Principal, Research Contracts and Commercialization

University Health Network; Toronto; Hybrid; CAD 116,000 - 166,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive offer packages

HOOPP pension plan

Transit access

Flexible work environment

Development opportunities

Corporate discounts

Job summary

University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto seeks a Principal, Research Agreements and Commercialization to lead the negotiation, execution and management of industry-sponsored research agreements across its Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and affiliated sites.

The role reports to leadership in Commercialization and requires coordination with researchers, legal counsel, and sponsors to enable timely collaborations while safeguarding UHN policies and risk management.

Qualifications

• Minimum 10 years of experience managing research, licensing, or industry partnership agreements.
• Experience negotiating Sponsored Research Agreements (SRAs) and related contracts.
• Strong understanding of IP provisions, publication rights, confidentiality, risk terms.
• Ability to coordinate stakeholders and advance approvals.
• Experience in academic/healthcare/biotech settings preferred.

Responsibilities

• Serve as primary contact for negotiation, review, and execution of SRAs.
• Manage high volume of research agreements through lifecycle.
• Lead negotiations for SRAs, CDAs, Data Use, Licensing, and Service agreements.
• Coordinate with investigators, legal, sponsors, and partners.
• Identify and resolve IP, publication, confidentiality, indemnification issues.
• Monitor turnaround times and drive process improvements.
• Provide guidance on contractual obligations to investigators.
• Maintain accurate contract records and ensure policy compliance.
• Support commercialization and industry partnerships with contract expertise.
• Collaborate with Legal, IP, Operations, and Commercialization teams.

Skills

Contract negotiation

Contract management

Stakeholder management

Attention to detail

Legal terminology

Risk assessment

Communication

Job description

UHN is Canada’s No. 1 hospital and the world’s No. 1 publicly funded hospital. With 10 sites and more than 44,000 TeamUHN members. UHN consists of Toronto General Hospital, Toronto Western Hospital, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, The Michener Institute of Education and West Park Healthcare Centre. As Canada's top research hospital, the scope of biomedical research and complexity of cases at UHN have made it a national and international source for discovery, education and patient care. UHN has the largest hospital-based research program in Canada, with major research in neurosciences, cardiology, transplantation, oncology, surgical innovation, infectious diseases, genomic medicine and rehabilitation medicine. UHN is a research hospital affiliated with the University of Toronto.

UHN’s vision is to build A Healthier World and its only because of the talented and dedicated people who work here that we are continually bringing that vision closer to reality.

www.uhn.ca

Union:Non-Union
Number of vacancies:1
New or Replacement Position:New
Site:Mars/Hybrid
Department:Commercialization
Reports to:Ernest Ho
Salary Range:$115,730 to $165,730 per annum
Hours:37.5 hr/week
Shifts:Days
Status:Temporary Full-Time (approximately 12 months)
Closing Date:September 29, 2026

Position Summary

The Principal, Research Agreements and Commercialization will play a key role in supporting UHN's research enterprise through the efficient negotiation, execution, and management of industry-sponsored research agreements including Sponsored Research Agreements (SRAs), licensing agreements, confidentiality agreements, collaboration agreements, service agreements, and other research-related contracts across an assigned portfolio, primarily within Princess Margaret Cancer Centre.
The successful candidate will serve as a critical liaison between researchers, industry sponsors, legal counsel, and institutional stakeholders to facilitate research collaborations while ensuring compliance with UHN policies and risk management requirements and is responsible for facilitating and enabling research partnerships through the effective negotiation, execution, and management of research-related agreements while supporting UHN's broader commercialization objectives.
This role requires a highly organized and results-oriented professional with significant experience reviewing, negotiating, and processing research agreements in complex academic, healthcare, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, or research environments. While supporting broader commercialization objectives, the primary focus of the position is enabling research partnerships through timely, high-quality contract negotiation and execution.
The Principal will work closely with investigators, Research Legal, Commercialization, IP Management, Operations, and external partners to improve contracting efficiency, reduce turnaround times, and support the successful launch and management of industry-sponsored research programs.

Duties

• Serve as the primary point of contact for the negotiation, review, and execution of Sponsored Research Agreements and other research-related contracts within the assigned portfolio.
• Manage a high volume of research agreements, ensuring timely review, negotiation, tracking, execution, and stakeholder communication throughout the contract lifecycle.
• Lead negotiations for Sponsored Research Agreements, Confidential Disclosure Agreements, Data Use Agreements, Inter Institutional Agreements, Licensing Agreements, Service Agreements, and other research-related contracts.
• Coordinate with principal investigators, research administrators, legal counsel, sponsors, and industry partners to facilitate efficient agreement execution.
• Identify and resolve contractual issues relating to intellectual property, publication rights, confidentiality, indemnification, data sharing, and research funding terms.
• Monitor agreement turnaround times and proactively implement process improvements that increase contracting efficiency.
• Provide guidance to investigators and research teams regarding contractual obligations and agreement requirements.
• Maintain accurate contract records and ensure adherence to institutional policies and regulatory requirements.
• Support commercialization and industry partnership initiatives by providing contract expertise and transactional support where appropriate.
• Work collaboratively with Legal, IP Management, Operations, and Commercialization teams to facilitate successful research partnerships.

• Minimum 10 years of experience managing, negotiating, and executing research, licensing, commercialization, or industry partnership agreements in an academic, healthcare, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, legal, technology transfer, or research organization.
• Demonstrated experience negotiating and executing Sponsored Research Agreements (SRAs) and other research-related contracts.
• Strong understanding of contract structure, legal terminology, risk allocation, intellectual property provisions, publication rights, confidentiality, indemnification, and regulatory requirements applicable to research agreements.
• Proven ability to independently review, analyze, negotiate, and manage complex contractual documents.
• Experience coordinating multiple stakeholders and advancing agreements through legal and institutional approval processes.
• Strong attention to detail and ability to manage a large portfolio of agreements while meeting deadlines.
• Experience in research administration, technology transfer, contract management, research partnerships, commercialization, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or related research environments is required.
• Familiarity with commercialization pathways, licensing, startup formation, or industry partnerships would be considered an asset.

Why join UHN?

In addition to working alongside some of the most talented and inspiring healthcare professionals in the world, UHN offers a wide range of benefits, programs and perks. It is the comprehensiveness of these offerings that makes it a differentiating factor, allowing you to find value where it matters most to you, now and throughout your career at UHN.

• Competitive offer packages
• Government organization and a member of the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP https://hoopp.com/)
• Close access to Transit and UHN shuttle service
• A flexible work environment
• Opportunities for development and promotions within a large organization
• Additional perks (multiple corporate discounts including: travel, restaurants, parking, phone plans, auto insurance discounts, on-site gyms, etc.)

Current UHN employees must have successfully completed their probationary period, have a good employee record along with satisfactory attendance in accordance with UHN's attendance management program, to be eligible for consideration.

All applications must be submitted before the posting close date.

UHN uses email to communicate with selected candidates. Please ensure you check your email regularly.At University Health Network (UHN), artificial intelligence technologies may be used to assist in the screening, assessment, and selection of candidates for this position.

Please be advised that a Criminal Record Check may be required of the successful candidate. Should it be determined that any information provided by a candidate be misleading, inaccurate or incorrect, UHN reserves the right to discontinue with the consideration of their application.

UHN is an equal opportunity employer committed to an inclusive recruitment process and workplace. Requests for accommodation can be made at any stage of the recruitment process. Applicants need to make their requirements known.

We thank all applicants for their interest, however, only those selected for further consideration will be contacted.