The Manager – New Ventures will be a role in BRIDGE Innovation & Business Development team and will report to the Executive Director who leads New Ventures. They will be responsible for proactively scouting UMass Chan to identify and evaluate research assets and platform technologies with commercial value and match them with potential partners in biotech, pharma and investor ecosystem.  

The individual in this role will manage the global commercialization initiatives for a proportion of the technology portfolio and will have a direct impact on the success of the licensing, partnerships and NewCo formation through scouting, assessment, and execution on external strategies with academic/biotech and venture partners.

For this position, the candidate must be a strong multi-tasker with an innate ability to prioritize and execute on several projects in parallel. They will be expected to interact with multiple internal research faculty and investigators, connecting them with external partners and to efficiently evaluate and execute on license/collaboration/externalization of novel PI assets. To effectively contribute to these activities, the candidate will need to possess a general scientific knowledge in specified disease areas and technologies such as gene therapies (including gene editing) and technologies such as Oligonucleotide therapeutics.

Responsibilities

• Proactively network with UMass Chan researchers to identify and provide scientific/technical assessment of commercial value of new and existing research projects, IP portfolio and Invention Disclosures filed by UMass Chan researchers from time to time.
• Lead cross-functional team to develop program presentation material, accurate and with a strategic focus to maximize the value of UMass Chan assets and platforms, target business case/ new opportunity pitches to selected partners and manage information disclosures towards other potential partners and to lead opportunities in other new therapy areas as assigned by Head of New Ventures.
• Serves as the point of contact with the external partner for scientific and technical aspects of due-diligence by partners/investors and towards delivery of a research plan based on input from both internal/external stakeholders
• Undertake landscaping of industry portfolio, related scientific data (in consultation with UMass Chan researchers when appropriate) to identify competitive positioning and potential differentiation towards better outcome for BRIDGE commercialization efforts
• Evaluation of novel opportunities to expand potential partnership avenues (including SRA/MTA etc.) & manage the deal process with the Business Development team and the transaction & IP management team in order to drive decision making at all levels.
• Maintains a strong network with pharma, biotech, academia, and investor community
• Works collaboratively with the Transactional lead within the BRIDGE team during negotiation of any NBTS or definitive agreement.
• Supports external visibility and connectivity of BRIDGE by participating or presenting in external meetings

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• PhD, PharmD, M.D., or M.D./PhD in scientific fields (e.g. biology, chemistry, pharmacology) with 2 plus years of experience
• Prior deal experience in business development, technology transfer, early-stage investment or top-tier healthcare strategy consulting will be strongly preferred
• Experience in academic or industry drug discovery is preferred
• Ability to interact and communicate effectively with multiple teams.
• History of building internal/external relationships, demonstrating cultural sensitivity and awareness.
• Ability to think critically, creatively and to anticipate and solve problems.
• Ability to understand businesses process quickly
• Advanced level of proactivity and resourcefulness to ideate new opportunities and creativity towards problem solving
• Ability to navigate tactfully and be successful in a fast-paced, highly matrixed work environment.
• Ability to form and help lead a team to achieve relevant goals

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• PhD, PharmD, M.D., or M.D./PhD in scientific fields