Investment Manager, Planetary Challenges
The Opportunity
The Investment Manager at Main Sequence occupies a unique position at the intersection of planetary-scale challenges and frontier science. You will help manage the full investment lifecycle, from hunting for the next deep tech breakthrough to helping a founder and their team navigate the complexities of scaling a business.
Focusing on the Main Sequence Challenge areas: Decarbonise the planet, Feed 10 billion people, Bridge the gap to space, Supercharge industrial productivity, Reach humanity scale healthcare, and Enable the next intelligence leap, you will work alongside our investment team to architect the next generation of industry-defining businesses.
Key Responsibilities
- Investing: Support and lead the sourcing and end-to-end evaluation of high-conviction opportunities. This includes driving deep technical and commercial due diligence, financial modelling, and market synthesis to validate the viability of deep tech technologies.
- Thesis Development: Collaborate with the investment team to refine and execute investment strategies. You will be responsible for staying at the cutting edge of trends in orbital infrastructure, sovereign capability (Dual-use), and the transition to a net-zero economy.
- Ecosystem Engagement: Serve as a primary bridge between the firm and the Australian research landscape. You will cultivate and maintain deep-rooted relationships with Australian universities, research institutions, CSIRO, and innovation hubs to identify “hidden” intellectual property ready for commercialisation.
- Portfolio Support: Act as a strategic advisor and primary point of contact for portfolio companies. You will provide the guidance, network access, and operational support necessary to help founders navigate the journey from lab to global scale.
- Firm & Co-investor Relations: Support the firm’s growth by contributing to building a co-investor network, and maintaining high-value relationships.
- AI Fluency: Possesses strong AI skills, with the ability to identify opportunities where automated workflows and generative tools can enhance productivity. You will help evolve how we measure impact in deep tech, ensuring our internal processes are as innovative as the companies we back.
Requirements
What we’re looking for
- Professional experience within venture capital, private equity, investment banking, high-growth startups, or other relevant fields.
- A Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in a relevant STEM field (Engineering, Physics, Chemistry) or Business/Finance.
- A "dual-language" capability—understanding both the lab and the boardroom—is essential.
- You are comfortable navigating both commercial markets and identifying dual-use applications across our challenge areas where commercial innovation strengthens sovereign resilience.
- Exceptional problem-solving skills with the ability to deconstruct complex business models and emergent technologies (particularly in hardware-heavy sectors like Space and Energy).
- A sophisticated communicator able to build rapport with diverse stakeholders, from PhD researchers and government officials to institutional investors.
- A genuine passion for Deep Tech and a commitment to Australia’s role in solving global challenges through sovereign innovation.
- A self-starting "venture builder" mindset. You thrive in fast-paced, high-ambiguity environments and possess the resilience required for long-horizon investing.
Nice-to-haves
- Later-stage/Growth Capital: Exposure to Series B+ investing, including structured finance or complex capital stacks, to help our companies navigate global expansion.
- Founder or Operator Experience: Having "lived the journey" in an early-stage deep tech startup—ideally as a founder or an early hire—bringing first-hand knowledge of the technical and operational hurdles of scaling in deep tech.
If you’ve spent your nights obsessing over any of our challenge areas—from the future of food and healthcare to the next leap in intelligence, we want to hear from you.