The founding director.
I’ve spent the last 30 years as a serial entrepreneur building and scaling multiple ventures. I was lucky—I was one of the last apprentices in my industry and received the structured start that set me up for life.
This is personal. Today’s graduates have done everything asked of them—excelled at school, gone to university, and worked hard—yet when it’s time to launch their careers, the opportunities simply aren’t there. Traditional entry-level roles have largely disappeared.
AI has become the villain in this story, rapidly removing the first rung of the career ladder. But if handled correctly, AI can become the hero for many of these graduates and the start-ups they will build.
That’s why I created EmergIT CIC. We give AI-fluent graduates real ownership from Day 1—turning them into founders who build the nimble, AI-native organisations the future actually needs.
Ian Rea
Founding Director, EmergIT CIC
ianrea@emergit.org
The founding sprint—five roles, five people.
We are assembling the founding team now. When all five roles are filled, the sprint begins.
Role 1:
Lead Coordinator
Degree in Business, Management, or similar.
- Coordinate the founding team across all five workstreams
- Design the EmergIT programme structure—how we find, assess, support, and graduate cohorts
- Build and manage the graduate recruitment pipeline for Phase 2
- Own the day-to-day operational rhythm of the organisation during the sprint
- Support the grant application process with programme documentation and impact evidence
Role 2:
Tech/IT Lead
Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Data Science, or similar.
- Design and build the automated graduate intake and assessment platform
- Own the EmergIT website and all underlying tech infrastructure
- Build AI tools and automation that allow the programme to scale without constant human intervention
- Create the data systems and reporting infrastructure that underpins our grant applications
- Evaluate and implement the minimum viable tech stack for the first programme cohort
Role 3:
Legal Co-Founder
Degree in Law—LLB, LPC, GDL, or similar. Qualified solicitor not required.
- Draft and review core legal documents—co-founder agreements, grant terms, programme participant agreements
- Maintain the CIC constitution and ensure ongoing compliance with CIC Regulator requirements
- Support grant applications with legal and governance documentation
- Build the legal template library that future programme graduates will use in their own ventures
- Advise on the revenue share framework and ensure agreements are legally sound
Role 4:
Finance Co-Founder
Degree in Accounting, Finance, Economics, or similar. Chartered accountant not required.
- Set up and maintain EmergIT’s financial records and management accounts from day one
- Build the financial model underpinning the £250,000 grant application—cost per graduate, programme unit economics, three-year projections
- Design the grant disbursement framework—how the £5,000 per graduate is tracked, approved in three tiers, and reported
- Ensure the CIC meets its financial reporting obligations to the CIC Regulator at Companies House
- Manage the CIC’s banking relationship and financial controls
Role 5:
Marketing Co-Founder
Degree in Marketing, Communications, Media, Business, or similar
- Draft and review core legal documents—co-founder agreements, grant terms, programme participant agreements
- Maintain the CIC constitution and ensure ongoing compliance with CIC Regulator requirements
- Support grant applications with legal and governance documentation
- Build the legal template library that future programme graduates will use in their own ventures
- Advise on the revenue share framework and ensure agreements are legally sound