Process Manager (Innovation and Licencing)

The Innovations team manages the protection and exploitation of inventions and other opportunities arising from the research developments in the STFC National Laboratories. Our interactions may lead to patents, new spin-out companies, commercial licenses to STFC’s intellectual property or collaborative technology developments with existing companies.

As Process Manager, you will work closely with the Innovations team, the Head of Technology Transfer and the IP Manager, as well as colleagues in the wider BID to manage and enhance our entire process to generate commercial impact from the research developments at STFC. Your role will be a key contributor in our team by ensuring the delivery of our outputs are achieved on time and key decisions documented at each stage of our innovation process.

Your role includes responsibilities for managing and supporting the internal BID commercialisation funds, such as the proactive management of funds budgets and processes, you may also be required to support new funding calls for projects to address specific governance related issues.

You will be able to manage your own workload and be effective at working across the organisation to improve the outcomes of the work of your colleagues.

You will be confident in dealing with internal and external stakeholders, have strong organisational, team-working and time-management skills, good head for finance and excellent attention to detail. You will be self-motivated, quick to learn and flexible enough to manage a diverse portfolio of activities, be able to prioritise well and work to deadlines. It is essential that you have a demonstrable ability to resolve issues and work independently, whilst being part of a team. You will bring good communication skills with an ability to build effective working relationships with a range of stakeholders.

Key duties and responsibilities:

Key responsibilities include but are not limited to the following:

• Lead the process development and continuous improvement of all our internal systems for managing innovations from conception to post-licence/spinout
• Ensure our innovation processes are fit for purposes, followed in a timely fashion and permanent records maintained
• Facilitate review of our innovation projects and document key project decisions ensuring they are logged and tracked for future reviews
• Administer our internal rolling funding schemes (including Proof of Concept Fund, Commercial Pump Prime Fund etc); managing the budget, manage and report on spending profile, organise monthly panel meetings, coordinating papers and minutes, confirm awards and ensure Principal Investigators (PI’s) understand their obligations
• Monitor and manage financial spend in our internal funding schemes, liaise with the finance officer and escalate issues if identified
• Administer internal inventor reward schemes on the successful commercialisation of an invention.
• Coordinate the monitoring of and communication with licensees to ensure licensee/licensor obligations are met and issues escalated
• Coordinate collation of information for an annual audit and periodic FOI requests
• Work with the Innovation Team to create impact material for licensee and promotional reports
• Monitor our Innovations KPIs (IP generated, funding deployed, and licences secured) and publish reports on our key outputs for internal and external distribution
• Contribute to marketing of our innovation outputs and activities internally to STFC staff and externally to commercial and government organisations to promote the work we do
• Support our efforts to coordinate and enhance the European high energy physics innovation community (HEPTech) by working with colleagues to organise meetings and disseminate best practice.

Contacts and Communication

• You can be based at either Rutherford Appleton Laboratory or Daresbury Laboratory
• The position will be majority work from home during the Covid-19 pandemic
• The position may require travelling to other STFC sites and other locations for conferences and business meetings.

You will:

• Be required to communicate and work with all different levels of personnel through the whole of the STFC; finance, contracts, admin, estates, etc.
• Be required to communicate with external organisations such as licensees, spinouts and partner organisation to ensure STFC innovative reputation is maximised
• Work closely with members of the Innovation Team, reporting to the Head of Technology Transfer
• Line manage one team member to deliver the outputs as required by the role
• Liaise closely with other parts of the Business and Innovations Directorate including the Business Development, Incubation and Campus Development teams.

Personal Skills and Attributes

• Process driven and delivery orientated
• Have a good attention to detail
• Good at managing project finance, managing a budget
• Ability to manage multiple tasks and to work to tight deadlines
• Enthusiastic about the value of technology transfer
• Excellent written and oral communications skills
• Persuasion and influencing skills
• Line management skills
• Understanding of technology licencing contracts
• Good interpersonal and networking skills.

Any other Relevant Information:

• A keen interest in the science performed at STFC is vital.

Person Specification

The following criteria will be assessed at Shortlisting (S), at Interview (I) or both (S&I)

Essential:

• Bachelor’s Degree in business or STEM subject or equivalent experience (S)
• Demonstrable skills in developing and managing processes for programme management (S&I)
• Knowledge of contracts and able to interpret and implement terms (I)
• Able to build relationships with internal and external stakeholders (S&I)
• Comfortable producing financial reports and projections (I)
• Demonstrable experience in impact reporting and promotion. (S&I)

Desirable:

• Work experience in business-led or academic-led innovation or technology transfer (S&I)
• Knowledge of Intellectual Property Rights. (S&I)

The Science and Technology Facilities Council is a world-leading multi-disciplinary science organisation where curiosity-driven, blue-skies thinking meets practical, application-led science and engineering. Our goal is to deliver economic, societal, scientific and international benefits to the UK and its people – and more broadly to the world.

One of Europe’s largest research organisations, we’re trusted to support, enable and undertake cutting-edge projects in an amazing diversity of fields. Through world-class facilities and people, we’re driving ground-breaking advances in science, engineering, computing and technology. Our research seeks to understand the Universe from the largest astronomical scales to the tiniest constituents of matter, yet creates impact on a very tangible, human scale.

For more information about STFC please visit https://stfc.ukri.org/

How to Apply

Online applications only for this role. Please submit your CV and a covering letter which clearly outlines how you fulfil the criteria specified along with your motivation to join STFC and the role you’re applying for. Ensure that the job reference number is included in the filename description of each document uploaded. Note that failure to address the above criteria or submit your application without a covering letter may result in your application not being considered.

About UKRI

Launched in April 2018, UKRI is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). UK Research and Innovation brings together the seven disciplinary research councils, Research England, which is responsible for supporting research and knowledge exchange at higher education institutions in England, and the UK’s innovation agency, Innovate UK. More information can be found at https://www.ukri.org/. 

Additional Information

• Organisation: Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) – Business and Innovation
• Contract Type: Open Ended
• External Closing Date: Feb 14, 2021
• Minimum Salary: Pound Sterling (GBP) 31,305
• Hours: Full-time