About the position
Introduction
The Fund Leader is primarily tasked with raising commercialisation investment funding from external sources and managing all systems, governance, and procedures for both internal and external commercialisation-related investments into Mintek innovations. The role ensures robust decision-making, rigorous stage-gating, and reporting on project outcomes, acting as a business mirror to technical teams to ensure investments meet critical commercial milestones to unlock commercialisation.
Duties & Responsibilities
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS:
Leadership
- Provide active stage-gating and governance for commercialisation investments to prevent passive R&D expenditure.
- Exercise foresight, creativity, and professional judgment when making decisions or recommendations that directly impact research direction and the commercial outcomes of the Mintek IP portfolio.
- Guide technical research teams toward meeting critical, clearly defined commercial milestones.
Strategy & Innovation
- Establish and refine mandates, application criteria, and evaluation procedures for internal commercialisation funding instruments.
- Assess the local and international funding landscape to identify investment opportunities aligned with Mintek's focus areas.
- Transform identified opportunities into high-quality proposals for externally funded commercial de-risking.
- Act as a "business mirror" to technical teams to ensure investment decisions are informed by clearly articulated commercial & market opportunities.
- Continually refine stage-gating and review procedures to ensure technologies move efficiently through the institutional commercialisation pipeline.
Financial Sustainability
- Support the development of robust internal funding proposals and systematically manage the portfolio of internal seed funds.
- Leverage internal seed funding to attract external co-investment, strategic partnerships, and DFI funding.
- Ensure that external revenue contributions from successful proposals actively support Mintek's broader commercialisation programmes.
Execution, People and Planning
- Drive reporting mechanisms and quarterly reviews for all commercialisation investments, acting as the primary secretariat for funded projects.
- Manage large, multi-year funding programmes, executing comprehensive resource and timeline planning for funded milestones.
- Coordinate project inception meetings to closely align technical development with commercial de-risking activities.
Compliance Management
- Establish and monitor the operational systems and mandates required for sound governance of externally funded commercialisation projects and internal Seed Fund investments.
- Provide operational oversight of the work of applicants and technical staff to ensure absolute compliance with funding mandates.
- Proactively assess, profile, and manage all risks related to the commercialisation funding programs and individual projects in the portfolio.
Relationship Management and Reporting
- Prepare highly professional statistical and narrative reports for internal funding committees, Exco, and external institutional stakeholders.
- Engage deeply with applicants pre- and post-award to ensure milestones are commercially geared.
- Lead, guide, and mentor researchers and technical staff as they navigate the complex commercialisation funding landscape.
Desired Experience & Qualification
QUALIFICATION AND EXPERIENCE:
- Master's degree in science / engineering
- PhD in a scientific or technical field and/or Business qualification (MBA qualification would be an advantage)
- 3-5 years of experience directly related to technology transfer or investment fund management.
- Nature of Experience: Proven experience within a technology transfer function in a University or Science Council managing seed-funding projects or investment funds and associated governance processes.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
- Strong knowledge of high-tech product development processes and commercialisation hurdles.
- Ability to negotiate complex funding terms and a thorough understanding of the statutory reporting requirements of the IPR Act.
- Excellent communication, organisational, and technical integration skills
