Salary: Competitive (up to £68,000 p.a. depending on experience) 

This role will be based on the university campus. We are also open to discussing flexible working arrangements with the expectation of being on University campus 2-3 days a week.

Are you looking for an exciting opportunity to play a key role at one of the largest research-intensive universities in the UK?  Do you want to be part of a team that develops the strategy for commercialisation of Intellectual Property (IP) generated within the University of Leeds?

The University of Leeds is one of the top 135 universities in the world.  We have a truly global community, with more than 39,000 students from 170 different countries and over 9,000 staff of 100 different nationalities.  Established in 1904, we have a strong tradition of academic excellence, reflected in first-class student education, along with world-leading research that has a real impact around the globe. 

The University of Leeds has an extensive patent portfolio of over 400 applications, over 30 active spinout companies and in excess of 400 technology licences.

This challenging role requires an energetic and self-motivated individual to lead and coach a team with responsibility for identifying, assessing and developing early stage commercialisation opportunities arising from our academic research programmes. Responsible for leading a team of 5 people, you will develop an approach and processes to ensure that your team carry out effective commercial due diligence on disclosed opportunities, guide the Intellectual Property development strategy, assist in securing early stage funding to undertake market appraisals and technical development and ensure effective handover of opportunities to licensing and venture colleagues for deal completion. 

With experience in technology-related opportunity development and innovation, you will have strong evaluation, planning and process management skills together with the ability to lead and develop a team to deliver on KPIs. The ability to effectively engage and influence internal and external stakeholders is essential as is acting as a key source of expertise and leading on decisions. You will have a background in the engineering or informatics or physical sciences sectors with experience of creating an effective environment for sourcing, appraising and managing early stage commercialisation opportunities. 

What we offer in return

•    26 days holiday plus 16 Bank Holidays/days that the University is closed by custom (including Christmas) – that’s 42 days a year!

•    Generous pension scheme – the University contributes 21.6% of salary

•    Health and Wellbeing: Discounted staff membership options at The Edge, our state-of-the-art Campus gym, with a pool, sauna, climbing wall, cycle circuit, and sports halls.

•    Personal Development: Access to courses run by our Organisational Development & Professional Learning team, and self-development courses including languages, Creative Writing, Wellbeing Therapies and much more.

•    Access to on-site childcare, shopping discounts and travel schemes are also available.

And much more!  

To explore the post further or for any queries you may have, please contact:

Dr. Arshad Mairaj, Head of Commercialisation

Tel +44 (0)113 343 0911 

email [email protected]