Senior Assistant Director, Ecosystem Development and Planning Team Lead

A*STAR - Agency for Science, Technology and Research; Singapore; On-site; SGD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

A*STAR, the Agency for Science, Technology and Research in Singapore, seeks a Head in BMSIPO’s Ecosystem & Development Team to drive national health and biomedical R&D partnerships. You will lead initiatives, nurture multi-institution collaboration, and develop competitive grant proposals with public sector bodies.

The role emphasizes strategic leadership, team development, and stakeholder engagement across public and private sectors, enabling translation from discovery to impact.

Qualifications

• Minimum 6 years of working experience preferably in Healthcare, Biomedical Sciences or related fields.
• Background in research, clinical trials, product development, IP management, technology commercialization, industry or business development.
• Excellent communication (written and oral) and interpersonal skills. Ability to engage clients and stakeholders at the top executive level.
• Strong project planning and execution skills.
• Experience in strategy development and execution.
• Ability to build high performance teams.
• Integrity and analytical ability with ability to work across complex stakeholders.
• Experience in multi-party and multi-stakeholder engagement and management.

Responsibilities

• Lead and drive National-level Initiatives for the HHP RIE Domain, boosting the biotech/medtech ecosystem and enabling multi-institutional programmes.
• Bring together collaboration across Public Sector R&D & Clinical Institutions, developing ecosystem-wide workshops and programs.
• Shape R&D and Clinical Research project proposals for competitive grant funding.
• Lead, mentor and develop a high performance team within the Technology-Business group.

Skills

Leadership

Strategy development

Project planning

Communication

Stakeholder management

Team development

Analytical ability

Multi-stakeholder engagement

Job description

Job Description

The Biomedical Sciences Industry Partnership Office (BMSIPO) serves as the national office dedicated to drive technology-business public-private R&D partnerships with strategic biomedical sciences and healthcare companies. This includes multinational biotech, pharmaceutical, diagnostics, digital health and medtech companies, as well as innovative local enterprises.

The Biomedical Sciences Industry Partnership Office (BMSIPO) serves as the national office dedicated to drive technology-business public-private R&D partnerships with strategic biomedical sciences and healthcare companies. This includes multinational biotech, pharmaceutical, diagnostics, digital health and medtech companies, as well as innovative local enterprises.

BMSIPO account manages these strategic companies (strategic to Singapore) and architects R&D partnerships from early discovery and pre-clinical development, translational clinical development, to manufacturing R&D, across the diverse public sector research and clinical institutions in Singapore.

BMSIPO leads and supports key publicly-funded research and clinical R&D programmes such as National Platforms, multi-institutional programmes to develop and execute their industry development strategies.

In addition, BMSIPO drives and supports several national level initiatives in the Health & Human Potential (HHP) Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) domain.

This opening is for a role as Head in BMSIPO’s Ecosystem & Development Team, drives ecosystem level HHP initiatives, leads/supports National Platforms/Multi-institutional Progamme’s industry development efforts, shapes multi-institutional R&D programme proposals, and brings together the HHP Innovation & Enterprise (I&E) community through ecosystem workshops.

Responsibilities

• Lead and Drive National-level Initiatives for the HHP RIE Domain – These initiatives range from boosting our biotech and medtech innovation ecosystem, harnessing healthcare and research data to advance therapeutics & diagnostics development and healthcare implementation, to enabling multi-institutional research and clinical programmes to structure complex relationships in an efficient and robust manner. You will get the opportunity to formulate and drive such initiatives such as Singapore National Biotech Working Committee and a national project to develop standards and best practices for multi-institutional clinical research collaborations.
• Bring Together and Level up Collaboration and Best Practice Sharing for the Innovation and Enterprise Community amongst Public Sector R&D & Clinical Institutions – Lead on developing ecosystem-wide workshops and networking sessions for the community to create a community of practice for innovation and enterprise. Develop broad-based and thematic programs for these workshops and sessions, bringing in international and local perspectives.
• Shape R&D & Clinical Research Project Proposals - Support research/clinical project teams to formulate project proposals seeking competitive grant funding, focused on assessing scientific and technology analysis viz the international landscape, industry validation, economic outcomes, and programme structuring.
• Lead, Mentor and Develop a High Performance Team – Develop driven, high performance, high integrity, cohesive, purpose-driven and networked Technology-Business team, including National Platform and Multi-Institutional Industry Development Teams. Instil a culture of achieving T-shaped domain knowledge of biomedical scientific and technology trends and areas, strong business development, engagement and communication skills, analysis of industry and market trends including formulating technology-business-commercialization strategies. Be strong in multi-stakeholder and multi-party projects and initiatives.

Requirements

• Minimum 6 years of working experience preferably in the Healthcare, Biomedical Sciences or related fields, with a background in research, clinical trials, product development, intellectual property management, technology commercialization, industry or business development. Prior industry experience or planning and policy roles in a public sector agency will be favourably considered.
• A passion and curiosity of science and technology, able to handle diverse technical topics beyond one’s direct field of education and experience, and awareness of emerging fields. Able to quickly understand, develop a point of view and architect new/emerging scientific and technology areas, intellectual property positions, translation and commercialisation strategies, and potential to be applied in different business contexts.
• Excellent communication (written and oral) and interpersonal skills. Ability to engage clients and stakeholders at the top executive level.
• Strong in team and people development. Ability to build high performance teams.
• Experience in strategy development and strong in execution.
• Strong project planning and execution skills.
• High in integrity and analytical ability. Strength in making judgements and decisions in the face of complexity.
• Excellence in multi-party and multi-stakeholder engagement and management.