Head of Venture Building

About QAI Ventures

QAI Ventures is a Swiss-based global venture capital firm and ecosystem builder headquartered in Basel, Switzerland. We invest across the advanced computing value chain, from quantum technologies to enabling technologies, from pre-seed through Series C. Our platform combines a venture fund, accelerator programs in Switzerland, Singapore, and Canada, and a corporate offering. This combination is what sets us apart from pure-play VCs: we not only fund companies, we help create them.

Tasks

You will run QAI's venture-building practice hands-on: from opportunity sourcing and company creation to the moment a venture is ready for our Investment Committee. This is an operational role: you build companies, set up founding teams, design financing structures, and ensure every case that reaches IC is fund-ready. Venture building at QAI means turning deep scientific capability into investable companies, and you are accountable for the results.

You report to the Head of Investments. QAI is organized as a matrix: you will work across the fund team, the science & technology platform, corporate operations, marketing, and our international offices, coordinating through defined interfaces rather than reporting lines. Our Singapore office delivers the venture-building methodology you develop for APAC. The role is based at our Basel headquarters, with roughly 50% of your time on-site.

Your Responsibilities

• Venture building delivery. Deal sourcing, company creation, founding team setup, and the day-to-day operational processes that take a venture from idea to investable company.
• Investment architecture. Design and execution of pre-seed and seed financing structures (SAFEs, convertible notes, SPVs), in line with fund strategy, AIFMD compliance, and follow-on eligibility, coordinated with QAI's AIFM and legal counsel, not designed independently.
• IC pipeline quality. Only fund-ready cases reach the Investment Committee, prepared and presented in a structured, compliance-ready format.
• Methodology and standards. The venture-building playbook: operational processes and financial structures, documented to enable our international offices to deliver.
• Results. Milestone achievement and follow-on rates of venture-built companies, IC readiness of your pipeline, and revenue from venture-building programs.

Requirements

We lead with clarity, so here it is: this role requires demonstrable deeptech venture-building experience. We will ask for evidence: companies you built, teams you assembled, rounds you structured, milestones your ventures reached.

• A proven track record of building deeptech ventures from zero as a founder, co-founder, or venture builder, with verifiable outcomes: companies created, financing rounds closed, milestones achieved, or exits completed.
• Hands-on experience structuring early-stage financings: SAFEs, convertible notes, SPVs, cap table design.
• The ability to work credibly with scientific founders in quantum technologies, advanced computing, or adjacent deeptech domains, and to translate research into business.
• Operating depth: company formation, founding team recruitment, early go-to-market in technical markets. You do the work yourself; there is no team to delegate to.
• Comfort working across teams, functions, and time zones through defined coordination points; this is a delivery role, not a cross-functional leadership mandate.
• Experience within a regulated fund environment (AIFMD or comparable) is a plus.
• Based in Basel or within commuting distance, or ready to relocate.

Benefits

How We Work

Responsibility at QAI sits close to the work: you get a clearly defined domain, make decisions within it, and report transparently. No surprises, in either direction. Coordination happens across teams and offices through defined handoffs, which means clarity about roles and goals matters more here than hierarchy.

What we expect from each other: open and direct dialogue, also when it is uncomfortable. Psychological safety: mistakes, questions, and uncertainty can be raised without fear. Respect, especially in disagreement. No ego games: the overall result counts, not the defense of one's own turf. Commitments hold, and whoever cannot deliver says so early. Results matter, not hours or presence. Engagement is seen and recognized. And most importantly, we are kind. Humanity and clarity are not a contradiction here.

What We Offer

• A clearly defined mandate with real responsibility for venture-building delivery, within a global platform dedicated to quantum and next-generation compute.
• Close collaboration with the investment team, including presenting your cases directly at the Investment Committee.
• An international working environment: Basel headquarters, offices in Singapore and Canada, and a global portfolio and ecosystem.
• Room to develop the venture-building methodology, with the support of an experienced team.
• A hybrid working model with roughly 50% of your time at our Basel headquarters.

Please submit your CV and a short note on the deeptech venture you are most proud of building: what you created, what worked, what did not. Applications should be submitted via the QAI Ventures careers portal on Join.com.

WE REVIEW APPLICATIONS ON A ROLLING BASIS. EARLY SUBMISSIONS ARE ENCOURAGED.

Empowering Quantum Technologies’ global transformation with startup investments and collaborative ecosystem building.