Junior Business Developer – Amsterdam Neuroscience

As dedicated Junior Business Developer for IXA-ANS, you will support the search for acquiring new collaborative research projects with external parties, particularly pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Appointed within the Innovation eXchange Amsterdam (IXA) team of Amsterdam UMC, you will be the liaison for ANS with the market, seeking external leads based on deep market intelligence that provides insight into the field. The focus for this role is on preclinical and translational research.

You will learn to be involved in the team’s key responsibilities including:

• Identifying and pursuing new opportunities for collaboration with companies for research into brain diseases, together with clinicians and researchers within ANS, aiming to generate visible research funding from external sources for ANS research.
• Building strong connections and acting as a trusted point of contact, both for ANS researchers  and for external partners, particularly in pharma and biotech.
• Developing your own network, for instance through attending conferences (both scientific and business-oriented).
• Scouting and evaluating ANS research findings for valorisation potential (this relates to e.g. patents, licensing, spin-offs).
• Conducting market analyses to align industry needs with ANS research expertise, and explore collaboration and licensing opportunities.
• Defining research proposals and budgets, in collaboration with ANS researchers and senior Business Developers.
• Negotiating collaboration agreements, including intellectual property arrangements, together with the legal back office team.
• Negotiating project budgets and potential financial milestones based on successful project outcomes.
• Systematically documenting exchanged information such as contacts, legal documents, meeting agendas and minutes, press releases, and publications.

• A finished education at graduate academic level (PhD) in the field of Neuroscience is required; knowledge of preclinical research at Amsterdam Neuroscience Research institute or an MBA or relevant business experience in life sciences is a plus.
• Interest in working with the life sciences biotech or pharmaceutical industry.
• Excellent communication skills in English, preferably also fluent in Dutch (you should be able to understand Dutch).
• A proactive, goal-oriented working attitude.
• Ambition to develop a sales-oriented and objective-driven attitude together with the matching communication skills aimed at a commercial business setting.
• Eager to acquire more knowledge and curious about brain diseases, including multiple sclerosis, psychiatric disorders, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, and Parkinson’s disease.
• Affinity for financial and legal aspects of public-private research collaborations and valorization initiatives, including IP, publication rights, and budgeting standards; willingness to acquire these skills (if absent).
• Ambition to learn negotiation skills (experience negotiating with industry partners is a plus).
• Compassion for patients suffering neurological and/or psychiatric disease, translated into passion for creating collaborations that push scientific research and clinical care forward.