Business Development & Partnerships Manager

Innovation Institute•Austin, TX

About The Position

Inneo Lab is a multi–health system innovation collaborative that bridges clinical insight and industry innovation. We identify medical device opportunities, shape them with frontline clinicians and market intelligence, and partner with industry to bring meaningful solutions forward. Our model blends early discovery, opportunity shaping, product operations, and strategic partnerships, all aimed at creating both clinical impact and sustainable revenue. We are seeking a Business Development & Partnerships Lead with a minimum of 5 years of experience in tech transfer (ideal) or new venture creation environments (second preference). For professionals seeking broader career growth, deeper industry engagement and hands-on product work, this role offers a rare and powerful bridge into the commercial innovation world. This role is ideal for someone who has evaluated early medical device/life sciences concepts for patentability, worked closely with clinical inventors, and built licensing and corporate partnership agreements, and now wants to expand their skillsets and transition into more hands-on execution in an industry setting. A key part of the role is active outreach to industry to build and nurture strong revenue-generating partnerships. You must be comfortable and experienced with cold outreach (LinkedIn, email, networking) and pitching our model to industry to uncover opportunities, initiate conversations, negotiate agreements and build co-development partnerships that generate revenue. After a partnership is initiated, you will work with the product manager as the industry liaison to help manage opportunities from the earliest spark of an idea or problem statement all the way through market assessment, project scoping, product management, and eventual handoff or exit. In some cases, products might also require validation through a limited launch. You will often work with 3-5 active products or opportunities simultaneously, supporting their evolution with clinicians, industry partners, and internal teams. The role is expected to evolve and is an excellent fit for those who want to shape organizational strategy and write their own playbook. Conversely, it may not be a good fit for someone who needs a lot of structure or an extremely well-defined swim lane. All applications must include a resume and a cover letter outlining the applicant’s interest in the position and qualifications that demonstrate why they are a strong fit for the role.

Requirements

Bachelors degree in a STEM field, Masters or MBA preferred.
Must have at least 5 years experience in tech transfer, academic innovation programs, commercialization (e.g. part of founding team at early academic spinout company), or related fields.
Market assessments and commercial evaluation of early medical device ideas
Working with clinicians and inventors
Business development & cold outreach to industry
Licensing and partnership agreement negotiation and execution including experience developing deal terms and drafting, redlining and negotiating key business agreements.
Building and managing revenue-generating collaborations with industry partners and sponsors.
Understanding of the medical device commercialization pathway in the US.
Self-starter and fast learner who thrives in evolving environments—able to pivot, adapt, and be scrappy. Must be comfortable executing and delivering on commitments with limited supervision and training.
Excellent communicator comfortable with executive level communication with both clinical and commercial stakeholders.
Lifelong learner with ability to get up to speed quickly on new tools, technologies and best practices including generative AI and other AI tools for work-related tasks.
Strong ability to translate technical and clinical insight into actionable product and commercialization strategy.
Ability to collaborate on the full product lifecycle, multitask and manage multiple concurrent opportunities in different lifecycle stages including assisting with sales and marketing for any products on the market.
Curiosity and enthusiasm for the intersection of healthcare, innovation, and industry partnerships.
U.S citizenship or legal permanent resident status required. No visa sponsorship will be available.

Nice To Haves

Masters or MBA preferred.

Responsibilities

Conduct early-stage market assessments to evaluate opportunity viability.
Work with clinicians to refine problem statements, understand unmet needs, and validate market assumptions.
Proactively identify and reach out to potential industry partners to vet our ideas and/or propose co-development partnerships. Experience and past success with cold outreach via LinkedIn and email is essential.
Build strong relationships with companies by understanding their product lines and strategic priorities.
Facilitate structured conversations between clinicians and industry partners.
Fully understand and pitch early product ideas and concepts to industry in order to gauge commercial opportunity and enable decision making regarding additional internal investment into product development.
Lead intellectual property strategy for early opportunities, working with clinicians, internal teams, and external counsel to assess patentability, prioritize filings, and align IP decisions with partnership and commercialization goals.
Manage IP operations and governance, including docket management, prioritization of prosecution activities, and ongoing coordination with external patent counsel to ensure timelines, budgets, and strategic objectives are met.
Draft, negotiate, and manage legal agreements related to industry partnerships and innovation projects, including collaboration agreements, licensing agreements, sponsored development arrangements, and related contracts, in coordination with legal counsel.
Partner closely with the Product Manager, clinical engagement teams, and product development teams to ensure alignment from project kickoff through development, validation, limited introductions, and handoff or commercialization.