Founder's Associate Programme

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🌟 UPDATE - Applications PAUSED

Thank you so much to everyone who has applied for the Founder's Associate Programme. We have been overwhelmed by both the volume and the quality of applications received.

We have committed to getting back to candidates within 72 hours, so we have decided to pause accepting new applications while we work our way through those already received.

If we reopen, we will update this page and post again on LinkedIn.

Thank you for your interest in Sana 🙏

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Format: 12-month programme, with potential to progress to a permanent role

Location: Hybrid — online, with regular in-person time in Cambridge or London (some travel will be involved).

Reports to: Hanadi Jabado DL, Founder & Managing Partner

Salary: £25,000–£30,000, depending on experience and location

Start: As soon as the right person is found

About Sana

Sana Capital is a UK-based fund of funds. Our alpha is deep tech and frontier tech; our beta is women-powered - we back the next generation of women fund managers investing in startups at the frontier. We’re building Fund I (£100M target) and the broader Sana ecosystem, including Sana Tribe, our community of LPs, GPs, founders and operators, and three education programmes designed to widen the pipeline of women in venture and deep tech.

We are a partnership of four, building out a wider team as Fund I closes. Small, ambitious and moving fast. This is a chance to sit at the centre of a first-time fund as it gets built.

About the programme

The Founder’s Associate Programme is a 12-month role designed to give one exceptional person a fast, immersive route into venture capital and the deep tech ecosystem. You’ll work directly with the Founder and alongside the wider partnership, take on real responsibility from week one, and finish the year with a serious decision in front of you.

At the nine-month mark we’ll have an open conversation about progression. Depending on your strengths and performance, the programme can lead to an Investment Associate role - joining the deal team and working on fund manager diligence.

The role

You’ll work directly with the Founder as her right hand across three areas:

Events: own the end-to-end delivery of Sana’s events calendar — LP dinners, GP roundtables, ecosystem convenings, education programme launches. From guest lists and venues to run-of-show, follow-ups and CRM hygiene.

Fund thesis & modelling: support the development and continual sharpening of the Sana investment thesis and fund model. Pull research, build slides, maintain the financial model, track competitor and market data, prepare materials for LP conversations.

Ecosystem building: be the operational engine behind Sana’s three education programmes and Sana Tribe. Coordinate cohorts, partners (universities, corporates, programme sponsors), communications and community engagement. You will work with the whole partnership and collaborate with all 4 Partners.

You’ll also do the unglamorous glue work that holds a small fund together — coordination, follow-ups, the occasional dog walk. We’re upfront about that. If you want a role that’s only strategic, this isn’t it. (Diary is handled by the EA.)

Who this is for

Open — best person wins. The role would suit either:

• A fresh graduate considering consulting or a grad scheme who wants something more entrepreneurial and high-agency instead

• Someone with 2–3 years’ experience in a startup or another fast-moving environment, looking for a way into venture and the deep tech world

You don’t need a finance background. You do need to be smart, resourceful, and someone people trust on first meeting.

Must-haves

We don’t expect you to have everything, and we don’t expect you to know everything. The real must-have is a love for learning.

• Team player

• Self-motivated and dynamic

• Genuine interest in deep tech and frontier tech

• Genuine interest in women’s progression in venture and tech

• Obsessively organised — you finish what you start

• Strong research skills — able to dig into a new market, technology or fund manager and come back with a clear, well-sourced view

• Clear, quick writer

• Comfortable in Excel / Google Sheets; able to pick up a fund model without panicking and LLM and Ai/ Claude friendly

• Discreet — you’ll see confidential LP, GP and portfolio information from day one

What you’ll get

• £25,000–£30,000 base salary, depending on experience and location

• A structured 12-month programme with a clear progression conversation at month 9

• Direct, daily mentorship from a 25+ year deep tech and VC operator

• Direct access and mentorship from 3 other seasoned Partners with 25+ years leadership in their own field

• A front-row seat to how a first-time fund is built, raised and run

• Exposure to LPs, GPs, founders and senior figures across the UK deep tech ecosystem

• A genuine onward path to Investment Associate

To apply

Send a CV to hello@sanacapital.co.uk and a short note (no formal cover letter) telling us two things:

1. One frontier or deep tech sub-sector you think is underrated right now, and why

2. Why Sana, and why now in your career