Senior Associate (Human Health), Science Strategy – BioInnovation Institute (BII)
Are you excited about hunting new science that may enable tomorrow’s breakthrough medicines? Are you passionate about building bridges to the global academic life science community? Would you like to identify cutting-edge research and support shaping the path for its translation into future life science start-ups?
If you're ready to leverage your expertise and continue to grow within an innovative environment, we might have the perfect job opportunity for you. At BioInnovation Institute (BII), we’re looking for a dynamic Senior Associate who is ready to work alongside an ambitious team and hunt for innovative science with the potential to transform into successful commercial ventures.
Together, we aim to identify the most promising research and guide these discoveries from the lab to market, making real-world differences.
The Job
As a Senior Associate (Human health) in the Science Strategy team, you will work with scientific and business development colleagues to identify cutting-edge research with market potential and develop the project to fit into BII’s company creation program, Bio Studio. You will be involved in the Bio Studio sourcing process, from scouting to initial idea generation, and establishing sound scientific and commercial project plans. You will be responsible for performing deep-dive analyses for the identification of current innovation gaps within BII’s human health focus areas including neurological diseases, cardiometabolic diseases, cell and gene therapy, and infectious diseases. You will identify research hotspots and perform targeted outreach to attract top-notch researchers to BII and organize ideation sessions together with our Venture Creation team as well as external stakeholders. In addition, you will be responsible for optimizing structures and processes aimed to streamline the Bio Studio project selection and facilitate a smooth internal handover. You will have the opportunity to contribute to implementing BII’s scientific focus areas and improving the overall BII platform by being part of various cross-organizational project teams.
The main responsibilities of the Sr. Associate will be:
- Conduct thorough scientific and market focused landscape analyses to identify emerging trends and innovation gaps in selected areas within Human Health including specific therapeutic areas such as neurological and cardiometabolic diseases, and cross-functional platforms such as cell and gene therapies
- Identify high-impact scientific opportunities at universities and hospitals through targeted scouting and scientific discussions with researchers and key opinion leaders.
- Actively assist in the development of an optimized sourcing process, including the execution of Ideation Sessions where potential project ideas will be generated with key stakeholders from academic, industry and investment communities.
- Support the maintenance of a strong academic network with Danish and international research institutions and participate in external assessment panels, scientific conferences and meetings.
- Work with translationally focused Principal Investigators to conceptualize solid project plans and guide project proposals through scientific due diligence with the help of external scientific experts in the field.
Professional & Personal Spirit
We are looking for a colleague with strong biomedical research background and experience in commercializing life science research. Alongside being a strong networker and communicator, you have an analytical and data-driven approach and are able to identify scientific excellence with transformative capacity.
What you'll bring:
- PhD in Biomedicine, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Bioengineering, or a similar field and 3+ years experience post-academic study facilitating life science innovation within the funding or innovation ecosystem (e.g., foundations, start-ups, accelerators/incubators, and/or corporate scouting/innovation).
- Alternatively, you hold an MSc in a relevant field with 6+ years of relevant working experience.
- Proficiency in both spoken and written English.
Additional Strengths:
- Solid understanding of drug discovery and development processes and/or have direct experience with the commercialization of life science research.
- Experience with conducting detailed landscaping analyses and identification of research and market trends within one or more therapeutic areas.
- Experience in establishing professional networks within the public and private sectors and a strong ability to scout for new scientific trends.
- Ability to collaborate with leading researchers to develop their research ideas to maximize the benefit for people and society.
- Experience in conducting commercial and scientific due diligence and/or experience in evaluation of scientific research or innovation proposal
We also imagine you are ambitious and have a structured approach to planning and problem-solving. You are proactive, and able to manage several complex projects simultaneously with a natural affinity for high quality and timeliness. You enjoy working in a team and maintain close collaborations with your peers. Importantly, you have an optimistic, change-ready, and agile mindset.
Working at BII
Founded in 2018, BII promotes life sciences innovation by building and supporting start-up companies to ensure that innovations become widely available for the benefit of human welfare and society. We incubate our start-ups and pre-commercial projects in a vibrant, collaborative workspace in central Copenhagen. In addition to funding and infrastructure we support the entrepreneurial teams with business development know-how and training, access to our extensive partner and investor networks to facilitate successful company creation and future fundraising. We have ambitious goals and want equally ambitious and enthusiastic team members to join BII and help us make a difference.
This position at BII offers a unique opportunity to join the team effort of building the largest innovation and incubation initiative within the Life Sciences in Europe. We offer an exciting job with great possibilities and tasks for you to develop in close collaboration with the BII management.
Our ambitions are high, and you will be working in a dynamic and fast-paced organization where:
- Clear values and ideals define the framework for our daily work.
- Exciting tasks provide great opportunities for you to build your professional profile.
- Great colleagues and innovative projects offer an inspiring work environment.
The job provides the opportunity to be part of a dedicated team with diverse backgrounds. The BioInnovation Institute is located at COBIS at Ole Maaløes Vej 3, 2200 Copenhagen N.
Application and Information
For more information, please contact Director of Science Strategy, Katja Brunner via e-mail: kbr@bii.dk. The deadline for applying is 17th of November 2024. The expected start date is February 2025.
To apply, please send your CV, cover letter, and university transcripts by clicking on the “Apply now” button.
About the BioInnovation Institute Foundation
The BioInnovation Institute Foundation (BII) is an international commercial foundation with a nonprofit objective supported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. BII operates an incubator to accelerate world-class life science innovation, which drives the development of new solutions by early life science start-ups for the benefit of people and society.
BII, located in Copenhagen, Denmark, offers start-ups and early-stage projects within health tech, therapeutics, and bioindustrials state-of-the-art labs, vibrant office facilities, business development, start-up business incubation, access to high-level mentoring and international networks, plus unique funding opportunities of up to 1.3 million euro per start-up and 3 million euro per project.
Since the inauguration of BII in November 2018, BII has awarded 114 MEUR to 112 high-growth start-up companies and 36 MEUR to 20 transformative company creation projects in life science. Read more on www.bioinnovationinstitute.com
