Director, Studio, Redemptive Imagination Project

About Praxis

Praxis began in 2011 with a desire to support and equip Christian entrepreneurs and has grown into a venture-building ecosystem with a redemptive imagination, supporting founders, funders, and innovators motivated by their faith to address the major issues of our time. Our work as an organization is to build a community of practice around the ideas of redemptive entrepreneurship, work that is powered by an incredible team of builders and operators. At the heart of Praxis' ecosystem are our efforts to facilitate redemptive outcomes across our community of funders, mentors, entrepreneurs — many of whom are founders in our portfolio, mentors in our Accelerators, and participants in our annual Summit gathering. As the Praxis community has grown over the past 14 years, we continue to need excellent operators and builders to connect and support our community in their pursuit of redemptive work.

About the Project

The Redemptive Imagination Project is one of the most important – and ambitious – efforts Praxis has pursued. We are launching a multigenerational initiative to awaken the creative and prophetic contributions of the church on the major issues of our time. 

As a network of humble and ambitious founders, builders, thinkers, funders, and ecosystem leaders, the Praxis community is well-positioned to support the global church on the redemptive edge of its contributions to address what’s broken in our world with opportunities for healing and flourishing. 

The project aims to awaken the redemptive imagination of Christians worldwide by identifying the major issues our community works on, developing redemptive theses and storytelling that galvanize the global church to respond creatively, building the required networks to make a difference on each issue, and launching and growing ventures that can confound the status quo as exemplars and show a better way forward.

For more on the project and the role, watch this video from Evan Feinberg, our Partner for the Redemptive Imagination Project. 

About the Role

The Director, Studio role reports to our Partner, Redemptive Imagination Project, and will help provide hands-on venture development support to Entrepreneurs-in-Residence, new start-ups, leaders who have been through the Praxis non-profit and for-profit accelerator programs, and organizations at a key inflection point that could dramatically transform their growth and influence potential. 

The Praxis Studio is an innovation and design studio helping to produce venture and community outcomes and support the redemptive imagination of the Praxis community. We have identified 34 “Opportunities for Redemptive Imagination” that draw on our robust community of redemptive entrepreneurs, funders, thinkers, builders, and ecosystem leaders to drive a creative and prophetic agenda for the church and society, and we are hard at work producing venture outcomes and collaborative activity across the community. 

This person will be in the flow of business model design, market research, and product imagination for new ORI-driven ventures, providing production velocity and support across the Praxis community. This seat provides direct proximity to cutting-edge redemptive ventures and the entrepreneurs building them.

Over time, the Director will be asked to build a team and model to consistently deliver these capabilities as a form of consulting across the Praxis community and beyond. 

Candidates should have a deep interest in venture development, market research, brand building, design thinking, and cultural trend analysis, with passion for supporting redemptive innovation. In short, we're looking for someone who can contribute directly to venture building while also conducting research that advances our understanding of market opportunities for redemptive entrepreneurship.

Key Areas of Work

• Studio program design and delivery for Entrepreneur-in-Residence programs, Design Workshops, Discovery Sessions, and other forms of consulting and support for the Praxis community
• Serve as the first point of contact for Entrepreneurs in Residence.
• Work with Studio projects to provide production velocity and support, including pitch deck development, brand and product design, network introductions, and market research.
• Contribute hands-on to business model design, financial modeling, and product imagination for new ORI-driven ventures, creating design briefs, pitches, surveys, interviews, and various business development models.
• Conduct market research and discovery for opportunity areas, researching competitive models and approaches in particular ORI market spaces, and incorporate themes from redemptive thesis development.
• Complete ethnographic and design-thinking style research with entrepreneurs-in-residence to drive process and learning forward, assessing cultural trends in partnership with the Partner for Theology & Culture.
• Produce and maintain the Request for Startups (RFS) list for Praxis ORIs, sourcing opportunities from Venture Partners and maintaining ORI Landscape research that assesses cutting-edge ventures and capital placement.

Expected Competencies for the Role

• Business development and venture building expertise
• Market research and competitive analysis
• Design thinking and ethnographic research skills
• Brand conceptualization, and pitch development
• Basic financial modeling
• Cultural trend analysis and synthesis abilities
• Network building and strategic relationship development
• Event operations and program management proficiency

Ideal Prior Experiences

We are seeking a highly entrepreneurial individual with a background in venture development, market research, and/or startup operations who excels in hands-on business building and strategic analysis. The ideal candidate has experience in business model design, financial modeling, pitch development, and market research, preferably in mission-driven or impact-focused organizations. We're looking for people who combine analytical rigor with entrepreneurial intuition and are committed to advancing redemptive innovation through direct venture support.

Additional Details

Location: New York, NY // Praxis Headquarters in Midtown Manhattan

Reports to: Partner, Redemptive Imagination Project 

Travel: Travel expectations are 30–50 days annually for events and gatherings outside NYC. Includes quarterly NYC team meetings, Studio events at HQ, and the annual Summit in Napa Valley, CA. This role may also require travel to EIR programs, Discovery Sessions, and research-related events, as well as other essential Praxis gatherings. All travel expenses covered by Praxis.

Compensation & Benefits: 

• Compensation Range: $115K - 155K based on experience
  • For all Praxis roles, we are open to candidates who are ‘outside of range’. That is to say, growth-minded applicants at an earlier stage of career and comp, or candidates with experience above the highest end of the job description and compensation range, are welcome & encouraged to apply. 
• Comprehensive benefits including fully paid health insurance premiums for families
• 5% matching 401k
• Flexible vacation policy

Cultural Alignment

Praxis finds its theological identity most clearly stated in the Lausanne Covenant (1974) and the Cape Town Commitment (2010). All Praxis staff and program participants are asked to affirm The Apostles’ Creed as a statement of their own beliefs. The ideal candidate will demonstrate alignment with the above, as well as our mission to advance redemptive entrepreneurship. We're seeking a leader who combines operational excellence with a spirit of humility and service, contributing to our vision of building an organization that embodies redemptive principles in all aspects of its work and culture, which includes shared rhythms such as daily team prayer and a company-wide weekly Sabbath, as detailed in our Rule of Life for Redemptive Entrepreneurs (rule.praxislabs.org).