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

About CSIRO Growth

CSIRO is Australia's national science agency – our purpose is to solve Australia's greatest challenges! 

CSIRO Growth is responsible for enabling CSIRO's business to operate in an integrated way across the organisation with a focus on customers, collaboration and commercialisation. We enable maximum impact for the nation underpinned by a healthy and sustainable financial platform. 

CSIRO's research activities are focussed on six national challenges that require multidisciplinary and coordinated responses with industry, government and the broader innovation community. In meeting these challenges, CSIRO is both a provider of research solutions and an investor to provide commercial outcomes that effectively deploy impact from science and provide a healthy flow of revenue for future science investments.

We are looking for an experienced professional to work across our business units to empower effective commercial outcomes delivery within CSIRO and the broader Australian innovation ecosystem.

The Opportunity

• Custodian of CSIRO Intellectual Property and Commercialisation porfolio
• Lead a team of 50 providing IP, licencing and equity portfolio management, commercialisation, and commercial services
• Explore business model innovation to deliver impact and lead the revenue planning process

The Director, Investment is responsible for CSIRO's Intellectual Property (IP), commercialisation portfolio, financial/strategic health of our research portfolio and business model innovation to deliver impact. Reporting to the Executive Director, Growth, the Director, Investment will form part of the Growth and CSIRO leadership teams and is crucial in leading our revenue and impact planning processes with each Business Unit.

The Director, Investment will also grow the scale of our commercial activities, build an appropriate skills base and education program across CSIRO to support commercialisation and deliver on our IP and commercialisation targets in partnership with the business units horizontally across CSIRO. The Investment team leads and co-ordinates the delivery of national programs to uplift research commercialisation in Australia, including the ON Program for Australia’s research ecosystem, internal CSIRO programs and engagement with external investors.

Responsible for leadership of the Investment team comprising more than 50 professionals providing proactive IP, licensing and equity portfolio management, commercialisation, and commercial services. To ensure success, the Director, Investment will work with each business unit to build a high-performing, coherent, and agile team capable of delivering on the commercialisation activities required to deliver impact from our science. Our commercial and strategic revenue planning activities are critical to the success of CSIRO's Corporate Plan. The Director, Investment will support the development of a robust commercial pipeline and collaborative networks to effectively deliver a range of commercial outcomes for CSIRO and the broader Australian innovation system. A critical component will also be partnering closely with other Growth teams and CSIRO enterprise functions to deliver seamless outcomes across CSIRO.

The successful candidate will have:

• Deep commercial acumen and experience gained in a previous role working in Commercialisation/Intellectual Property or with a background in Venture Capital/Private Equity or as a business leader building capability in an emerging company with complex leading-edge solutions.
• People leadership – development, deployment, coaching, guidance and change management
• Commercialisation skills – demonstrated and deep understanding of business models and their practical application to unlock value, drive impact and deliver customer value
• Stakeholder management – connecting and working across the organisation
• Industry best practice – garnering and fostering knowledge sharing and education across the organisation by supporting 'communities of practice' and developing new business models
• Strategic advice – influencing and providing high-quality strategic advice to senior leadership.

To be considered you will need:

1.    Relevant degree or experience in conjunction with demonstrated achievement in senior advisory and managerial roles, ideally with postgraduate managerial qualifications. 
2.    Demonstrated ability to partner effectively with client groups to achieve and grow Business Development impact with revenue, focusing on return on investment to maximise organisational results in line with CSIRO's Corporate Plan.
3.    Demonstrated ability to proactively identify, build and develop a portfolio of critical external commercial relationships and opportunities to support the delivery of impact objectives and meet current and future revenue goals aligned to CSIRO's Corporate Plan.
4.    Demonstrated recent ability to deliver end-to-end conversion of strategic business development and commercial opportunities with a focus on driving and supporting efficient commercial contracting and leadership of multidisciplinary teams.
5.    Demonstrated experience in building and maintaining strong professional and collaborative working relationships across various disciplines at all levels of the organisation and externally, proactively seeking and influencing multiple stakeholders within a complex and ambiguous environment to achieve a successful outcome.
6.    Demonstrated experience building a high-performing team, providing coaching and development opportunities across the breadth and depth of a complex unit that delivers high service delivery and technical output standards. Proven ability to hold a team accountable to specified results and create a culture that fosters creative problem-solving, continuous improvement and knowledge sharing.
7.    Superior stakeholder management, budgeting, resource management, and strategic planning skills.

Location: Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane - other CSIRO sites will be considered 
Salary: Attractive salary package available
Tenure: Specified term of 3 years
Reference: 91241

For full details about this role please review the Position Description

Eligibility

Applications for this position are open to Australian/New Zealand Citizens, Australian Permanent Residents or you must either hold, or be able to obtain, a valid working visa for the duration of the specified term. Appointment to this role is subject to provision of a national police check and may be subject to other security/medical/character requirements.

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. 

CSIRO is committed to values-based leadership to inspire performance and unlock the potential of our people.

Join us and start creating tomorrow today!

How to Apply

Please note the recruitment of this position is under the management of Odgers Berndtson. For more information and to apply, please go to www.odgers.com/87845

In your application you will need provide your CV and a cover letter outlining your motivation and relevant capabilities and experience you could bring to this role.