Senior Technology Manager

Position Details

The Montana State University Technology Transfer Office (TTO) Has a Need For a Senior Technology Manager. The TTO Pursues Three Primary Goals Establishing collaborations and working relationships between industry and the research and creative areas of MSU. This includes pursuing industry sponsored research and collaborating on commercial opportunities.

Licensing the inventions of MSU faculty and researchers to industry and managing the relationship between the University and its licensee partners.

Serving the economic development arm of the University and working with Montana companies and entrepreneurs to leverage the resources of MSU to the benefit of Montana’s economy.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Identify and evaluate MSU technologies with commercial and licensing potential.
• Solicit and facilitate IP disclosures from MSU researchers and coordinate closely with the MSU TTO IP Manager to ensure all materials and information are obtained in a timely manner to support patent filing and prosecution deadlines.
• Evaluate patent landscapes, competitive IP, and technology market opportunities.
• Select the most promising MSU technologies for licensing to companies.
• Generate marketing collateral—typically, one-page technical marketing summaries of technologies available for license.
• Perform market and industry research to identify high-potential industry customers for selected technologies, including building compelling business cases as needed.
• Engage target companies through proactive outreach—including email, phone, professional networking platforms such as LinkedIn, and conferences—to present licensing and research collaboration opportunities (and, where appropriate, other technology transfer opportunities).
• Help MSU startups perform customer discovery, market research, develop technology commercialization plans, and perform other analysis needed to help MSU licensee companies find a path to translate MSU research innovations into real-world applications.
• Draft, review, negotiate, edit, and track agreements such as Licensing Agreements, Research Collaboration Agreements, Inter-Institutional Agreements, and Sponsored Research Agreements.
• Professionally communicate directly with federal, state, and private sponsors or collaborators in a timely and well-documented manner to complete contracts and agreements.
• Establish effective working relationships with staff across the university and MSU extension to ensure that contract transactions are completed in a timely and professional manner.
• Maintain and update records in the TTO database to ensure data is accurate and current.

Required Qualifications

• Masters in engineering, physics, or other relevant field, or an equivalent combination of education and/or experience.
• A minimum of five years of experience in a technology-driven company. This does not include time spent in academia, research institutes, or non-profits.
• Demonstrated understanding of intellectual property, particularly patents.
• Demonstrated experience moving technology from R&D to the marketplace.
• Outstanding verbal and written communication skills.
• Demonstrated collegiality and ability to work in a team environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• PhD in engineering, physics, or other relevant field, or an equivalent combination of education and/or experience.
• Ten years of experience in a technology-driven company. This does not include time spent in academia, research institutes, or non-profits.
• Deeptech startup company experience, such as companies funded by venture capital, de-risking technology, product development, working to find product-market fit, and experience with exit events (e.g. company IPO, merger/acquisition, liquidation).
• Demonstrated expertise with intellectual property licensing, company IP strategy (including trade secrets).
• Experience reviewing legal language and negotiating contracts.
• Experience with university technology transfer, including an understanding of federal laws and regulations governing university technology transfer, particularly the Bayh–Dole Act and related compliance frameworks.
• Demonstrated knowledge of software technologies, including software development processes, cloud computing, artificial intelligence/machine learning, data analytics, cybersecurity, mobile applications, enterprise software, and/or digital platforms.
• Demonstrated history of successfully adopting new technologies and workflows—such as data analytics platforms, collaboration tools, or AI-driven systems—to improve organizational performance, decision-making, or research commercialization outcomes.
• Demonstrated leadership and management skills.