Innovation Catalyst

ETH Zurich seeks an Innovation Catalyst to coach student projects, develop learning journeys, and facilitate workshops within the Student Project House ecosystem.

This position operates within the ETH Student Project House (SPH) ecosystem, which aims to inspire and empower students to adopt a maker and innovator mindset. The role focuses on supporting Bachelor, Master, and Doctoral students as they explore ideas, build prototypes, and refine their projects.

Responsibilities

• Guide early-stage projects from various backgrounds by encouraging reflection, posing insightful questions, and identifying next steps without assuming a leadership position.
• Create and refine learning journeys and service offerings that assist students throughout their project lifecycle, from conceptualization and testing to documentation, scaling, and improvement.
• Organize and lead workshops such as ideation and need-finding sessions, moderate expert training on topics like business models and patents, and host peer-to-peer events.
• Drive key initiatives that align with the SPH mission, including managing relationships with stakeholders.

Requirements

• Demonstrated experience in launching and executing personal projects, such as startups or innovation initiatives, with the ability to learn from setbacks.
• Methodological expertise suitable for coaching early-stage innovation projects, including prototyping, agile development, design thinking, project management, product development, lean startup, business models, and team dynamics.
• Strong facilitation and management capabilities to ensure services and processes remain streamlined, clear, and scalable for over 600 project teams annually.
• Confidence in presenting to groups of students or key stakeholders and leading workshops.
• A Master's degree or equivalent qualification from a recognized higher education institution.
• Minimum of three years of professional experience in innovation, coaching, entrepreneurship, or a related field.

Nice to have

• Background in engineering, expertise in sustainable product development, or subject matter knowledge in AI, robotics, digital technologies, life sciences, or other areas relevant to ETH students.

About the company

The interdisciplinary team of thirty professionals provides comprehensive support to students engaged in extracurricular projects. They design and manage facilities including co-working, ideation, event spaces, and a makerspace for prototyping. The team offers personal coaching, workshops, and access to a diverse expert network. Their mission is to accompany students on their journey by inspiring them to start, seek diverse perspectives, explore real needs, collaborate, think big, embrace failure, pivot, and overcome obstacles.

• The interdisciplinary team of thirty professionals provides comprehensive support to students engaged in extracurricular projects.
• They design and manage facilities including co-working, ideation, event spaces, and a makerspace for prototyping.
• The team offers personal coaching, workshops, and access to a diverse expert network.
• Their mission is to accompany students on their journey by inspiring them to start, seek diverse perspectives, explore real needs, collaborate, think big, embrace failure, pivot, and overcome obstacles.