Founder Operations Manager

About Antler

Antler is a global early-stage venture capital firm that enables and invests in the world’s most exceptional founders. With 30+ offices across six continents, we back founders from the very beginning - helping them go further, faster throughout the lifecycle of their companies.

In Continental Europe, Antler invests in founders building from Berlin, Amsterdam, Munich, and beyond. Our model is deeply operational: we work hands-on with founders from day one, combining capital, execution support, and a global founder community.

This role sits at the heart of that model. As Founder Operations Manager in Berlin, you will ensure that Antler’s residency and founder-facing operations run seamlessly - creating the conditions for ambitious people to do the best work of their lives.

Location: Berlin
Working model: Fully in-office
Start date: Immediately

Founder Operations Manager (Berlin)

Antler is an operations-heavy investment model. At our core, we help exceptional founders go from inception - and that only works if the underlying machine runs with speed, precision, and consistency.

This role owns that machine.

As Founder Operations Manager, you will run the internal and founder-facing operations of Antler in Berlin end-to-end. You are both the person who makes things happen day to day and the one who continuously improves how things work, with a strong bias toward stability, automation, and repeatability.

This is not a strategy-only role, and it is not a stepping stone into investing. It is a high-ownership execution role at the heart of how Antler operates. You will report to one of the partners.

What You’ll Do

Founder Scouting & Selection Operations

• Design, run, and continuously improve the day-to-day founder scouting and selection operations
• Orchestrate a high-volume workflow across applications, interviews, decisions, and follow-ups (HubSpot)
• Ensure speed, clarity, and consistency in founder communication and internal coordination
• Hire, manage, and lead interns supporting scouting and operations

Founder-Facing Operations

• Own and execute founder-facing operations end-to-end:
  • Onboarding
  • Residency execution
  • Events and founder activities
  • Residency calendar and schedule management
  • Portfolio and alumni engagement
• Be accountable for the founder experience, measured by NPS and qualitative feedback
• Build new communities
• Ensure everything “just runs” - without constant reinvention or heroics

Internal Operations & Coordination

• Manage the Berlin office: stocked, organised, and ready to be the place where people start their life’s work
• Coordinate across the organisation to ensure flawless delivery
• Support the building of a world-class founder community through operational excellence

Systems, Process & Automation

• Stabilise existing processes first - then improve them where it matters
• Identify repetitive, manual work and automate aggressively (Notion, Airtable, Zapier, HubSpot workflows)
• Build dashboards and lightweight systems that create visibility and reduce noise
• Constantly challenge how things are done - with pragmatism, not novelty for its own sake

What Success Looks Like (12–18 Months)

• Founders experience Antler as fast, organised, and professional
• Founder NPS is high; feedback highlights clarity and smooth execution
• Founder selection runs faster with fewer manual interventions
• Processes are documented, repeatable, and no longer reinvented
• More automation, less firefighting
• The entire team (from investment team to interns) operate independently under your coordination

What This Role Is Not

• You will not interview or evaluate founders for investment decisions
• This is not a backdoor into becoming an investor
• You will not spend your time sparring with founders on product or strategy
• Finance and budgeting are not part of this role
• Marketing or content work is optional and depends on your skill set — not a core expectation

Who Should Not Apply

This role is not a good fit if you:

• Are primarily looking for a path into venture investing
• Prefer defining strategy over executing relentlessly
• Want to “manage” rather than do the work yourself
• Get frustrated by operational detail, logistics, or repetition
• Need constant feedback, validation, or tightly scoped instructions
• Are uncomfortable with ambiguity, pace, or taking full ownership
• Are looking for a hybrid or remote role — this is 100% in-person
• Expect polished systems to already exist rather than building and running them

Who You Are

• Extremely strong work ethic; you do what needs doing
• High agency, low ego - ownership without theatrics
• Hands-on, pragmatic, and comfortable with unglamorous tasks
• Exceptional attention to detail
• A systems thinker who can design and run complex processes
• Comfortable hiring, managing, and leading interns - without becoming detached from execution
• Process-driven and highly organised
• Technologically fluent; comfortable with no-code tools and operational automation
• Highly autonomous; you thrive on independence rather than constant feedback
• Excellent written and verbal communication
• You thrive in a 100% in-person, in-office culture