Assistant Senior Manager/Senior Manager

at  DukeNUS Medical School

Posting Start Date: 02/12/2024
Job Description:

JOB DESCRIPTION

The Centre for Technology & Development (“CTeD”) under the Office of Innovation & Entrepreneurship (“OIE”) is seeking a dynamic and self-motivated individual to be part of the team that manages the commercialisation of inventions and facilitation of entrepreneurship at the School. The successful candidate will have on-the-job opportunities to learn the skills required for technology transfer and commercialisation, and.will be required to work across a range of Duke-NUS’ research and technology areas, with particular emphasis on AI, digital health and biomedical engineering, which are growing research and technology strengths at Duke-NUS. The successful candidate may also help to develop and manage acceleration programmes at the Centre.
CTeD manages an active technology development programme, and its main activities include identifying commercially-viable inventions, managing and seeking intellectual property protection including patents, developing and implementing project commercialisation plans, engaging in business development, and facilitating legal contracts to enable commercial development activities. The desired outcome is the eventual commercialisation of technology via launching and licensing patent/technology rights to start-up companies or licensing patent/technology rights directly to existing industry participants.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree or equivalent in Biomedical Engineering or related disciplines; a PhD is preferred.
• Minimum 5 years of relevant work experience in a related research or commercialisation environment.
• Qualifications in intellectual property law and/or business or licensing qualifications would be advantageous.
• Prior work experience in at least one of the following would be advantageous - project management or business development in a medtech company/organisation, intellectual property or contract law practice, and bioengineering research.
• Have strong interest in working in a science and technology-rich environment.
• Have excellent written and verbal communication skills and the ability to liaise effectively with all levels of internal and external stakeholders.
• Capable and pro-active in project management, and able to organise and manage multifunctional teams of internal and external stakeholders with distributed reporting.
• Possess the ability to develop and pivot work processes and programmes.
• Able to effectively multi-task and perform well under pressure, both independently and as part of a team.
• Proficient in MS Office applications and willing to try integrating new technologies and processes into workflows.
  We regret that only shortlisted candidates will be notified.

• Establish effective working relationships with scientists at Duke-NUS to thoroughly understand their research areas and priorities.
• Assist in the identification of early-stage intellectual property and assessment of its potential for commercial development.
• Liaise between researchers and patent attorneys to facilitate drafting and filing of patent applications.
• Develop commercialisation assessments and plans with researchers and internal/external colleagues that include market and user needs, competitive landscape, financing and product development.
• Provide project management support to the various activities required to move selected projects forward, including managing and participating in project management meetings, tracking progress and proactively ensuring that agreed actions are completed from one meeting to the next.
• Work with OIE’s Contracts and Industry Engagement Department and NUS’ Technology Transfer and Innovation Office and Legal Counsel (where necessary) in drafting, preparing, and negotiating a variety of agreements including confidentiality agreements, as well as option and license agreements.
• Monitor relevant contractual obligations to ensure compliance.
• Engage in business development with companies, investors and potential licensees to market Duke-NUS’ technologies that are available for investment and/or licensing;
• Manage CTeD’s acceleration programmes that support innovation and technology commercialisation.
• Contribute to CTeD’s overall business model and complete other ad hoc tasks as and when requested.