Job Posting Title:
Business Development Specialist – Hardware and Software
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Hiring Department:
Discovery to Impact
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Position Open To:
All Applicants
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Weekly Scheduled Hours:
40
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FLSA Status:
Exempt
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Earliest Start Date:
Immediately
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Position Duration:
Expected to Continue
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Location:
UT MAIN CAMPUS
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Job Details:
General Notes
Mission of Discovery to Impact:
Discovery to Impact stands at the heart of transforming academic research into real-world solutions, serving as the pivotal bridge between campus innovators and the industry. Our mission is to harness the power of over 130 campus programs dedicated to entrepreneurship and intellectual property, guiding groundbreaking research from concept to commercial success. Through fostering strategic partnerships with corporations, investors, and entrepreneurs, we ensure that the University's innovations transition from labs and studios into services, solutions, and products that profoundly benefit society. Join us in our quest to change the world, one innovation at a time.
What benefits do I receive with UT? The university offers an impressive benefits package including, but not limited to:
- Competitive health benefits (employee premiums covered at 100%, family premiums at 50%)
- Voluntary Vision, Dental, Life, and Disability insurance options
- Generous paid vacation (8 hours/month), paid holidays (10+/year), sick time (8 hours/month), and longevity pay
- Teachers Retirement System of Texas, a defined benefit retirement plan, with 8.25% employer matching funds
- Additional Voluntary Retirement Programs: Tax Sheltered Annuity 403(b) and a Deferred Compensation program 457(b)
- Flexible spending account options for medical and childcare expenses
- Robust free training access through LinkedIn Learning plus professional conference opportunities
- Tuition assistance
- Expansive employee discount program including athletic tickets
- Free access to UT Austin's libraries and museums with staff ID card
- Free rides on all UT Shuttle and Austin CapMetro buses with staff ID card
For more details on benefits, please see: https://hr.utexas.edu/prospective/benefits and https://hr.utexas.edu/current/services/my-total-rewards.
Purpose
This position will be responsible for generating a pipeline of potential new partnering opportunities for the University of Texas (UT) at Austin’s research in computational technologies, through marketing of intellectual property for licensing, and generating new connections for corporate-sponsored research, with the objective of advancing UT research in the fields of AI, computer science, networking and communications, and semiconductors.
Responsibilities
- Cultivate new and foster existing relationships with companies to identify solutions to industry’s needs: introducing UT-owned AI, computer science, and electrical engineering intellectual property available for licensing, promoting and highlighting UT Austin’s research capabilities and infrastructure, and marketing and supporting growth of other resources available throughout the institution.
- Collaborate with counterparts in Intellectual Property Development to evaluate market opportunity for new technologies and the appropriate commercialization pathway for intellectual property – via licensing, new venture formation, or corporate-sponsored research. Solicit insight from corporate partners to provide supporting information to the Intellectual Property Development team with an industry perspective when evaluating potential patent filings and prosecution strategies as well as development and commercialization potential for copyrighted works, including software. Engage and collaborate with the Discovery to Impact team to help prepare and develop marketing materials for intellectual property that is available for partnering.
- Engage inventors as key contributors for identifying partnering leads and keeping inventors aware of and involved in commercialization efforts.
- Collaborate with Licensing team and Collaborative Research team on potential deal development. Provide input about relevant market forces, and suggest opportunities for the most effective and valuable deal terms based on market intelligence and the path to market while maintaining a unified message to potential corporate partners.
- Raising industry awareness of the entire Discovery to Impact team, including all services and capabilities offered by the team and across UT Austin.
- Other duties as assigned by the Director of Business Development.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s Degree in computer science, data science, electrical engineering, or any other science/engineering field with a focus on AI, computation, large language models, or semiconductor materials, devices, and manufacturing.
- Minimum of one year of industry experience in a technology sector (developing or supporting commercialization of software, AI, semiconductor, or large language model or machine-learning-enabled assets at a company or University).
- Basic understanding of early-stage technology development.
- Knowledge of basic principles of intellectual property and licensing.
- Working knowledge of open-source software licensing
- Demonstrated ability to translate early-stage research into solutions for industry needs, including articulating a software or technology's potential commercial impact to industry and communicating complex scientific concepts clearly and concisely to audiences with and without technical expertise.
- Must be a highly self-motivated professional with exceptional ability to identify priorities and complete projects. Capable of simultaneously managing multiple projects within a portfolio at different stages in execution.
- Experience using personal computer applications and AI tools to streamline workflow.
- Available to travel.
Relevant education and experience may be substituted as appropriate.
Preferred Qualifications (candidates need not have all of these qualifications to apply)
- Advanced degree in a science, engineering, or business field with a focus on AI, computation, large language models, machine learning, natural language processing, or semiconductor materials, devices, and manufacturing.
- More than 1 year of experience working in a business development role at a company with a focus on software, AI, semiconductor, large language model or machine-learning-enabled technologies, or running targeted marketing campaigns for these types of technologies in a University.
- Experience and demonstrated success in developing and maintaining professional relationships with technology industry representatives to advance technologies into the market.
- Advanced understanding of software, AI, semiconductor, large language model or machine-learning-enabled technologies.
- Understanding of industry perspective when developing early, research-stage technologies.
- Experience collaborating across teams to develop partnering and commercialization strategies.
- Knowledge of market valuation techniques.
- Experience identifying and evaluating market opportunities based on feedback from trusted industry connections and other sources.
Salary Range
$85,000+ depending on qualifications
Required Materials
- Resume/CV
- Cover Letter
- 3 work references with their contact information; at least one reference should be from a supervisor
Important for applicants who are NOT current university employees or contingent workers: You will be prompted to submit your resume in the first step of the online job application process. Then, any additional Required Materials will be uploaded in the My Experience section; you can multi-select the additional files or click the Upload button for each file. Before submitting your online job application, ensure that ALL Required Materials have been uploaded. Once your job application has been submitted, you cannot make changes.
Important for Current university employees and contingent workers: As a current university employee or contingent worker, you MUST apply within Workday by searching for Find Jobs. Before you apply though, log-in to Workday, navigate to your Worker Profile, click the Career link in the left hand navigation menu and then update the sections in your Professional Profile. This information will be pulled in to your application. The application is one page and you will need to click the Upload button multiple times in order to attach your Resume, References and any additional Required Materials noted above.
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Employment Eligibility:
Regular staff who have been employed in their current position for the last six continuous months are eligible for openings being recruited for through University-Wide or Open Recruiting, to include both promotional opportunities and lateral transfers. Staff who are promotion/transfer eligible may apply for positions without supervisor approval.
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Retirement Plan Eligibility:
The retirement plan for this position is Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), subject to the position being at least 20 hours per week and at least 135 days in length.
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Background Checks:
A criminal history background check will be required for finalist(s) under consideration for this position.
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Equal Opportunity Employer:
The University of Texas at Austin, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action. The University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, or veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions.
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Pay Transparency:
The University of Texas at Austin will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information.
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Employment Eligibility Verification:
If hired, you will be required to complete the federal Employment Eligibility Verification I-9 form. You will be required to present acceptable and original documents to prove your identity and authorization to work in the United States. Documents need to be presented no later than the third day of employment. Failure to do so will result in loss of employment at the university.
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E-Verify:
The University of Texas at Austin use E-Verify to check the work authorization of all new hires effective May 2015. The university’s company ID number for purposes of E-Verify is 854197. For more information about E-Verify, please see the following:
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Compliance:
Employees may be required to report violations of law under Title IX and the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act). If this position is identified a Campus Security Authority (Clery Act), you will be notified and provided resources for reporting. Responsible employees under Title IX are defined and outlined in HOP-3031.
The Clery Act requires all prospective employees be notified of the availability of the Annual Security and Fire Safety report. You may access the most recent report here or obtain a copy at University Compliance Services, 1616 Guadalupe Street, UTA 2.206, Austin, Texas 78701.
Business & Strategy (1)