VOLUNTEER ROLE DESCRIPTIONS

Voice of Women in Innovation  •  womeninnovation.net  •  Remote / Global

ABOUT VOWI

Voice of Women in Innovation (VOWI) is a global advocacy network founded in 2025 to champion the inclusion of women in innovation. What began as a personal initiative to help women share opportunities and build connections has grown into a community of 70+ members across 20+ countries.

We run three specialty clusters — Corporate Innovation, Healthcare Innovation, and Digital Transformation & AI — alongside a monthly speaker series, the VOWI Podcast, a thought-leadership blog, and the annual Innovate Her campaign and Woman Innovator of the Year Award.

VOWI is member-led and volunteer-powered. We are now opening two volunteer roles that will directly shape how far and how fast the network grows.

THE TWO ROLES AT A GLANCE

ROLE 1

Membership Growth & Partnerships Volunteer

WHY THIS ROLE EXISTS

VOWI reached 70+ members in 20+ countries in its first year almost entirely by word of mouth. That proves demand — it is not a growth strategy. This role makes growth deliberate: new members in new markets, partner organizations that bring women to us in cohorts rather than one at a time, and business models that let VOWI fund its own ambition instead of relying on goodwill alone.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

Grow the membership

• Open new markets. Identify regions and sectors where women innovators are concentrated and underserved — MENA, Latin America, Southeast Asia, Africa — and build a route in for each.
• Recruit at the source. Go where they already are: corporate innovation teams, university entrepreneurship centres, accelerator cohorts, women’s tech networks, conference speaker lists. Outbound, not inbound.
• Build the referral engine. Turn 70+ existing members into recruiters through member-brings-member campaigns, cluster ambassadors, and Innovate Her alumni.
• Recruit for seniority mix. Deliberately bring in CIOs, senior innovation leaders, and funded founders — their presence is what attracts the next layer.
• Set and hit a target. Agree a membership growth number with the Founder and report against it monthly.

Build partnerships

• Source and close partners. Corporates, universities, accelerators, industry associations, and other women’s networks — with a value exchange that is clear on both sides.
• Design the formats. Co-hosted masterclasses, sponsored clusters, cohort memberships, Award sponsorship, content collaborations, event exchange.
• Negotiate and document. Agree terms, write them down, and hold both sides to what was promised.
• Run the pipeline. Named targets, stage, owner, next step, expected value — visible and current.

Develop business models

• Test revenue models that fit an advocacy network. Corporate and institutional membership tiers, sponsored clusters, paid masterclass or certification tracks, Award sponsorship, employer-branding packages, licensed research.
• Price and package it. Build credible commercial one-pagers and rate cards — not decks full of ambition.
• Pilot small, report honestly. Run limited tests, and say plainly which ones did not work.
• Protect the mission. No model that turns members into a product or compromises VOWI’s independence.

WHO THIS SUITS

• You have done business development, partnerships, sponsorship, or membership growth — and can point to something you actually closed.
• You are comfortable with a cold outreach list and a number to hit, and the follow-up does not wear you down.
• You can build a simple business case: what it costs, what it is worth, what the other side gets.
• You write clear, warm, professional English and work comfortably across LinkedIn, email, and a spreadsheet or simple CRM.
• You will turn down money that would cost VOWI its credibility.

ROLE 2

AI & Process Automation Volunteer

WHY THIS ROLE EXISTS

Almost everything VOWI does today runs on manual effort: application reviews, onboarding messages, event invitations, podcast and article publishing, award submissions, and reporting. That is the ceiling on our growth. This role removes it — not by adding tools for their own sake, but by automating the repetitive work so members’ time goes to the community rather than the admin behind it.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

• Map before you build. Document how VOWI operates today — applications, onboarding, cluster meetings, speaker series, podcast, articles, award submissions — and find where the time actually goes.
• Automate the member journey. Connect the application form, verification, welcome sequence, and cluster assignment into one flow that runs without manual chasing.
• Automate content operations. Build workflows that turn a recorded session or podcast episode into clips, summaries, article drafts, and social copy ready for human review.
• Build AI assistants that earn their place. For example: a member-matching assistant that suggests introductions across clusters, or a research assistant supporting our data-based advocacy work.
• Stand up reporting. Create a lightweight dashboard covering membership growth, event attendance, content output, and campaign reach.
• Protect member data. Apply sensible privacy practices — minimum necessary data, controlled access, no member information fed into tools that should not hold it.
• Document and hand over. Leave every automation documented clearly enough that a non-technical volunteer can run and maintain it.

WHO THIS SUITS

• You have hands-on experience with at least one automation platform — Zapier, Make, n8n, Power Automate, or Google Apps Script.
• You have built something real with LLMs, whether through the OpenAI or Anthropic APIs, or via no-code AI tooling.
• You are comfortable with lightweight data work: Google Sheets or Airtable, forms, webhooks, and simple integrations.
• You default to the simplest solution that works, you document what you build, and you handle personal data carefully.
• Formal qualifications are not required. Evidence that you have shipped something is.

What both roles offer

These are voluntary, unpaid roles. What we can offer instead is real, and we hold ourselves to it.

• Named credit as a VOWI lead — Membership Growth & Partnerships, or AI & Automation — on our website and in member communications.
• Direct working relationships with CIOs, female founders, and innovation leaders across 20+ countries.
• A visible platform: a slot in the VOWI Speaker Series, a podcast episode, or a published article, if you want one.
• A formal letter of reference from the Founder on completion of the six-month term.
• A clear pathway into cluster leadership or a board-level role as VOWI grows.

Specific to Role 1

• The chance to design VOWI’s commercial model from zero, in an organization that already has global visibility and no legacy to unpick.

Specific to Role 2

• A portfolio of live, in-production AI and automation work serving a real global organization.
• A working relationship with our Digital Transformation & AI cluster and its members.

How to apply

Send a short expression of interest — no formal CV required, though you are welcome to attach one.

• Tell us which role you are applying for: Membership Growth & Partnerships, or AI & Process Automation.
• Tell us why VOWI, in a few honest sentences.
• Show us one thing you have done that is relevant — a partnership you closed, a revenue stream you built, an automation you shipped. A link or screenshot is enough.
• Confirm your capacity: the hours you can realistically give each week, and your time zone.

Apply through the form at womeninnovation.net  —  or message Erila Haska directly on LinkedIn, noting the role in your first line.

We review on a rolling basis and will respond to every applicant. Applications from members and non-members are equally welcome — if you are not yet a member, joining is part of the onboarding.

Voice of Women in Innovation  •  womeninnovation.net  •  @vowiglobal