Founders Associate

Role Overview

• CEO enablement & operational excellence: You manage tasks, networks and the CEO’s calendar with a genuine strategic perspective — not merely maintaining a schedule, but enforcing priorities.
• You deliver presentations for the board, investors and leadership in a form the CEO can use unchanged.
• You know how to prepare and follow up on meetings so that decisions don’t remain in the minutes but are implemented.
• You excel at follow-up management, consistently keeping an overview of all the CEO’s to-dos and delegated tasks.
• Strategic sparring: You bring your own perspective — well-founded, proactive and without waiting to be asked. You identify process gaps before they become problems and come with considered solutions rather than open questions.
• If you disagree with the CEO, you defend your position — clearly, directly and with substance.
• Board & investor relations: You understand the dynamics of board and shareholder communication and know how to manage them professionally.
• You prepare advisory board meetings and annual shareholder meetings from A to Z — content-wise, logistically and with the necessary tact for the stakeholders involved.
• You systematically track the investors’ value-add and actively use the network for aedifion.
• Fundraising & M&A: You have experienced fundraising processes up close and know what matters for pitch decks, cohort analyses and investor narratives.
• You actively contribute this experience — in preparing future financing rounds and in the strategic evaluation of potential acquisition targets.
• Cross-functional projects: You drive strategic initiatives across team boundaries — with the overview, the necessary assertiveness and the judgment to know when to escalate and when not to.

Requirements

• Experience: You have already worked closely with C-level executives or founders — in a start-up, scale-up, consulting firm or VC environment — and can demonstrate proven successes.
• Output quality: From minimal input you produce convincing outputs: presentations, decision papers, analyses — with a minimal feedback loop.
• Stakeholder management: You have not only accompanied board and investor communication but actively shaped it and know how to communicate at that level.
• Project leadership: You have successfully driven cross-functional projects independently — not necessarily with formal authority, but with real influence.
• Analytical capability: You can read and interpret data and build a compelling narrative from it one that holds up at investor level.
• Strategic judgment: You assess strategic questions independently and with sound judgment — whether market evaluation, prioritization decisions or the assessment of a potential acquisition target.
• Confidentiality: Absolute discretion is a matter of course for you.
• Languages: You communicate fluently in German (C1) and English (C2) — verbally and in writing at the level required by international board members, investors and all company functions.

Benefits

• Make an impact: Your work helps reduce CO₂ emissions and makes buildings more sustainable and energy-efficient.
• Mobile work: Shape your working day according to your needs — with flexible hours, a short core period and the freedom to work from our modern office in Cologne, remotely from anywhere in Germany or up to 10 days per year from within the European Union.
• Long-term perspective: After the probationary period we offer a permanent employment contract.
• Feel-good benefits: 30 days of annual leave to rest and recharge, plus fresh organic fruit, regional coffee, free beverages and a monthly team breakfast for your daily energy boost.
• Professional development: We support you with tailored training and development opportunities to advance your career.
• Tech stack: You receive modern work equipment of your choice — Microsoft or Apple — and high-quality noise-cancelling headphones for focused work.
• Mobility package: Stay mobile — choose between the Germany public transport pass (Deutschlandticket) or a company bike (JobRad) — for commuting or private use.
• Benefits & retirement: Contributions to capital-forming benefits (VWL) or company pension scheme (bAV).
• #teamaedifion: Regular team events, working on equal terms, active knowledge sharing and flat hierarchies that foster strong collaboration and open communication.
• Dog-friendly office: Bring your dog — we welcome four-legged teammates.