Senior Venture Development Manager

Business Development - Leuven | Just now
- Turn imec technology into impactful start-ups
- We are further developing a leading deeptech venturing hub at the heart of Europe with unique access to talent, capital and technology - benefiting from imec’s undisputed reputation. We offer a challenging and international environment at the forefront of deep tech innovation and entrepreneurship, in an international network of renowned industrial customers.

What you will do

We are seeking an outstanding individual combining entrepreneurial spirit, business acumen and deep technology understanding to join our team as Senior Venture Development Manager.
You will be part part of our venture development team, which is responsible for the valorization of imec IP and know-how through high-impact deep tech ventures,
In your new role, you are responsible to turn venture ideas from imec entrepreneurs into successful and impactful spin-off companies and/or to complement the value proposition of existing start-ups with imec IP.
For the ventures ideas originating from imec, you define, together with the venture development team and various stakeholders, the venture’s business model, ensure the development of a solid product roadmap and business plan, hire the team and ensure successful fundraising - you are literally the interim CEO of your ventures until they are fully staffed and incorporated.
For the existing start-ups looking to boost their value proposition with imec IP, you’re working closely with the management team of the start-up and the imec technical team to define the collaboration so that the development activities contribute effectively to reach out the next inflection point.

You are responsible for helping to create the right environment and process to:

- Drive and inspire the submission of new venturing ideas into the venture funnel.
- Drive incubation of selected venturing ideas into a successful business by acting as the venture manager ad interim during the various stages of venture development.
- Successfully incorporate the venture, creating a win-win situation for all involved stakeholders.
- Integrate effectively the imec IP into the offering of an existing start-up.

Therefore, you:

- Recognize promising ideas, establish win-win relations between ideas of different groups and encourage individuals to develop their ideas for entry into the venture funnel.
- Elaborating on imec’s technology breakthroughs, you distill unique selling propositions addressing key market needs
- Help identifying key technology risks and separate them from more simple engineering tasks - help to build staged technology de-risking plan that drive down risk and drive up value of the proposed concepts.
- Understand the value of IP portfolio in broader IP landscape - shape patenting strategy to strengthen defensibility of proposed business
- Help to create excellent entrepreneurial teams for venture opportunities, identify high potentials for these teams inside and outside imec. You do this by extending and accessing the entrepreneurial network.
- Make sure the success factors of a scalable venture are well understood by the teams and applied to their case. Coach and mentor the teams to develop their business plans and get them selected by the investors.
- Liaise with public and private funds to help prepare funding for the new initiatives and help prepare the incorporation of the venture and negotiate with the various stakeholders involved.

What we do for you

We offer you the opportunity to join one of the world’s premier research centers in nanotechnology at its headquarters in Leuven, Belgium. With your talent, passion and expertise, you’ll become part of a team that makes the impossible possible. Together, we shape the technology that will determine the society of tomorrow.

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and proud of our open, multicultural, and informal working environment with ample possibilities to take initiative and show responsibility. We commit to supporting and guiding you in this process; not only with words but also with tangible actions. Through imec.academy, 'our corporate university', we actively invest in your development to further your technical and personal growth.

We are aware that your valuable contribution makes imec a top player in its field. Your energy and commitment are therefore appreciated by means of a market appropriate salary with many fringe benefits.

Who you are
- You have a master or PhD in engineering. You demonstrate a strong technical expertise in several of the deeptech fields to which the position relates: electronics, electronic systems, semiconductors or photonics applied in the fields of telecommunications, sensing, actuation, compute, displays, imaging, medtech and biotech.
- You have a very strong entrepreneurial, result-oriented spirit and you share the ambition to create deep-tech impactful ventures.
- You have demonstrated knowledge and experience of early-st