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He is looking forward to starting his job next week.

To there is a preposition that normally requires a noun as its complement. It can also take a gerund (verb+ing) because a preposition can generally license a gerund as opposed to other classes of verbs.( A gerund is close to a noun). Still, it's a verb and that's the reason why it can take "his job" as its own object.

He is looking forward to start his job next week.

This one is ungrammatical. Preposition to cannot license this form of verb.

But start is a noun if preceded by a determiner like the and takes an of phrase complement as exemplified in Andrew Leach's example.

He's looking forward to the start of his job next week.

He is looking forward to starting his job next week.

To there is a preposition that normally requires a noun as its complement. It can also take a gerund (verb+ing) because a preposition can generally license a gerund**(*** i.e. starting *) as opposed to other classes of verbs.( A gerund is close to a noun). Still, starting is a verb and that's the reason why it can take his job as its own object.

He is looking forward to start his job next week.

This one is ungrammatical. Preposition to cannot license this form of verb.

But start is a noun if preceded by a determiner like the and takes an of phrase complement as exemplified in Andrew Leach's example.

He's looking forward to the start of his job next week.

He is looking forward to starting his job next week.

To there is a preposition that normally requires a noun as its complement. It can also take a gerund (verb+ing) because a preposition can license a gerund as opposed to to infinitives or other class of verbs.( Perhaps it is close to a noun or nounlike.). Still, it's a verb and that's the reason why it can take "his job" as its own object.

He is looking forward to start his job next week.

This one is ungrammatical. Preposition to cannot license this form of verb.

But start is a noun if preceded by a determiner like the and takes an of phrase complement as exemplified in Andrew Leach's example.

He's looking forward to the start of his job next week.

He is looking forward to starting his job next week.

To there is a preposition that normally requires a noun as its complement. It can also take a gerund (verb+ing) because a preposition can generally license a gerund as opposed to other classes of verbs.( A gerund is close to a noun). Still, it's a verb and that's the reason why it can take "his job" as its own object.

He is looking forward to start his job next week.

This one is ungrammatical. Preposition to cannot license this form of verb.

But start is a noun if preceded by a determiner like the and takes an of phrase complement as exemplified in Andrew Leach's example.

He's looking forward to the start of his job next week.

He is looking forward to starting his job next week.

To there is a preposition that normally requires a noun as its complement. It can also take a gerund (verb+ing) because starting(gerund) has noun properties. Still, it's a verb and that's the reason why it can take "his job" as its own object.

He is looking forward to start his job next week.

This one is ungrammatical. Start is a regular verb and doesn't have noun properties like starting.

But start is a noun if preceded by a determiner like the and takes an of phrase complement as exemplified in Andrew Leach's example.

He's looking forward to the start of his job next week.

He is looking forward to starting his job next week.

To there is a preposition that normally requires a noun as its complement. It can also take a gerund (verb+ing) because a preposition can license a gerund as opposed to to infinitives or other class of verbs.( Perhaps it is close to a noun or nounlike.). Still, it's a verb and that's the reason why it can take "his job" as its own object.

He is looking forward to start his job next week.

This one is ungrammatical. Preposition to cannot license this form of verb.

But start is a noun if preceded by a determiner like the and takes an of phrase complement as exemplified in Andrew Leach's example.

He's looking forward to the start of his job next week.