Senior Director Commercialization Investment Strategy

WHY UT SOUTHWESTERN?
With over 75 years of excellence in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, UT Southwestern is committed to excellence, innovation, teamwork, and compassion. As a world-renowned medical and research center, we strive to provide the best possible care, resources, and benefits for our valued employees. Ranked as the number 1 hospital in Dallas-Fort Worth according to U.S. News & World Report, we invest in you with opportunities for career growth and development to align with your future goals. Our highly competitive benefits package offers healthcare, PTO and paid holidays, on-site childcare, wage, merit increases and so much more. We invite you to be a part of the UT Southwestern team where you'll discover a culture of teamwork, professionalism, and a rewarding career! 

JOB SUMMARY
The Senior Director, Commercialization and Investment Strategy supports the Innovation Hub by leading venture-informed commercialization strategy, investment diligence, investor readiness, and NewCo formation support for high-potential UT Southwestern discoveries. The role operates within UT Southwestern's Discovery Track and DIMS frameworks. Discovery Tracks (DTs) are the Innovation Hub's structured pathways for identifying, evaluating, prioritizing, and advancing campus discoveries with translational or commercial potential. DIMS (Discovery Information Management System) is the Innovation Hub's required operating system and system of record for DT intake, triage, diligence, milestone tracking, partner interactions, decision documentation, and handoffs across Innovation Hub teams. *** This position is responsible for integrating scientific, clinical, commercial, intellectual property, competitive landscape, and investor perspectives to help determine which DTs merit institutional support, what value-creating milestones should be pursued, and what evidence packages are required for future investor, partner, or NewCo readiness. The Senior Director is expected to apply venture capital-grade rigor while recognizing the distinct context of academic innovation. *** The Senior Director reports to the Chief Innovation Officer and works closely with the Assistant Vice President, Innovation and Partnerships, Commercialization Strategy Partners (CSPs), Business Development (BD), the Office for Technology Development (OTD), intellectual property, legal, finance, compliance, faculty teams, and approved external advisors. *** The Senior Director provides analysis, strategy, recommendations, and leadership support. 

 

BENEFITS
UT Southwestern is proud to offer a competitive and comprehensive benefits package to eligible employees. Our benefits are designed to support your overall wellbeing, and include:

·        PPO medical plan, available day one at no cost for full-time employee-only coverage

·        100% coverage for preventive healthcare-no copay

·        Paid Time Off, available day one

·        Retirement Programs through the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS)

·        Paid Parental Leave Benefit

·        Wellness programs

·        Tuition Reimbursement

·        Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Qualified Employer

·        Learn more about these and other UTSW employee benefits!

EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION

Required

·        Education
Advanced degree in life sciences, pharmaceutical sciences, medicine, pharmacy, biomedical sciences, business, or a related discipline is required. M.D., Pharm.D., Ph.D., MBA, or equivalent experience in life sciences investing, venture creation, biotechnology strategy, or academic commercialization may be considered.

·        Experience
10 years of progressively responsible experience in life sciences venture capital, biotechnology company building, business development, translational science, technology commercialization, or comparable investment/diligence roles. 
Demonstrated experience evaluating therapeutic or biomedical assets across diverse modalities and stages of development, including scientific rationale, preclinical development path, competitive landscape, IP position, market opportunity, financing potential, and investor readiness. 
Strong understanding of therapeutic development, preclinical PK/PD, clinical pharmacology, regulatory development considerations, competitive benchmarking, and value inflection points.

Preferred

·        Experience
Experience as a venture capital investor, principal, vice president, venture fellow, entrepreneur-in-residence, investor-in-residence, company builder, or senior member of a venture-backed biotechnology company. 
Experience within or adjacent to an academic medical center, university technology transfer office, translational research program, incubator, accelerator, or institutional innovation fund. 
Established U.S. and global network across life sciences venture capital, biotech, pharmaceutical companies, company builders, founders, KOLs, scientific advisors, clinical experts, and strategic partners. 
Experience recruiting external scientific, clinical, commercial, entrepreneurial, or investor expertise to fill program gaps and stress-test assumptions.

JOB DUTIES

·        Discovery Track Identification and Portfolio Strategy

o   Identifies promising campus discoveries that may be appropriate for entry into the Discovery Track framework, drawing on faculty interactions, scientific reviews, OTD referrals, CSP input, BD input, Innovation Hub programs, investor perspectives, and other approved internal channels.

o   Develops initial opportunity summaries and strategic assessments for potential DTs, including scientific rationale, unmet need, translational hypothesis, product concept, IP and disclosure status, development stage, competitive context, key risks, and recommended next steps.

o   Helps prioritize DT opportunities by assessing scientific strength, unmet need, differentiation versus current standard of care and emerging practice-changing programs, development feasibility, fundability, and institutional strategic fit.

o   Routes potential DTs through the appropriate Innovation Hub intake and triage process and ensures that proposed DTs are documented in DIMS before substantive advancement activities begin.

o   Coordinates with CSPs, BD, OTD, and faculty leads to clarify whether a potential DT should be advanced, monitored, redirected, or declined.

·        DIMS Operating System and Portfolio Governance

o   Uses DIMS as the required system of record for assigned DT-related work, including intake notes, diligence status, milestone plans, external feedback, decisions, handoffs, and action items.

o   Helps make DIMS an effective operating system for DT management by improving workflows, templates, data fields, dashboards, milestone tracking, diligence checklists, partner interaction records, and reporting outputs.

o   Maintains timely and accurate DIMS documentation for assigned DT workstreams and ensures that parallel spreadsheets, slides, or working documents are uploaded or summarized in DIMS when they contain material DT information.

o   Supports DT portfolio governance by participating in program-level reviews, assessing new data and experimental systems, tracking progress against milestones, identifying risks, and preparing DIMS-based portfolio views for Innovation Hub leadership and relevant internal review groups.

o   Promotes disciplined portfolio standards focused on advancing programs that should progress based on quality, differentiation, and readiness rather than programs that merely can progress.

·        Investment Strategy and Institutional Funding Diligence

o   Supports the Innovation Hub’s investment strategy for selected DTs by applying venture-informed scientific, commercial, translational, and investor-readiness diligence to inform which programs merit continued institutional support and what milestones are most value-creating.

o   Develops and refines Target Product Profiles, Target Candidate Profiles, competitive landscape assessments, development risk analyses, market and investor-readiness assessments, milestone plans, and strategic recommendations for review by Innovation Hub leadership and applicable institutional funding or review bodies.

o   Integrates multiple expert perspectives across faculty, CSPs, BD, OTD, IP, legal, finance, compliance, clinical leaders, scientific advisors, commercial experts, and approved external reviewers to stress-test assumptions before institutional funding, investor engagement, or NewCo formation activities proceed.

o   Identifies critical experiments, data packages, decision points, and make-or-break milestones required for selected DTs to remain compelling as translational, partnership, funding, or NewCo opportunities.

o   Develops diligence summaries, scorecards, risk assessments, investment memos, milestone plans, budget considerations, and recommendation memos for review by Innovation Hub leadership and applicable institutional funding review bodies.

o   Provides strategic input and recommendations regarding program advancement, funding priorities, key experiments, development risks, investor engagement, and value inflection points; final institutional funding and capital allocation decisions remain with the Chief Innovation Officer, applicable investment or review committees, and other authorized institutional decision makers.

·        External Expert, Venture Capital, and Strategic Investor Engagement

o   Engages venture capital firms, venture studios, company builders, entrepreneurs, strategic investors, scientific advisors, clinical experts, and other approved external stakeholders to obtain feedback, stress-test assumptions, assess investor relevance, and create visibility for selected DIMS-managed DTs.

o   Builds and maintains an ongoing, coordinated dialogue with selected VC and strategic groups so that external feedback can inform DT strategy, make-or-break milestones, investor-readiness, and future financing pathways before programs reach formal fundraising or partnering discussions.

o   Coordinates external outreach plans with Innovation Hub leadership, CSPs, BD, OTD, IP, legal, faculty teams, and other designated internal stakeholders before substantive investor or strategic partner engagement occurs.

o   Ensures that all material investor interactions, external feedback, follow-up commitments, confidentiality status, decision points, and next steps are documented in DIMS.

o   Supports preparation of non-confidential asset summaries, investor-facing materials, meeting briefs, strategic narratives, and follow-up materials in coordination with BD, CSPs, OTD, IP, legal, and faculty teams.

·        Strategic Narrative and Stakeholder Engagement

o   Constructs clear scientific, commercial, and investor-facing narratives for selected DTs that explain why the science matters, what problem it solves, how it is differentiated, and what evidence is required to support conviction.

o   Supports leadership-approved communications with internal leaders, faculty, donors, philanthropic stakeholders, prospective fund supporters, venture capital groups, strategic partners, and other approved audiences regarding the Innovation Hub’s DT portfolio and investment strategy.

o   Helps communicate the Innovation Hub’s value proposition as a disciplined, high-quality commercialization platform that can attract talent, external expertise, philanthropic support, and investor engagement to UT Southwestern discoveries.

o   Ensures that external-facing materials are accurate, coordinated, compliant, appropriately non-confidential, and aligned with institutional strategy and DIMS records.

·        NewCo Formation and Syndicate Readiness

o   Supports evaluation of NewCo formation potential for selected DTs, including company concept, product strategy, indication focus, founder and advisor needs, competitive differentiation, financing requirements, and investor readiness.

o   Helps identify potential entrepreneurs, advisors, venture partners, company builders, and syndicate participants in coordination with Innovation Hub leadership, BD, OTD, IP, legal, finance, compliance, and faculty teams.

o   Contributes to NewCo planning materials, non-confidential decks, asset summaries, diligence packages, development plans, formation workplans, and early syndicate-readiness strategies as requested.

o   Coordinates handoffs to BD, OTD, licensing, legal, conflict-of-interest, finance, and other institutional teams when NewCo formation activity reaches the appropriate stage.

o   Supports syndicate development and investor readiness for approved NewCo opportunities, while recognizing that final company formation, licensing, financing, and transaction decisions require appropriate institutional approvals

·        Team-Based Operating Model, Handoffs, and Collaboration

o   Operates as a senior member of a coordinated Innovation Hub team and is expected to work transparently with relevant internal partners.

o   Respects established relationship ownership and operating lanes: CSPs serve as primary DT operating partners for assigned campus opportunities; BD leads designated partner and business development workstreams; OTD, licensing, IP, and legal teams lead intellectual property, licensing, contracting, and related institutional processes.

o   Ensures that DT-related interactions with faculty, investors, strategic partners, and internal teams are coordinated with the appropriate CSP and BD leads and documented in DIMS.

o   May mentor junior business development, diligence, commercialization, licensing, or Innovation Hub staff and contributes to a culture of disciplined, evidence-based, team-oriented commercialization.

o   Escalates disagreements, unclear ownership questions, external partner conflicts, confidentiality issues, or decision-right ambiguities to the Chief Innovation Officer or designee.

o   Performs other duties as assigned by the Chief Innovation Officer.

SECURITY AND EEO STATEMENT

Security
This position is security-sensitive and subject to Texas Education Code 51.215, which authorizes UT Southwestern to obtain criminal history record information.

EEO
UT Southwestern Medical Center is committed to an educational and working environment that provides equal opportunity to all members of the University community. As an equal opportunity employer, UT Southwestern prohibits unlawful discrimination, including discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, disability, genetic information, citizenship status, or veteran status.