Academic Partnerships Director

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in Massachusetts.

📋 Description

• Enhance the adoption of the Beacon Platform and investigate the utilization of its medical devices within academic and research institutions.

• Establish and maintain relationships with principal investigators, academic medical centers, core facilities, and research consortia.

• Identify, nurture, and secure partnership opportunities for grant-funded and foundation-sponsored research initiatives.

• Assist principal investigators during proposal development by strategically positioning Beacon’s Waveband EEG platform and its analytics capabilities.

• Support the creation of scientific and budgetary narratives during the grant-writing process.

• Leverage knowledge of U.S. academic grant funding cycles and mechanisms, along with EU and international regulatory frameworks.

• Foster relationships with academic core facilities and research consortia for broad institutional or multi-site adoption.

• Take ownership of pipeline generation, negotiation, closing, CRM activity tracking, and forecasting.

• Represent Beacon at academic and scientific conferences, and cultivate networks among grants administrators, research development offices, and technology transfer offices.

• Act as a scientific thought partner to principal investigators and research teams.

• Collaborate with Program Management, Clinical Operations, Marketing, and Scientific teams.

• Report on pipeline health, win/loss trends, and emerging opportunities to leadership.

• Manage and expand the Academic strategy, including the pricing structure.

• Report directly to the President of Life Sciences and the Chief Business Officer.

⛳️ Requirements

• MD with specialization in psychiatry or neurology, or a PhD in neuroscience.

• Over 3 years of experience in business development, academic partnerships, alliance management, or a similar commercial role.

• Direct familiarity with the academic research and grant funding landscape, acquired through prior laboratory, postdoctoral, or research administration roles.

• Strong scientific insight, with a preference for experience in neuroscience, sleep science, or a related clinical research field.

• Proven ability to convert strategic and commercial insights into actionable operational briefs for delivery teams.

• Outstanding interpersonal skills and capability to cultivate trusted relationships with principal investigators, research administrators, and academic leaders.

• A history of self-generated pipelines and innovative demand generation that leads to revenue-generating partnerships.

• An entrepreneurial mindset with the ability to navigate academic funding cycles while managing a structured pipeline.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including proficiency in proposal writing and presentations tailored for scientific and administrative audiences.

• Capability to utilize CRM tools for tracking accounts and opportunities.

• Experience in contracting with academic institutions, including negotiations with Tech Transfer Offices and Legal teams.

• Willingness to travel for conferences, site visits, and internal meetings 1–3 times per quarter.

• Empathy towards stakeholders, colleagues, users, and patients.

🏝️ Benefits

• Incentive compensation.

• Equity.

• Paid time off (PTO).

• Additional benefits.

• Remote work arrangement.

• Occasional travel to customer meetings, academic conferences, and site visits.