Director of Innovation

UATX•Austin, TX

About The Position

The Director of Innovation is the Executive Director’s principal partner in leading both the long-term development and the day-to-day work of Innovation Labs. The role spans the full range of Innovation Labs’ efforts: the on-campus AI/Robotics/Prototyping Lab, work at the Applied Engineering Lab in Bastrop, Polaris, academic programs, major projects, partnerships, fundraising, and future labs and facilities. The Director of Innovation should be able to move comfortably between long-range planning, developing new programs and initiatives, solving immediate problems, and coordinating the people needed to move the work forward. The Innovation Director is also the hands-on technical leader for student inventors and founders. The role combines technical mentorship, lab leadership, and a high volume of student-facing build support. The Innovation Director will work closely with students on their multi-year, self-directed projects that students develop and build throughout their time at UATX.

Requirements

Demonstrated execution leadership in complex environments (education + tech/hardware ecosystems is a plus)
Strong systems thinking + ability to get into details when needed
Comfortable operating in ambiguity; thrives in early-stage institution-building
Builder-operator mindset; credible with technical and academic stakeholders
Strong engineering foundation
Startup experience required; has either founded a startup or been an early builder at one
Evidence of building real systems end-to-end
Comfortable teaching by doing: pairing, live debugging, design reviews, and hands-on guidance
A builder-operator temperament: practical, fast, high standards, student-centered

Responsibilities

Work closely with the Executive Director to set priorities and shape the long-term direction of Innovation Labs.
Help develop, carry out plans, and expand the Innovation Lab’s capabilities for new programs, partnerships, facilities, courses, and major projects.
Maintain a clear view of work across Innovation Labs, including the on-campus AI/Robotics/Prototyping Lab, the Applied Engineering Lab in Bastrop, future sites, Polaris and our other academic innovation programs, UATX’s Capital Factory partnership, fundraising, AI-related projects, and external collaborations.
Serve as a technical liaison to student builders across disciplines.
Meet and build with students, writing code, vibe coding with AI, designing systems, prototyping hardware, and iterating toward working systems.
Assist in day-to-day operations of the AI/Robotics/Prototyping Lab: readiness, workflow, safety norms, tool access, and “the lab works” reliability.
Lead workshops, build sessions (robotics, prototyping methods, rapid software/hardware iteration, “vibe coding,” etc.), and occasionally classes.
Help students move from idea → prototype → working system, with a bias toward execution.
Collaborate with the Executive Director to expand the lab’s capability over time (tools, processes, partnerships, project pathways).
Help lead the creative direction, student-facing use, and project pipeline for the Bastrop facility, ensuring the space develops as a flagship environment for invention, prototyping, applied engineering, and the future of technical education at UATX.