Startups Program Lead at Vercel

You are an experienced program manager with at least 6 years of background in building ecosystems, partnerships, or startup-facing roles. You possess a deep und

Work type: hybrid

Location: Hybrid - San Francisco

Salary: $148,000 – $185,000/yr

Type: Full-time

Summary

You are an experienced program manager with at least 6 years of background in building ecosystems, partnerships, or startup-facing roles. You possess a deep understanding of the developer landscape and can bridge the gap between technical teams and high-growth early-stage founders. **What makes it worth a look...** Vercel offers a base salary of $148,000 to $185,000 per year for this hybrid position based in San Francisco. You will also receive equity and an inclusive healthcare package while leading the global strategy for a team central to the developer infrastructure market. **You might be a good fit if you...** * Have hands-on experience scaling programs from zero to one. * Maintain active relationships with venture capital firms and startup accelerators. * Speak the language of developers with familiarity in tools like React, Next.js, and Vite. * Can drive product adoption by connecting technical requirements to business growth metrics.

Job Description

## About Vercel:

Vercel gives developers the tools and cloud infrastructure to build, scale, and secure a faster, more personalized web. As the team behind v0, Next.js, and AI SDK, Vercel helps customers like Ramp, Supreme, PayPal, and Under Armour build for the AI-native web.

Our mission is to enable the world to ship the best products. That starts with creating a place where everyone can do their best work. Whether you're building on our platform, supporting our customers, or shaping our story: You can just ship things.

## About the Role

Vercel is seeking a Startup Program Lead to build, lead, and scale our global startup program and startup program team. This individual will own the startup program end to end, leading strategy, execution, and team operations. They will be responsible for how the program operates, scales, and delivers a high-quality experience for early stage founders. They will also play a critical role in supporting our efforts to build strong partnerships with venture capital firms, accelerators, incubators, and startup enablement programs. You’ll work closely with our Startup marketing, sales, partner, and events teams to grow Vercel’s footprint across early-stage technology communities and identify strategic opportunities to support startup founders.

This role is ideal for someone who is deeply connected to the startup and VC community, has a strong understanding of developer-first products, and a track record of building and scaling programs.

## What You’ll Do

• Own and lead Vercel’s global startup program strategy, roadmap, and execution end to end, focused on early stage startups from pre-seed through Series A.

• Build, manage, and mentor a high-performing startup program team.

• Design and scale programs that drive adoption, activation, and ongoing engagement of startups building on Vercel, like the [Vercel AI Accelerator](http://vercel.com/ai-accelerator).

• Develop and grow relationships with venture capital firms, accelerators, incubators, and founder communities to bring high-quality startups into Vercel’s ecosystem as customers from day one.

• Partner closely with Sales to identify high-potential startups within the program and support their progression into long term, successful customers.

• Establish clear pathways from early stage adoption to deeper product usage, expansion, and retention, and track performance across the startup lifecycle.

• Work cross-functionally with Marketing, Vercel Media, Partnerships, and Developer Relations to integrate the startup program into campaigns, content, and ecosystem distribution.

• Identify opportunities to embed Vercel into the early stage ecosystem, including VC platforms, accelerator programs, and founder experiences.

• Serve as a visible leader and ambassador for Vercel in the startup ecosystem by hosting events, advising founders, and building long term relationships.

• Bring insights from early stage founders and developers back into Vercel’s marketing, product, and go to market strategies.

• 6+ years of experience in programs, partnerships, or ecosystem roles, ideally within a high-growth technology or developer-focused company.

• Experience building and scaling programs from 0 to 1, with clear impact on marketing, growth, or revenue.

• Proven experience managing or leading teams.

• Strong track record of building strategic relationships with VCs, accelerators, and early stage companies.

• Deep understanding of the startup ecosystem and the needs of founders and developer teams.

• Ability to engage credibly with technical audiences across Engineering, Product, and Design, with familiarity in modern frontend technologies such as React, Next.js, Vite, Astro, and Remix.

• Strong cross-functional operator who can partner effectively with Marketing, Media, Sales, Product, and Engineering.

• Data-driven mindset with experience defining success metrics and optimizing programs based on performance.

• Excellent communication, storytelling, and relationship-building skills.

• Contribute to open-source projects related to modern frontend technologies (eg. React, Next, Vite, Astro, Remix, etc.)

• Have existing relationships with top-tier VCs, accelerators (e.g., Y Combinator, Techstars), or founder communities.

• Have built applications at scale with modern frontend technologies.

• Competitive compensation package, including equity.

• Inclusive Healthcare Package.

• Learn and Grow - we provide mentorship and send you to events that help you build your network and skills.

• Flexible Time Off.

• We will provide you the gear you need to do your role, and a WFH budget for you to outfit your space as needed.

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