Innovation Hub Program Navigator

Proposed start date: 12/01/2026. Classification: Field, Research, and Outreach Services (Rank N – No Rank). Working title: Innovation Hub Program Navigator. Department: STP Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship. Representation: AAUP (AU), renewable fixed‑term through 06/30/2027. FTE variable between 0.5 and 1.0, starting at 1.0 FTE.

About the role

Portland State University is Oregon’s most affordable public research university, located in the heart of one of America’s most dynamic cities. Our mission to “let knowledge serve the city” reflects our dedication to turning ideas into action — in Portland and around the world. The city is our campus, giving students unmatched access to career connections, a vibrant cultural scene and hands‑on learning experiences with hundreds of community partners. More than 20,000 students from all backgrounds bring diverse perspectives to our classrooms and campus life, from the tree‑lined Park Blocks to the bustling Urban Plaza and state‑of‑the‑art science labs. We are proud of our world‑class faculty, groundbreaking research and international reputation for excellence in sustainability, community engagement and innovation.

Portland State University facilitates and hosts the Metro Region Innovation Hub (the Hub), which launched in Summer 2024. Funded by Business Oregon and other community partners, the Hub serves the tri‑county Metro area and provides regional entrepreneurs from all sectors, backgrounds, and business stages with accessible paths to all existing regional resources in networking, coaching, education, and capital access in order to foster and grow innovation‑based businesses. An invisible driver of success for many entrepreneurial ecosystems is local connectors who know what resources are available and the criteria for accessing them, and who regularly talk to entrepreneurs and provide intros to access those resources. For many communities, however, there are too few of those people, disparities in who can access those people (e.g. in terms of race and gender), and the labor for people who take on those roles is often informal and uncompensated. The Hub directly invests in that driver with a closely coordinated team of visible and knowledgeable Navigators that any entrepreneur can easily and equitably access.

Responsibilities

• Acquire and maintain relationships with and knowledge of regional ecosystem resources and providers.
• Meet and assess the needs of individuals and small companies in the region.
• Refer or case‑manage entrepreneurs to regional resources and providers.
• Follow up with engagements to ensure and “map” out what is most effective.
• Drive resource deployment in other Hub programs by uncovering emergent needs among entrepreneurs in the region.
• Maintain familiarity with the Hub’s service priorities for both innovation‑based, traded‑sector businesses and for equity and accessibility for communities who may not have known about or taken advantage of regional resources.
• Serve as a leader and expert for Hub programs, managing unique and challenging issues that have significant impact on the Hub and the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem.
• May lead other employees and students in executing Hub programs.
• Work guided by overall objectives with minimal day‑to‑day supervision; make decisions with a high level of professional judgment based on loose guidelines.
• Keep a current inventory of ecosystem resources and guide people and small companies through them.
• Flexibly and creatively adapt technical know‑how to novel situations.
• Help set Hub objectives and related milestones in collaboration with the Hub director and oversight board.
• Act as a natural connector, translating between “entrepreneurship”, “business”, and “normal” ways of addressing innovative and business ideas.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field of study and 4 or more years of professional experience, or Master’s degree with 2