Director of Industry and Technology Transactions

SCHOOL/UNIT DESCRIPTION:
The Office of Technology Licensing (OTL) was established in 1970 to manage the intellectual property assets of Stanford University. OTL evaluates, markets, and licenses technology owned by the University. OTL's mission is to encourage effective technology transfer for the public benefit as well as generating royalty income for Stanford to benefit research and education. OTL is one of the country's most active offices in the field of technology transfer from the university to industry. Our staff, most of whom are professionals engaged directly in licensing, manages over 3,000 active dockets. The Industry and Technology Transactions (IATT) Office is part of the OTL, and is responsible for drafting and negotiating contracts that enable research in collaboration with industry, including strategic alliances and some technology transactions. 

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POSITION SUMMARY:

The Office of Technology Licensing (OTL) is seeking a Director of Industry and Technology Transactions. This position provides strategic direction, cross-functional coordination, and oversight for Stanford’s industry research and alliance contracting, including complex, high-visibility, high-value strategic alliances and some technology licensing transactions, to achieve the goals and objectives of Stanford and OTL leadership. Responsibilities include overseeing the drafting, negotiation, execution and administration of more than 2,000 research agreements annually; staff training, development and management; intra- and cross-unit stakeholder coordination; contractual, reputational and IP risk mitigation; and drafting, negotiating, and executing as part of an OTL strategic alliance team, the high profile, complex research and strategic alliance agreements with companies and some non-profit entities. 
The preference for this position is to be based at the Stanford work location with the option of a hybrid work arrangement, subject to operational need. Hybrid work arrangements require a regular presence at the Stanford work location that is determined based on business needs, and is typically two, three, or four days per week or an equivalent amount of time monthly.

CORE DUTIES:

• Oversee the management of areas of responsibility. Direct staff and provide leadership to achieve goals and vision of the organization. Responsible for hiring and retaining staff, career coaching, personal development for direct reports and accountable for the performance of employees.
• Provide strategic direction for multiple areas of business; create strategic plans of considerable complexity and scope; set long range direction and make high level decisions; propose and manage the implementation of complex and significant programmatic change; establish policies as needed.
• Make decisions for programs that provide critical support services for the University's mission of teaching and research. Oversee allocation of all resources.
• Set the direction of an organization and direct the policy development and implementation of administrative operations and workforce planning.
• Evaluate the performance of the organization and develop plans accordingly. Responsible for the financial viability and success of the organization. Responsible for committing University resources with limited review by senior management.
• Advise executive management on programmatic and policy development. Negotiate and influence university leaders on issues that have university-wide impact.
• Champion major initiatives lead complex, high-visibility process redesign and innovation projects; develop and implement initiatives.

Specific job responsibilities include:

• Draft, negotiate, sign and administer, and oversee the same for major research agreements with companies, including but not limited to agreements to govern strategic alliances, industry-sponsored research, unfunded industry collaborations, material and data transfers, equipment loans, and other research and technology transfer-related relationships.
• Oversee and coordinate the development and maintenance of reference and training documents, information systems and databases, and procedures to ensure work products and workflows are efficient and up-to-date.
• Identify and resolve strategic issues that could have significant financial or reputational impact for Stanford and its researchers and are critical to overall functioning beyond the immediate unit; advise and consult with Associate Vice Provost (AVP)/Executive Director of OTL, OGC and other units as relevant.
• Mitigate IP, legal and reputational risks by working in concert with the Director(s) of Licensing and Strategic Alliances to develop and implement a pre-award due diligence process to track and manage background IP and legal obligations for industry contract and strategic alliance proposals submitted by Stanford faculty, and to incorporate related mitigation terms into the subsequent contracts.
• Develop and maintain effective relationships with deans, department chairs, faculty, and senior campus administrators, as well as executives and legal counsel of external entities.
• As part of the OTL Executive Management Team, collaborate with other Team members to ensure that consistency in research contracting, alliance and licensing terms is maintained across the organization.
• Advise AVP/Executive Director on programmatic and policy development to ensure successful research sponsor, alliance and licensee relationships, particularly relating to contracting activities. May provide input to university leadership on institutional administrative policies, practices and guidelines.
• Coordinate with other Stanford contracting units, Office of Development, Risk Management, Privacy Office, Information Security Office, Office of General Counsel, school-specific deans’ offices or business development teams, Stanford technology development programs, and other OTL staff to ensure ancillary research agreements required for successful functioning of research, alliance, licensee and certain vendor relationships are negotiated and executed in a timely manner. Negotiate or provide guidance on IP-related terms for other Stanford contracting units.
• Network with industry representatives, peers in academic institutions and professional associations to develop relationships and gain a broader understanding of industry-academic relationships and trends outside of Stanford. Promote Stanford and best practices in presentations at conferences.
• *Other duties as may be assigned.