Senior Commercialisation Associate (Life Sciences and CRUK)

Do you want to play a role in commercialising the ideas of world-leading academics?

Sitting at the heart of Europe’s most successful technology cluster, Cambridge Enterprise is the commercialisation arm of the University of Cambridge. Our mission is to help University of Cambridge innovators, experts and entrepreneurs make their ideas and concepts more commercially successful for the benefit of society, the UK economy and the University.

Cambridge Enterprise works with the Cancer Research UK (CRUK) Commercial Partnerships team who are dedicated to advancing discoveries to beat cancer by developing and commercialising exciting new discoveries in cancer research. Their deep understanding of both academia and industry enables them to translate promising research into commercial propositions to deliver patient benefit and commercial value that supports further cancer research.

Our Commercialisation Associates play a key role in helping researchers develop their ideas, technologies and inventions into opportunities that are attractive to industry and investors.

The role:
The variety of this role, jointly funded by CRUK, is remarkable; working within the Cambridge Enterprise Technology Transfer (TT) team and as a key member of CRUK Commercial Partnerships for 50% of your time, you will guide academics through the commercialisation of their ideas and inventions. You will help identify the value of a technology (through prior art searches and market analysis) and your contribution will help to further enhance its value. You will protect ideas through IP management and licencing, and will draft contracts, meet with academics and promote Cambridge Enterprise and industry collaborations. A key focus of your time spent working as part of the CRUK Commercial Partnerships team will be to conduct due diligence on CRUK funded research outputs and help them translate these towards patient benefit.

You will find the breadth of scientific diversity and the range of project status (from fledgling idea through to patented and licensed technology) stimulating and engaging. Moreover, working at the heart of Europe’s most successful innovation cluster, you will be working with cutting-edge technologies and the next great ideas, able to help these discoveries make a difference in the world.

For more information, read the full job profile, and visit our case studies webpage to read some of our commercialisation success stories.

Your skills:
Your background is in life sciences, and you have a PhD and/or research experience. A background in cancer research would be advantageous but not critical. You have an interest in entrepreneurship and managing and commercialising intellectual property and a broad interest in science and technology. Perhaps you already have knowledge of the patenting process, licencing, or other aspects of technology transfer, and experience in a commercial environment.

You have excellent organisation skills and can handle and prioritise a number of projects simultaneously. You have highly-developed communication skills and can put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Your IT skills are proficient, you are able to work well within a team, and demonstrate high levels of initiative.

Benefits:
Continuous development is key to the role. You will have on-the-job mentoring by some of the most experienced TT professionals in the world, as well as access to a raft of training courses including the UK TT industry’s ‘gold standard’ courses run by PraxisAuril.

Working for a subsidiary of the University of Cambridge, you will be offered a competitive salary with performance related pay, generous holiday, a University pension and a flexible working environment.   

The University of Cambridge and Cambridge Enterprise value diversity and are committed to equality of opportunity.

Location:
Our office base is at the Hauser Forum, West Cambridge Site. However, due to our flexible and remote working ethos, we are also open to applications from outside of the Cambridge area.

Interview process:
Closing date: Sunday 16 January 2022

We will hold an online, two-stage interview process, and the first interview will be held on Tuesday 25 January 2022, with the second on Tuesday 1 February 2022.