Associate Director - Commercialization
Job Summary
The Center for Research Innovation (CRI) at Northeastern University is seeking an Associate Director - Commercialization to join its team. Reporting to the Director of Commercialization, this role will manage a portfolio of faculty, researchers, and research centers, focusing on life sciences research and inventions. Key responsibilities include managing the technology portfolio, fostering industry relationships, negotiating licenses, and supporting spinouts.
Responsibilities
Technology Evaluation and Management – Manage technology portfolio to optimize commercialization outcomes. Promote increased impact of life science research conducted at the university by developing and deepening relationships within the research community for purposes of identifying Intellectual Property (IP) and evaluating its patentability and commercial/licensing potential. Identify and foster spinout opportunities in coordination with the Director – Technology Ventures. Work with Legal Team to continually evaluate the technology portfolio and provide recommendations to improve the portfolio for greatest commercial return.
Strategic Outreach and Engagement – Develop industry relationships focused on creating impact from Northeastern’s patent portfolio and research capabilities. Nurture and manage relationships within industry for potential collaboration or licensing deals. Establish professional network with external companies and advisers through ongoing participation in conferences and other industry events. Capture industry business challenges to help guide commercialization efforts, and to inform research conducted at the university.
Deal Negotiation – Be an effective ambassador for CRI and Northeastern during deal negotiation. Structure and negotiate business terms for licenses with industry partners and Northeastern spinouts, working closely with CRI legal and finance units. Liaise with researchers, NU-Res and legal team on efforts to secure industry sponsored research.
Strategic Program Development - Develop, execute, and manage commercialization strategies. Influence design and scope of marketing initiatives and programs. In collaboration with the CRI marketing team, create programs to scale up external relationships as well as tangible commercialization outcomes, including events, marketing outreach campaigns, seminars, training programs, etc. Contribute to the continuous improvement of the Center for Research Innovation, including process improvement, software and systems evaluations, best practices benchmarking and monitoring.
Qualifications
Required: Graduate Degree in a technical field within life sciences and at least 8+ years experience in academic technology transfer or equivalent, business development or research alliance experience with a life sciences research lab or company; MBA preferred
Proven record of accomplishment in key functional areas supporting the commercialization of early-stage technologies including assessment, marketing, licensing, and deal structuring.
Demonstrated expertise in negotiating, drafting, and executing high value deals.
Network of industry relationships in the life sciences and/or involvement with industry associations and entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Capacity for thinking both strategically and tactically with a high drive for execution.
Ability to communicate complex scientific concepts clearly and concisely to audiences with and without technical expertise.
Demonstrated ability to effectively enable strong collaboration and teamwork among a diverse group of internal and external stakeholders.
Strong written and verbal communication skills.
Experience with MS Office/Teams, Salesforce and online database tools.
Exceptionally capable of simultaneously managing multiple projects at various stages in execution.