Director, Company Creation - CSIRO - ResearchCareer

First listed on: 12 November 2021

Director, Company Creation

 

The Opportunity

Acknowledgement of Country 

CSIRO acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land, sea and waters, of the area that we live and work on across Australia. We acknowledge their continuing connection to their culture and pay our respects to their Elders past and present. View our?vision towards reconciliation

  • Match market-led opportunities to cutting-edge Australian science to create a portfolio of commercial ventures
  • Collaborate at the interface of science, business development and commercialisation

The Director, Company Creation in CSIRO will lead a semi-autonomous, small, agile team at the interface of our Commercialisation team and the Agriculture and Food (A&F) business unit. The objective of this role is scaling the ‘venture science’ model that was deployed for a number of recently created companies, such as v2food and Eden Brew. These ventures will be opportunity focused, will leverage CSIRO’s cross Business Unit (BU) transdisciplinary expertise, and will be co-developed with major go-to-market partners.

This senior role facilitates the strategic internal disruption of business practice and will report to Directors of Agriculture & Food (line management), Commercial, and Science, Impact & Policy. A significant aspect of the role will be engagement with Venture Capitalists and other Commercial partners on behalf of CSIRO. Critically, the role will have the delegation to develop and approve deals in accordance with the existing CSIRO risk management and governance framework.

Your duties will include:

  • Leading a small, semi-autonomous cross functional team (~5 staff) in order to scale a disruptive venture science business model for CSIRO
  • Creating new companies/entities that achieve significant commercial outcomes for CSIRO and impact for society.  
  • Engaging with the Venture Capital community and other commercial partners in the co-development of commercial paths to impact within the venture science capability.
  • Combine your understanding of CSIRO’s capabilities with your knowledge of the market to identify and exploit venture science research for equity opportunities of strategic significance.
  • Negotiate complex deals for new and developing products and processes, ensuring that CSIRO’s position is both protected and advanced, for the benefit of Australia’s economy, society and/or the environment.
  • Represent CSIRO to industry and the Government, lobby key influencers, and advocate CSIRO’s capability to ensure the Organisation is well placed to meet its objectives.

Location: Melbourne or Brisbane preferred. Other locations may be considered
Salary:  Attractive salary package offered
Tenure:  Specified term of 3 years (renewal of term negotiable)
Reference:  79365

To be considered you will need:

  1.  A relevant science or commerce degree in conjunction with demonstrated achievement in senior advisory and managerial roles, ideally with postgraduate scientific or managerial qualifications. Expertise in agriculture, food and/or synthetic biology are preferred. 
  2. Demonstrated entrepreneurial and strategic business acumen, with experience in the venture capital start-up space.
  3. A good understanding of the agriculture and food industry, and its unmet needs.
  4. A good understanding of science serving the agriculture and food space, and the ability to link business opportunities to science competencies within CSIRO.
  5. The ability to think quickly, creatively and outside-of-the-box, forge new connections, create new opportunities, mature them, and pitch those to a wide variety of audiences.  
  6. A strong history of establishing and working effectively in teams, and a record of leadership which encourages new ideas, builds trust and provides support for the development of emerging skills; including influencing staff in observing corporate and professional standards, acting as trusted advisers, fostering effective client relationships, and ensuring alignment between client needs and research or business objectives.

For full details about this role please view the Position Description

Eligibility

To be eligible to work in CSIRO you must be an Australian Citizen, Permanent Resident or either hold, or be able to obtain, a valid working visa.

The successful applicant will be required to obtain and provide a National Police Check or equivalent. Additional integrity checks may be required for specific roles which require security clearance for working with children, Australian Government cybersecurity requirements or other identified security roles.

Flexible Working Arrangements

We work flexibly at CSIRO, offering a range of options for how, when and where you work. 

Diversity and Inclusion

We are working hard to recruit people representing the diversity across our society, and ensure that all our people feel supported to do their best work and feel empowered to let their ideas flourish. 

About CSIRO

At CSIRO Australia's national science agency, we solve the greatest challenges through innovative science and technology. We put the safety and wellbeing of our people above all else and earn trust everywhere because we only deal in facts. We collaborate widely and generously and deliver solutions with real impact. 

Join us and start creating tomorrow today!

How to Apply

Please apply on-line and provide a cover letter and CV that best demonstrate your motivation and ability to meet the requirements of this role.

Applications Close

9 January 2022, 11:00 pm AEST/AEDT. We encourage you to get your application in early as we will commence assessing applications from early December.

Please get in touch with us if you would like further information around the timeline for this recruitment process.