Head of Venture Studio at Birg in Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

About the Role

Birg is a holding company that builds companies. Four entities run on one connected system: Birg.co (the holding company), rthmc (the venture studio that takes technology companies from idea to scale), Interuum (the talent pool deployed across the group), and Birg Capital (the capital arm).

This role exists for one reason: so the CEO no longer has to be the guy in the room for execution to happen. You will lead the venture studio’s execution across the portfolio, launching concurrent ventures on system and to standard and scaling toward roughly ten live ventures by the end of 2027. You'll work directly with a repeat, exited founder whose leverage belongs on capital, partnerships, and the next opportunity — not on whether Venture 002 shipped on time. That part is yours.

The machine handles the black-and-white on purpose, which is exactly why you can't be. We're looking for the operator who reads the signal beneath the noise, knows the entrepreneur from the wantpreneur on sight, and has the gravitas to hire and motivate Venture CEOs you'd put in front of a Fortune 500 board. Speed, operating rigor, and founder instinct rarely live in one person. When they do, that's this hire.

Key Responsibilities

Own the Machine

• Reach full fluency — fast — in how the group operates: every system, every venture, every gate.
• Own the operating system end to end and hold every venture to its M0 / M1 / M2 stage gates. Nothing progresses on momentum alone.
• Improve the system continuously as patterns emerge across the portfolio.
• Treat adherence to the system as non-negotiable — for yourself and everyone in it.

Own Venture Execution

• Drive Venture 001 and Venture 002 from readiness to launch; plan and stage Venture 003.
• Make sequencing and prioritization calls independently — which venture to push, which to pause, before the dashboard says so.
• Be accountable for launches, on time and on system — not for tracking projects.
• Report signal, not activity, and surface risk early.

Recruit & Motivate Venture Leadership

• Attract and hire Venture CEOs (or EIRs, where that's the better model) for Venture 001 and every venture that follows.
• Build the attract kit and compensation architecture that lands founder-caliber talent.
• Bring the gravitas and motivation that keeps venture leaders performing at pace.

Run the Control Center

• Own the venture studio’s operating cadence: annual planning → quarterly mapping → monthly plans → weekly deliverables.
• Run execution in ClickUp (or equivalent) with real discipline; coordinate leadership calendars and build the rhythms that keep everyone in sync.
• Surface anything blocked or behind before the halfway mark — never at the deadline.
• Ensure each venture has the digital presence required for launch, working with the relevant growth and brand leads.

Build the Team & the AI Layer

• Assess hiring needs across the portfolio and bring people in with the Head of People (HOP) through the systems already built.
• Default to AI agents before headcount; build and improve the AI operating layer that lets one operator oversee many ventures at once.
• Build lean, high-caliber teams only when the portfolio has earned them.

Success Metrics

First 30 days

• Full fluency in the group and its systems — what's shipped, blocked, and at risk across Venture 001 and 002.
• A weekly operating cadence live across the portfolio.

By 90 days

• Birg.co and all subsidiary websites and online presence built and live.
• Venture 001 and 002 execution on track and on system; Venture 003 planned and staged.
• A repeatable reporting framework running; first Venture CEO / EIR search underway, with attract kit and compensation in place.

6 months

• Venture leadership placed and performing; hiring flowing through the systems with HOP.
• The control center running the portfolio on a predictable rhythm.

12 months

• Execution runs on systems, not on the CEO's oversight.
• Ventures launching on the same playbook, each faster than the last — on the path to ~10 live ventures by the end of 2027.
• The CEO makes portfolio and resourcing calls on your judgment without checking the underlying work.

Requirements

Must-Have Experience

• 6+ years operating in startups, venture building, or general management — ideally across more than one company.
• Fractional / portfolio COO capability: you've run execution across multiple products or business lines at once, without a large team behind you.
• Owned at least one (ideally several) companies or products from zero to launch — your launch, not someone else's.
• Elite operating discipline: annual → quarterly → monthly → weekly, tracked in ClickUp or equivalent, with blockers escalated early. Authority without drama; clarity as kindness.
• Signal judgment: you separate signal from noise instinctively and know the entrepreneur from the wantrepreneur.
• AI-native: you use AI agents and agentic workflows to replace team-based work, not just to speed up your own.

Preferred Experience

• Venture studio, startup holding company, PE operating group, or other multi-entity experience.
• Built or scaled a B2B SaaS company.
• Recruited, hired, and managed founder-level talent (CEOs, EIRs).
• Built or directed a company's digital presence and brand from scratch.
• Founder with an exit, now wanting to operate at the portfolio level rather than found again.

Core Competencies

Operating Rigor

• Cadence and systems that make execution predictable.
• Calendar orchestration and early blocker escalation across leadership.

Venture Judgment

• Signal-to-noise reading on live ventures.
• M0 / M1 / M2 gate discipline, earned progression, never momentum.

Leadership Gravitas

• Recruits and motivates founder-caliber talent.

• Runs teams hard and clean, because clarity is kindness.

• 6+ years of experience in startup operations, venture building, general management, or a comparable operating role, ideally spanning more than one company.

• Direct, hands-on experience taking at least one company from zero to launch—not supporting someone else's launch, but owning it.

• Strong working knowledge of AI tools and agentic workflows, with a track record of using them to replace team-based work, not just accelerate individual productivity.

• Experience designing or operating a structured process for de-risking new initiatives—stage gates, funnel management, or comparable venture-building systems.

• Hands-on experience managing execution across multiple workstreams, products, or business lines simultaneously without relying on a large team.

• Experience reporting directly to a CEO or founder, with the judgment to identify and escalate risks early.

• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to provide concise, honest assessments of portfolio or business health.

• Comfortable operating as an independent contractor, with compensation aligned to scope and impact rather than a traditional salary ladder.

HIGHLY PREFERRED

• Experience within venture studios, startup holding companies, private equity operating groups, or other multi-entity organizations.
• Experience building or scaling a B2B SaaS company.
• Experience implementing structured venture-building frameworks, including stage-gate models, venture operating systems, or similar methodologies.
• Experience with AI agent orchestration, automation platforms, or building AI-native internal tooling.
• Founder experience (successful exit or otherwise) and a desire to operate at the portfolio level rather than founding another company.

WHAT GREAT LOOKS LIKE

• Has built more than one company from zero and can clearly explain what changed with each experience.
• Treats venture outcomes as personally owned rather than escalating responsibility upward.
• Defaults to AI agents before requesting additional headcount.
• Gives the CEO bad news early—before it becomes a crisis.
• Can enforce a system rigorously while exercising sound judgment when the system alone isn't enough.
• Builds only the team the portfolio has genuinely earned.

CANDIDATE SNAPSHOT

• Founder-minded operator with multiple zero-to-one experiences.

• Fluent in AI as a core operating capability, not just a productivity tool.

• Comfortable owning execution across a portfolio with significant autonomy.

• Motivated by building, learning, and compounding impact rather than titles or hierarchy.

  • Fully remote. No office, no commute, just you, the operating system, and wherever you do your best work.
  • This isn't about inheriting an established company. It's about building and continuously evolving the operating system that future ventures will run on.
  • Core collaboration hours: 9:00 AM–12:00 PM PST, ensuring consistent overlap with the founding team.
  • Contractor engagement, paid in USD.
  • Full compensation details will be shared directly with shortlisted candidates.