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POSITION SUMMARY: 

BRIDGE Innovation & Business Development, at University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) is recruiting for a Senior Director, New Ventures.

What do we do? BRIDGE team ideates and executes a comprehensive business strategy to commercialize UMMS’s IP portfolio through the development of NewCos, alliances, licensing agreements and partnerships. BRIDGE team is accountable for structuring, negotiating, and implementing a variety of transactions with external entities, including investors, leading as well as new pharma/biotech companies, incubators and other research organizations.

Success at BRIDGE & UMMS: BRIDGE @ UMMS reported licensing revenue of approximately $146 million during FY2018 and ranked fourth among all U.S. institutions and third among universities in terms of licensing revenue. BRIDGE and UMMS researchers have also co-founded multiple successful companies – Alnylam, Atalanta Therapeutics, ApicBio, Voyager Therapeutics, GenerationBio, Acworth & Bacainn to name a few.

UMMS is a research powerhouse: UMMS is a vibrant research enterprise that spends >$250M per year in research activities and consistently produces noteworthy advances in clinical and basic research. In 2006, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to UMMS professor Craig C. Mello, PhD for discoveries related to RNA interference (RNAi). UMMS researchers have made pivotal advances in HIV, cancer, diabetes, infectious disease, and in understanding the molecular basis of disease. UMMS Programs and centers include the RNA Therapeutics Institute, the Gene Therapy Center, Program in Gene Function and Expression, Systems Biology and Neurotherapeutics.

The Role: The Senior Director of New Ventures will be an executive leadership role in the BRIDGE Innovation & Business Development team and will report to the Executive Vice Chancellor  (EVC)– Innovation & Business Development. The individual in this position will manage a team of Director level professionals focusing on a variety of therapeutic categories. The New Ventures group is responsible for proactively scouting UMMS to identify and evaluate commercializable research assets and platform technology and match them with potential partners in biotech, pharma and investor ecosystem worldwide to identify commercialization and collaboration potential.

The individual in this role will be a scientific leader in BRIDGE@UMMS and will lead venture creation and licensing initiatives for the entire research portfolio @ UMMS 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. In this leadership position, the candidate must demonstrate influencing skills and organizational savvy to effectively interact with multiple internal research faculty/investigators and must drive similar interactions with external partners to efficiently evaluate and execute on license/collaboration/externalization of novel ideas and assets. To effectively contribute to these activities, they will need to possess a deep scientific knowledge in drug development across more than one therapeutic category and ideally will have prior experience in Gene Therapy or RNA therapeutics.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

Scientific Leadership:

• Lead a team of direct reports (Director level) in business development team & set strategic priorities for New Ventures team & goals for commercialization of UMMS assets and variety of technology platforms for novel therapeutics & devices
• Candidate’s main responsibility will be to proactively network with UMMS researchers to identify and provide scientific/technical assessment of commercial value of new and existing research projects and technology platforms, IP portfolio and invention disclosures filed by UMMS researchers from time to time.
• Will provide feedback and advise on prioritization to IP management team and other functions on the scientific value of invention disclosures submitted to BRIDGE@UMMS
• Serves as the point of contact with the external partner for technical/scientific conversations during due-diligence and negotiation/contracting processes
• Identify opportunities to expand potential partnership avenues (including SRA/MTA etc.)
• Prepare pitch/presentation materials for enabling proactive and reactive commercialization efforts by BRIDGE team
• Strategically prioritize team focus and bandwidth deployment in consultation with EVC- Innovation & Business Development to maximize the value of UMMS assets and platforms to selected partners and investors

Collaboration & teamwork:

• The candidate will be responsible for timely development and presentation of detailed material, at times in collaboration with other functions for internal governance/approval process as established by EVC- Innovation and Business Development.
• Identify opportunities to expand potential partnership avenues (including SRA/MTA etc.) & manage the deal process with other functions in BRIDGE team in order to drive decision making at all levels.
• Ideate novel partnership structures to cultivate external investor and syndicate interest in UMMS assets and platforms
• Ideate and propose innovative venture creation (NewCos/ spin outs) where appropriate and lead development of business case and presentation materials for investors and partners
• Develops and maintains effective relationships with key UMMS investigators, faculty chairs, and leadership team at UMMS.
• Maintains a strong network with pharma, biotech, academia and investor community.
• Works collaboratively with the Head of Transactions and other functions during negotiation of any NBTS or definitive agreement.
• Acts as a resource and mentor to develop junior team members in New Ventures and other functions of Innovation & Business Development team.
• Leads and collaborates with peers for development of IT systems to streamline workflow and increase productivity in New Ventures team and across entire BRIDGE team

Other Duties:

• Supports external visibility and connectivity by participating or presenting in external meetings to ensure that BRIDGE@UMMS is considered partner of choice
• Represent BRIDGE team’s critical initiatives and business priorities with faculty and senior management of UMMS
• Other projects, initiatives and/or duties as assigned.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• MD, PhD, PharmD, or other advanced degree in the biomedical field required.
• Minimum 8-10 years of experience within the biopharmaceutical industry or related biotech/healthcare practice (e.g., consulting, investment banking, venture capital) and minimum of 3 years of relevant business experience in search and evaluation function in business development.
• Deep scientific knowledge across more than one therapeutic area and ideally will have prior experience in Gene Therapy or RNA therapeutics, with understanding of the preclinical drug discovery and clinical development and approval process.
• Proven ability to efficiently lead multiple projects in a matrixed environment with a high degree of independence.
• Help to manage and develop other team members and contribute towards building a team culture which promotes knowledge sharing and learning
• Demonstrated ability to effectively communicate ideas and lead others to accomplish challenging goals and objectives.
• Experience working with both internal and external multidisciplinary teams/customers.
• Can-do attitude and ability to work in a highly matrixed and dynamic business environment including ability to interact and communicate to senior level executives.
• Deep scientific curiosity and commitment to advancing therapeutic innovation that provides better options for patients.