ACT Entrepreneur in Residence

Texas Medical Center • Houston, TX

3d

About The Position

TMC Innovation (TMCi) is seeking an Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) to support and promote its ACT (Accelerating Cancer Therapeutics) program. The ACT program is a nine-month initiative funded by CPRIT, designed to enhance biotech entrepreneurship and drug development for individuals and early-stage startups focused on novel cancer therapeutics. The EIR will work with participating investigators and companies, guiding them through drug development and business structuring to foster success. The role involves supporting over 10 projects annually, including former program participants. Initially, EIRs embed in ACT to review technologies, mentor participants, and support early-stage experiments to identify flaws. The EIR earns the opportunity to co-found and lead a company with TMC's backing. The role requires collaboration with the TMC Innovation team to set program goals, devise strategies, and mobilize resources to translate early-stage life science innovations into commercially viable products and companies. Ultimately, the EIR is expected to found and lead a new biotech company with TMC's support. Ideal candidates possess enthusiasm, servant leadership, a creative and inquisitive mind, the ability to handle complex challenges, turn concepts into action, strong self-confidence without ego, a desire for purpose, excellent interpersonal and persuasive skills, intellectual agility, decisiveness, a team-first mentality, independent and data-driven thinking, and a strong interest in healthcare and entrepreneurship.

Requirements

• 5-10 years of cumulative experience in early-stage oncology therapeutic development, entrepreneurship, and or commercialization
• Hands-on experience building an early-stage company as a founder, co-founder, or early operating leader (not solely advisory or service roles) strongly preferred
• Capital-side fluency: venture investing, business development, fundraising, or grant diligence (e.g., CPRIT, SBIR/STTR)
• Doctoral degree (PhD, MD, or MD/PhD) in a life science or medical field required
• Demonstrated interest and passion in entrepreneurship, startups, and innovation in the lifesciences
• Excellent communication, presentation, organization, and interpersonal skills
• Strong analytic capabilities and experience with a variety of analytic techniques
• Sees projects through to completion with the ability to meet deadlines
• Adept in taking direction and actively soliciting feedback
• Thrives under pressure with the capacity to handle and balance conflicting requests
• Acute attention to accuracy and detail in all aspects of responsibilities
• Highly proficient in Microsoft suite of programs
• Ability to influence work in a highly entrepreneurial environment, and comfort with ambiguity

Nice To Haves

• Enthusiasm and energy
• Humble, servant leadership
• Inquisitive and creative mind
• Thrive on complex challenges
• Ability to turn the conceptual into the tangible and actionable
• Strong self-confidence with no ego
• Looking for more than a job, but a purpose
• Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to persuasively sell ideas
• Intellectual agility
• Willingness to make difficult recommendations and decisions
• Team first mentality
• Independent thinking and data-driven decision making
• Strong interest in healthcare and entrepreneurship

Responsibilities

• Enable the launch of companies developing novel cancer therapeutics
• Review early-stage technologies and perform context-rich technical, IP, market, and commercial diligence on assets within TMCACT.
• Support the design and execution of time and cost-boxed experiments to expose potential fatal flaws at the lowest possible cost, generating insight and pattern recognition across the pipeline (“time to truth”).
• Scout and recruit early-stage drug development investigators and companies that would be suitable for ACT program.
• Evaluate the commercialization potential of programs applying to the accelerator.
• Serve as a point of contact and hands on advisor for ACT founders in developing their roadmap for product and company development.
• Drive the recruitment of the ACT advisor network of subject matter experts, building relationships that benefit both the participants and your own perspective as an operator.
• Assist ACT participants in achieving short-term milestones and setting the course for those more long-term goals.
• Upon a clear truth signal, and having earned the right to do so, co-found and lead a new company. Shifting full focus to founding, team building, and capitalization, including raising non-dilutive (CPRIT, SBIR/STTR) and dilutive (venture) capital.
• Participate in annual progress reports as dictated by the grant-awardee Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT).
• Disclose any business affiliations, commitments, or other employment opportunities with other companies, academic institutions, or other organizations during the EIR term.

Benefits

• Consideration without regard to race, color, age, religion, gender, national origin, disability or Veteran status
• Assistance or reasonable accommodation in the application process

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree