Director of Science & Entrepreneurship

We are seeking a dynamic and enthusiastic Director of Science and Entrepreneurship. This is a new post responsible for driving both the growth of Babraham Research Campus Ltd as a world class research and innovation centre, encouraging entrepreneurship activities as well as nurturing the development of the expanding community of bioscience companies within the campus, and working closely with the academic community at the Babraham Institute. A key element of the role is to manage and develop the Accelerate@Babraham Programmes.

The ideal candidate will have a scientific background with an interest in or experience of start-up and scale-up entrepreneurship or early-stage fund raising/venture capital with (or enthusiasm to develop) an extensive network of contacts including within the investment community. With an outgoing, and can-do approach, we are seeking an enthusiastic individual who can make a difference, with strong presentation and communication skills.

The Babraham Research Campus is one of the leading locations in Europe for early-stage and scale-up life sciences companies to start up and grow. It is a co-location of world class life science research with a dynamic community of scientist and entrepreneurs helping to discover and develop the therapeutics for the future. The campus plays a pivotal role in the Cambridge life-science cluster and is the home to ~ 60 companies, and with ~ 1800 staff on site. The Babraham Research Campus has a bold vision and strategy, and is due for further growth and development.

This will be a key role within the Executive Team, responsible for the delivery and ongoing evolution of the vision, mission and strategic roadmap for making Babraham Research Campus Ltd the foremost location in the UK and internationally for driving bioscience research and innovation as well as the growth of new bioscience businesses. Within this, the Director of Science & and Entrepreneurship is at the heart of defining and implementing our strategy for how the Babraham Research Campus can harness its reputation and credibility to take a lead position in realising the benefits of a more cohesive and integrated Cambridge Bioscience/Pharma/Academic community.

The Director of Science and Entrepreneurship is responsible for supporting the start-up, nurture and growth of the companies within the campus at all stages in their development as the ‘Entrepreneur/R&D Consultant in Residence’ and via leadership of the Babraham Life Science Accelerator programme (accelerate@babraham) which supports early-stage companies in their entrepreneurial journey. The successful candidate will be expected to grow and develop the programme working with other key locations and organisations active in this area. This position will involve working closely with the academic community at the Babraham Institute and PhD programmes, and to represent the campus and the business at external events.

The successful candidate will have excellent leadership skills with previous experience in strategy development and organisational planning and delivery. You will also have prior experience from within a scientific field with an insight in academic research, and an interest in or experience of entrepreneurship. The ability to interact and collaborate with multiple, diverse stakeholders from academia and industry at all levels internally and externally is key.