Consultant, Unum Ventures

About the role

The Consultant, Unum Ventures will manage a portfolio of early-stage startups participating in The Foundry, serving as a trusted advisor as founders strengthen their businesses and prepare for successful enterprise partnerships. This role will help startups identify and address growth and readiness gaps, establish and track key milestones, navigate Unum’s requirements and resources, and build relationships with relevant internal stakeholders. The Consultant will combine startup advisory, relationship management, and program execution to help portfolio companies make meaningful progress while supporting Unum Ventures’ strategic priorities.

Unum and Colonial Life are part of Unum Group, a Fortune 500 company and leading provider of employee benefits to companies worldwide. Headquartered in Chattanooga, TN, with international offices in Ireland, Poland and the UK, Unum also has significant operations in Portland, ME, and Baton Rouge, LA - plus over 35 US field offices. Colonial Life is headquartered in Columbia, SC, with over 40 field offices nationwide.

Responsibilities

• Responsible for managing a portfolio of early-stage startups, serving as a trusted advisor to founders and helping them define priorities, establish milestones, and make measurable progress toward enterprise readiness.
• Develop a deep understanding of each startup's business model, product, customer needs, and growth challenges.
• Provide guidance and coaching to help founders strengthen their offering, refine their strategy, and prepare to engage successfully with enterprise customers.
• Connect startups with subject matter experts, mentors, advisors, and internal stakeholders who can help address key business, product, operational, or enterprise readiness challenges.
• Serve as subject matter expert for strategic intelligence in supporting Ventures’ teams, conducting market, industry, and competitive research to help founders and Ventures teams identify opportunities, risks, and emerging trends.
• Facilitate regular portfolio reviews and stakeholder engagement sessions to align startup objectives, program milestones, and strategic opportunities with Unum priorities.
• Partner with internal teams across the business to help startups understand strategy, demand, enterprise requirements and navigate potential pathways to partnership, pilot, or commercial engagement.
• Manage startup progress through a structured portfolio management framework, tracking milestones, identifying risks and growth opportunities, measuring enterprise readiness, and ensuring startups receive the support needed to advance through the Ventures ecosystem.
• Support startup sourcing, evaluation, and onboarding activities, providing insights on founder strengths, business readiness, strategic fit, and potential opportunities for engagement across Unum Ventures.
• May perform other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• 3-5 years of experience in startups, consulting, venture programs, accelerator/incubator environments, innovation, product strategy, business development, or related fields.
• Develop and maintain excellent working relationships with internal stakeholders to oversee partnership operational connections.
• Entrepreneurial mindset; a self-starter