success looks like
Success in this role is measured by the creation of high-quality partnerships that produce long-term strategic value and contribute to a repeatable pipeline of exceptional FiR candidates. Over time, success may include:
- A clearly mapped and prioritized Nordics & Baltics partnership strategy
- A strong pipeline of qualified institutional and ecosystem partners
- Signed, high-value partnerships with credible multiplier organizations
- Activated partnerships that generate referrals, introductions, and qualified FiR applications
- Clear insight into which ecosystems, organizations, and channels are most productive for The Flywheel
Required:
- You are highly relational and commercially sharp
- You are comfortable initiating and driving conversations with senior stakeholders across institutions and ecosystems
- You know how to translate relationships into structure opportunities
- You have strong judgment and can distinguish between high-leverage partners and low-value noise
- You are organized and capable of managing a long-cycle partnership pipeline
- You communicate clearly, professionally, and persuasively
- You are strategically curious and enjoy mapping ecosystems, spotting patterns, and identifying overlooked opportunities
- You are motivated by building something durable, not just collecting meetings
- Fluency in English
Strongly Preferred:
- Existing network across the Nordic & Baltic innovation ecosystem, especially within manufacturing, industrial technology, energy, defense, applied research, or deep-tech entrepreneurship
- Experience in partnerships, business development, ecosystem building, innovation programs, venture development, or related roles
- Familiarity with universities, applied research institutes, technical incubators, accelerators, or industry associations in the region
- Experience working in or around startups, venture capital, venture studios, or founder programs
- Exposure to AI, deep tech, or industrial sectors
- Fluency in one or more Nordic or Baltic languages
Bonus:
- Candidates should already have strong network access in at least part of the Nordics & Baltics region.
- Familiarity with regional differences across the Nordics & Baltics
- Strong understanding of where technical talent and commercialization pathways are strongest in the Nordic & Baltic regions
- Compensation (Flexible Structure): We offer a flexible compensation model designed to reward both strategic contribution and outcomes. This may include a day rate or retainer, performance-based incentives tied to meaningful partnership milestones, and potential equity upside in the venture studio for strong long-term alignment.
- Impact: Direct involvement in shaping The Flywheel’s founder sourcing strategy and ecosystem footprint in one of Europe’s most important technical regions
- Flexibility: High-autonomy, remote-friendly role with the opportunity to shape regional strategy and execution
Apply by filling out this form: https://form.typeform.com/to/cUqbeWwR