Yale Ventures - Director of Business Development

Come join Yale Ventures at Yale University | Innovation and Entrepreneurship!!

About Yale Ventures

Launched by Yale University in 2022, Yale Ventures seeks to foster and accelerate a vibrant entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem that increases support, resources, and opportunities for Yale innovators—faculty and students—as they translate their ideas and discoveries into new ventures that will positively impact the world's greatest challenges.

The Yale Ventures team is a diverse group of professionals with experience in academia, business development, corporate strategy, entrepreneurship, intellectual property, and marketing.

Position Overview

Under general supervision of the Executive Director of Business Development, independently elicits and evaluates innovations from Yale research, works with Yale Ventures staff and outside counsel to secure intellectual property rights, markets technologies, negotiates agreements, and develops and executes commercialization strategies for innovations from Yale research.

Required Skills and Abilities

1. High energy, outgoing, enthusiastic business development orientation. Ability to juggle multiple projects. Ability to work closely with venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, academic investigators and Yale Ventures team. Excellent listening, oral presentation, and writing skills.
2. Ability to understand complex scientific presentations and publications, and the process of moving academic discoveries to the private sector. Understanding of the process of intellectual property management.
3. Ability to evaluate market potential for projected products - revenue, expense, and return on investment analyses. Ability to develop and recommend commercialization strategies for academic inventions.
4. Highest level of ethics and integrity in professional matters; sensitivity for confidentiality and scrupulous commitment to the best interests of Yale University.
5. Strong software application skills, including but not limited to Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook), Zoom, web-based information retrieval, Salesforce and other information/database management.

Preferred Education, Experience and Skills

• Advanced degree in biological science or similar life science experience strongly preferred. High level of knowledge of biomedical science and technology developments.
• Demonstrated knowledge in one or more scientific disciplines.
• Five or more years’ experience in licensing, corporate business development, or life science investments. Industry experience; Ph.D, JD, or MBA.

Principal Responsibilities

1. Establish relationships with faculty and develop high level of understanding of faculty interests and accomplishments.
2. Identify and evaluate commercial potential of technologies invented at Yale. a. Be able to effectively communicate regarding technologies, their current stage of development and their competitive advantages and disadvantages when compared to other related technologies. b. Determine the status and extent of proprietary rights protection, and whether additional protection is necessary, possible, or justified. c. Determine the nature and extent of the primary commercial markets to which the technology applies including commercial opportunity for specific technology. d. Determine how much additional development is required to bring technology to stage of attractiveness for commercial firms and initiate efforts to secure funding to complete the necessary development.
3. Develop strategies for the commercialization of technologies. a. For each technology deemed to have significant commercial potential, prepare profiles of companies addressing the relevant markets. b. Market to relevant companies of the availability of a new technology and make them aware of its relative advantages and disadvantages. c. Determine the state of readiness of the targeted companies to enter into negotiations. d. Develop licensing strategies that are consistent with the Yale University Patent Policy including recommended scope of licenses and client investment requirements.
4. Negotiate licenses and collaborative R&D in the execution of strategies. a. For each licensable technology, determine the degree of interest from prospective licensees. b. Establish contact with executives in industry to develop licenses and collaborative research agreements. c. Act as the point of contact for the negotiation of all business terms and conditions for licenses. d. Perform technical liaison and ensure technical support for licensees. e. Promote commercial use of new technologies that may lead to new business ventures, particularly those where the employee-inventor may also act as entrepreneur.
5. May perform other duties as assigned.

The University is committed to basing judgments concerning the admission, education, and employment of individuals upon their qualifications and abilities and seeks to attract to its faculty, staff, and student body qualified persons from a broad range of backgrounds and perspectives. In accordance with this policy and as delineated by federal and Connecticut law, Yale does not discriminate in admissions, educational programs, or employment against any individual on account of that individual’s sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, age, disability, status as a special disabled veteran, veteran of the Vietnam era or other covered veteran.