Associate Director of the Blavatnik Fund

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Overview

Working in close partnership with the licensing executives, Blavatnik fellows and other resources in Yale Ventures, the Associate Director will help the Executive Director of Blavatnik facilitate the process of identifying promising technologies by conducting outreach to relevant faculty across the Yale community and preparing the opportunities for presentation to an external investment advisory committee comprised of experts in biopharmaceutical venture investment and corporate development for investment.  Along with managing the process and presenting funding proposals to the external investment committee, the Associate Director as part of the Blavatnik team, will be responsible for managing the strategic corporate partners executing the approved development plans, and monitoring progress against the project plan to ensure the timely exchange of data and feedback from the contract research organization and the faculty member from whom the technology opportunity originated.  In addition to identifying projects for this process, this position helps support the commercialization efforts of selected technologies as new venture and/or with a licensee.

Required Skills and Abilities

1. Proven advanced written, verbal and interpersonal communications skills including expertise and skill to interact successfully with a diverse array of technical, scientific, legal, political, and public entities.

2. Includes ability to communicate effectively in a full range of forums such as meetings, presentations, and written expression.

3. Demonstrates remarkable persuasion skills and excellent ability to build trust.

4. A demonstrated systems thinker, who can develop and implement plans to efficiently support teams through project conception, planning, budgeting, funding, change management, and implementation cycles.

5. Demonstrated experience in managing scientific projects.

Preferred Skills, Education, and Experience

1.Proven ability to establish, promote, and manage strategic relationships with diverse groups.

2. Ability to work with faculty teams to define protocols to be carried out by the external contract research organizations (CRO’s) and negotiating with those CRO’s.

3. PhD in Life Sciences

4. Corporate R&D experience, preferably in drug discovery or pre-clinical development.

5. Familiarity with animal models and pre-clinical toxicology. Familiarity with Airtable, Salesforce and AI tools.

Principal Responsibilities

1.  Assists with managing the process leading to the creation and cultivation of a portfolio of life science commercial development projects identified and financially supported by the Fund.   2.  Plays a key role in ensuring projects remain within budget, scope, and schedule requirements. 3.  Develops tactical plans, including planning and scheduling to efficiently support teams through project. Gathers and analyzes information to prepare status reports. Ensures that assignment and scheduling of work follows internal policies and procedures as well as regulatory requirements.  4.  Evaluates current procedures and recommends changes to improve the efficiency of planning and scheduling of projects. Tracks and records costs. Ensures that all work/projects are properly documented.  5.  Coordinates the request for proposal (RFP) process including issuing the RFP, responding to inquiries from faculty; supporting the evaluation and selection of initial pre-proposals and soliciting follow-up full proposals from those selected. 6.  Collaborates with the business development team and principal investigators to prepare development plans, define specific objectives and implement alternatives and choices for full proposals.  7.  Works with the business development team and principal investigators to prepare the presentation of full proposals for the Investment Advisory Committee. 8.  Works on contracts for outsourced and/or collaborative arrangements. 9.  Maintains timelines and financial resources in alignment with development project’s goals and objectives in support of the Advisory Committee decisions to continue or discontinue development support. 10. Tracks and communicates barriers to technical progress of funded projects in order to minimize and/or eliminate risks 11. Provides regular communications with key Accelerator stakeholders, including university administration, faculty, Accelerator advisory committee and other external audiences. 12. Works with team in Yale Ventures, on the commercialization of selected projects as new ventures and/or licensing if possible. Required Education and Experience Bachelor’s Degree in business or a life science and 4 years of relevant experience or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

Job Posting Date

08/12/2026

Job Category

Professional

Bargaining Unit

NON

Compensation Grade

Administration & Operations

Compensation Grade Profile

Manager; Program Leader (24)

Salary Range

$68,000.00 - $120,500.00

Time Type

Full time

Duration Type

Staff Fixed Duration (Fixed Term)

Work Model

Hybrid

Background Check Requirements

All candidates for employment will be subject to pre-employment background screening for this position, which may include motor vehicle, DOT certification, drug testing and credit checks based on the position description and job requirements. All offers are contingent upon the successful completion of the background check. For additional information on the background check requirements and process visit "Learn about background checks" under the Applicant Support Resources section of Careers on the It's Your Yale website.

Health Requirements

Certain positions have associated health requirements based on specific job responsibilities. These may include vaccinations, tests, or examinations, as required by law, regulation, or university policy.

Posting Disclaimer

Salary offers are determined by a candidate’s qualifications, experience, skills, and education in relation to the position requirements, along with the role’s grade profile and current internal and external market conditions.

The intent of this job description is to provide a representative summary of the essential functions that will be required of the position and should not be construed as a declaration of specific duties and responsibilities of the position. Employees will be assigned specific job-related duties through  their hiring department.

The University is committed to basing judgments concerning the admission, education, and employment of individuals upon their qualifications and abilities and seeks to attract to its faculty, staff, and student body qualified persons from a broad range of backgrounds and perspectives. In accordance with this policy and as delineated by federal and Connecticut law, Yale does not discriminate in admissions, educational programs, or employment against any individual on account of that individual’s sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, age, disability, status as a special disabled veteran, veteran of the Vietnam era or other covered veteran.

Inquiries concerning Yale's Policy Against Discrimination and Harassment may be referred to the Office of Institutional Equity and Accessibility (OIEA).

Note

Yale University is a tobacco-free campus.