Academic Partnerships Director

Beacon Biosignals•Boston, MA

1d•Remote

About The Position

Beacon Biosignals is seeking a scientifically and clinically credentialed, relationship-driven Academic Partnerships Director to grow adoption of the Beacon Platform, including research use of its medical devices, within academic and research institutions. The role builds and manages relationships with principal investigators, academic medical centers, core facilities, and research consortia conducting grant-funded studies in neurology, psychiatry, and sleep. It identifies and secures partnership opportunities that use Beacon’s physiology evidence-generation infrastructure for translational medicine, novel biomarkers, longitudinal data sets, and other research use cases, from early proposal development through study execution. The role begins as a senior independent contributor in the Life Sciences Commercial organization and reports directly to the President of Life Sciences and Chief Business Officer. It may evolve to include academic alliance management and team leadership as the academic and grant-funded research portfolio grows. This is a remote position with periodic travel to customer meetings, academic conferences, and site visits. In-person hubs are preferred in Boston and New York City.

Requirements

MD with training in psychiatry or neurology, or PhD in neuroscience.
At least 3 years of experience in business development, academic partnerships, alliance management, or a related commercial role.
Firsthand familiarity with academic research and grant funding, gained through prior lab, postdoctoral, or research administration experience.
Ability to translate strategic and commercial context into actionable operational briefs for delivery teams.
Exceptional interpersonal skills and demonstrated ability to build trusted relationships with PIs, research administrators, and academic leadership.
Track record of self-generated pipeline, including developing interest with PIs, core facilities, and consortia and converting it into revenue-generating partnerships.
Entrepreneurial mindset and ability to navigate long, unpredictable academic funding cycles while maintaining a disciplined pipeline.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to develop compelling proposal language and presentations for scientific and administrative audiences.
Ability to use CRM tools to track accounts and opportunities.
Experience contracting with academic institutions, including technology transfer offices and legal teams.
Willingness to travel for conferences, site visits, and internal meetings 1–3 times per quarter.
Empathy for academic researchers, research administrators, coworkers, and patients.

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting grant-funded research, core facilities, or academic medical centers.
Experience in neuroscience, sleep science, or a related clinical research domain.
Working knowledge of U.S. academic grant mechanisms such as R01, R21, U01, SBIR/STTR, foundation grants, and philanthropic grants.
Knowledge of EU and other international regulatory frameworks relevant to academic research.

Responsibilities

Build and manage relationships with PIs, academic medical centers, core facilities, and research consortia pursuing grant-funded studies.
Partner with PIs during proposal development to position Beacon’s Waveband EEG platform and analytics capabilities, and support scientific and budgetary grant narratives.
Use knowledge of U.S. academic funding cycles and mechanisms, as well as relevant EU and international regulatory frameworks, to time outreach and shape proposals.
Develop relationships with academic core facilities and research consortia, identifying institution-wide and multi-site adoption opportunities.
Own pipeline generation, negotiation, and closing for academic and grant-funded opportunities; record activities and forecasts in Beacon’s CRM.
Represent Beacon at academic and scientific conferences and develop a network among grants administrators, research development offices, and technology transfer offices.
Advise PIs and research teams on how Beacon’s technology and data assets apply to specific study designs and aims.
Collaborate with Program Management, Clinical Operations, Marketing, and Scientific teams to ensure partnerships are scoped accurately and delivered successfully.
Provide leadership with visibility into pipeline health, win/loss patterns, and emerging opportunities in the academic and grant-funded segment.
Manage and extend the Academic strategy, including its pricing structure, to align with academic partners’ and Beacon’s priorities.