Founders jobs in Bristol

A one-day hackathon where teams of women use AI and real data to build tools that make the gender pay gap more visible and solvable. The rules are strict about output: something real and usable, not a concept note or another coaching app. Morning to form teams and pick an angle, afternoon to build with mentors, late afternoon for pitches, judging, prizes and drinks. Presented by SW*AID, the South West and Wales women in AI and data community, with Taught by Humans and Bristol law firm Ashfords co-organising. Part of the Brazen tech festival, at Hargreaves Lansdown, 09:00 to 17:30. Free but approval-gated: applications close 15 October, decisions the week of 19 October. Open to women based in the South West or Wales who are free all day. No tech background needed. Around 40 places.

Day 4 of the Brazen Summit, aimed at founders, scale-up leaders and the people who back them: growing without diluting what the company is for, and getting ready to exit. Tilly Lockey opens with a keynote. Guy Singh-Watson, founder of Riverford, is then in conversation with Gaynor Coley on building an impact-led business on his own terms. Simon Davies, Chief Test Pilot at Vertical Aerospace, follows with what it takes to design, test and certify a new aircraft, and the scaling lessons that travel beyond aerospace. The morning closes on first-hand accounts of acquisitions, mergers and IPOs from Nick Sturge MBE, Heather Frankham MBE DL, George Sandilands and Lauren Crawley-Moore of the London Stock Exchange. Paid; no face price published.

A 25-minute founder session with Bruce Gray, who started Left Handed Giant brewing in borrowed tanks and now runs eight Bristol venues, backed by around 1,500 crowdfunding investors and certified as a B Corp. The subject is scaling without giving up the principles the business was built on: raising money from your own community rather than institutions, the trade-offs growth forces, and why being held to a higher standard has made the company stronger rather than slower. At The Station, 13:00 to 13:25, part of Brazen's Community Track.

A 90-minute workshop from Aer Studios and UX Crunch on hiring for skills that did not exist when the job description was written. The first half is talks on the changing skills landscape, what younger candidates want from employers, and what businesses actually need from the next generation. The second half is the work: as a group you take a conventional role and redesign it for the workforce you need next - what experience is genuinely essential, what can be taught, which skills matter most, and whether your recruitment process is helping you find the right people or filtering them out. At The Station on Silver Street, in the Brazen Community Track.

An open afternoon at SETsquared Bristol's incubator for tech entrepreneurs and university researchers who are not members yet. The point is to see inside the programme before applying: what the business support actually covers, how the adviser and investor network works, and what membership gets you. The published agenda is talks from Entrepreneurs in Residence, a fireside chat with a current member, and a panel Q&A with the SETsquared Bristol team. No individual speakers are named on the listing. It runs 15:00 to 17:00 at the Sloane Robinson Building on Cattle Market Road, part of Bristol Innovations at the University of Bristol. Free to attend.