Startup Program Lead

Livekit
San Francisco +1 more
HybridCareer-pivot friendly

Who this role is best for

Aimed at experienced startup program professionals with a technical background who thrive in hybrid environments and can manage both strategic and operational responsibilities independently.

Best fit for

  • Candidates with hands-on experience in building startup programs from scratch and managing external partnerships
    — “You've built a program rather than inherited one.
  • Individuals who can balance high-level strategy with precise execution and have a strong presence in the AI ecosystem
    — “Are strategic and big-picture, and just as capable of handling the tactical details yourself.

Things to consider

  • The role demands managing a repeatable monthly process with high accuracy and reliability
    — “This program runs on a repeating monthly cycle, and you're the reason it doesn't slip.

How to stand out

  • Highlight program-building experience and your ability to manage external relationships in your resume
    — “Open new front doors. Accelerators and funds are how most founders will first hear about this.
  • Emphasize your ability to translate founder feedback into internal product and pricing improvements
    — “Be the founders' voice inside LiveKit.
  • Showcase your experience with usage-based pricing or credit systems in your application materials
    — “Experience with usage-based pricing or credit systems.
  • Demonstrate your ability to structure partner agreements and manage vendor relationships
    — “Comfortable on the commercial side. You can structure a partner agreement and manage external relationships.
  • Demonstrate technical fluency in voice AI and real-time infrastructure when speaking with interviewers
    — “Technically credible with developers.
Pace · Fast PacedCollaboration · HighAutonomy · MediumDecision Impact · Team

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

  • successful program launches
  • positive founder feedback
  • strong partner relationships
Typical background
start-up program managementfounder support roles

Skills & requirements

Required

Program ManagementCross-functional CollaborationStart-up ExperienceFounder RelationsCommercial Partnerships

Preferred

Accelerator ExperienceVoice AI Experience

Stack & domain

Voice AISpeech And Voice Model ProvidersDeveloper InfrastructureStrategic ThinkingBig-picture ThinkingTactical Detail HandlingOrganizational SkillsCommunicationCross-functional CollaborationVoice-driven Era Of ComputingVoice Agent AssemblyVoice AI Applications

About the role

Original posting from Livekit via Ashby

ABOUT LIVEKIT

LiveKit is building the infrastructure layer for the voice-driven era of computing. Our platform gives developers everything they need to build, test, deploy, scale, and observe agents in production. Founded in 2021, LiveKit powers voice AI applications for OpenAI, xAI, Salesforce, Coursera, Spotify, and thousands of others, collectively facilitating billions of calls each year.

ABOUT THIS ROLE

LiveKit is looking for a Startup Program Lead to own LiveKit Startups, the program that gives early-stage teams building voice AI the credits and the stack they need to get to a working product, through a single application.

Building a voice agent means assembling a lot of moving parts, and most of that assembly happens in the weeks when a team has the least budget and the least leverage with any vendor. The program exists to take that off a founder's plate at exactly the point it's most in the way.

You own the program end to end: what's in the offer, how founders find it, the partnerships that make it possible, and what happens to a team once they're in.

YOU'LL THRIVE IN THIS ROLE IF YOU:

  • Have worked directly with early stage founders and know the difference between what helps them be successful.
  • Do your best work with a team around you, and just as good work when it's only you.
  • Are strategic and big-picture, and just as capable of handling the tactical details yourself.
  • Are highly organized, communicate clearly, and have worked cross-functionally across teams and outside your own company.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

  • Own the LiveKit Startups Program end-to-end: what's in the offer, how founders find it, how quickly they hear back, and what their experience is once they're in.
  • Open new front doors. Accelerators and funds are how most founders will first hear about this: YC, Founders Inc, Boost VC, HF0, South Park Commons, a16z and beyond. Each one is a relationship you own.
  • Bring more of the stack into the program. We work with speech and voice model providers so that a founder gets more than LiveKit out of a single application. Widening that set means building and negotiating those partnerships yourself.
  • Run the operations that make the program trustworthy: application review and approval, provisioning, partner reporting, and a monthly cycle that has to close accurately every time.
  • Own the program's health: how many teams join, how many get to a working agent in their first week, and whether the experience is good enough that they stay.
  • Be the founders' voice inside LiveKit. Share feedback with product, docs, and pricing.

WHO YOU ARE

  • 5+ years in startup programs, ecosystem or platform partnerships, developer growth, or GTM at a developer infrastructure company. Founder experience counts.
  • You've built a program rather than inherited one. You've written the criteria, the terms, the landing page, and the follow-up email.
  • Comfortable on the commercial side. You can structure a partner agreement and manage external relationships.
  • Technically credible with developers. You don't need to write production code, but you should be able to talk architecture with a founder without an engineer in the room.
  • Operationally rigorous. This program runs on a repeating monthly cycle, and you're the reason it doesn't slip.

BONUS POINTS

  • Time inside an accelerator or on a VC platform team.
  • You've built or shipped something with voice AI, LLM agents, or real-time infrastructure.
  • Experience with usage-based pricing or credit systems.
  • An existing network in the early-stage AI ecosystem. Founders, scouts, platform leads.

OUR COMMITMENT TO YOU

  • An opportunity to build something truly impactful to the world
  • Contribute to open source alongside world-class engineers
  • Competitive salary and equity package
  • Health, dental, and vision benefits
  • Flexible vacation policy

LiveKit is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of any characteristic protected by applicable law. If you require a reasonable accommodation during the application or interview process, please contact recruiting@livekit.io.

Source: Livekit careers (Ashby)

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