Director, Market Adoption

Dolby Laboratories; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 235,000 - 328,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus

Benefits

Equity opportunities

Job summary

Dolby Laboratories seeks a strategic leader to drive commercialization and ecosystem development for next‑gen licensing platforms. You will shape adoption strategies, coordinate with standards bodies, and partner across Licensing, Legal, Product, and Research to turn emerging technologies into future revenue streams.

The role blends technology strategy with market development, product thinking, and ecosystem building to accelerate Dolby's leadership in bundled technologies and IP monetization.

Qualifications

• Proven ability to translate technical concepts into business opportunities.
• Experience building commercialization strategies and market assessments.
• Track record of advancing platform technologies to market.
• Experience navigating standards ecosystems and licensing discussions.

Responsibilities

• Define commercialization, adoption, and ecosystem strategies for growth platforms.
• Evaluate readiness and pathways for emerging technologies to inform decisions.
• Develop and activate ecosystems across standards bodies and partners.
• Create market narratives, value propositions, and adoption metrics.
• Identify opportunities to transform technologies into scalable licensing businesses.

Skills

Technology strategy

Product management

Business development

Ecosystem development

Technology commercialization

IP strategy

Management consulting

Standards participation

Strategic thinking

Influence

Education

MBA

Advanced technical degree

Job description

Join the leader in entertainment innovation and help us design the future. At Dolby, science meets art, and high tech means more than computer code. As a member of the Dolby team, you'll see and hear the results of your work everywhere, from movie theaters to smartphones. We continue to revolutionize how people create, deliver, and enjoy entertainment worldwide. To do that, we need the absolute best talent. We're big enough to give you all the resources you need, and small enough so you can make a real difference and earn recognition for your work. We offer a collegial culture, challenging projects, and excellent compensation and benefits.

For this high functioning team, the nature of the work benefits from frequent in-office presence, and employees may be expected to work from a company office up to four days per week. While we remain committed to flexibility, this team’s rhythm includes regular in-person connection to support collaboration, learning, and impact.

The Legal Department provides core legal support to all Dolby functions, runs several IP-centric businesses, and leads government relations.

Role Summary: Dolby is seeking a strategic and commercially minded Director of Technology Commercialization & Ecosystem Development to help build the next generation of licensing growth platforms.

This role exists to create the conditions that drive adoption of Dolby and industry technologies, converting standards participation, IP investment, partnerships, and ecosystem development into future licensing revenue.

The person in this role will operate at the intersection of technology strategy, market development, product management, ecosystem building, business development, and commercialization. Working across Dolby's Core and Extended Core technology domains, this person will identify growth opportunities, define commercialization pathways, mobilize ecosystems, and accelerate adoption of technologies that can create long-term business value. The role functions as the product manager for emerging technology platforms, defining adoption requirements, ecosystem strategies, commercialization pathways, and business outcomes long before formal products, markets, or licensing programs are established.

What You’ll Do

• Shape Commercialization and Adoption Strategy: Define commercialization, adoption, and ecosystem strategies for Dolby's current and future growth platforms. Translate market needs, standards evolution, and business objectives into actionable roadmaps that guide technology strategy, IP development, partnerships, and commercialization activities.
• Assess Commercialization Opportunities: Evaluate market readiness, ecosystem maturity, adoption barriers, and commercialization pathways for emerging technologies. Provide insights and recommendations that inform Dolby's business, technology, partnership, and investment decisions.
• Build and Activate Ecosystems: Develop and execute ecosystem strategies across standards bodies, industry alliances, device manufacturers, service providers, platform operators, regulators, and strategic partners to accelerate adoption and create sustainable market momentum. Translate Standards Leadership into Commercial Outcomes: Connect standards participation, technical innovation, ecosystem development, and commercialization efforts to create durable licensing opportunities and maximize returns on Dolby's technology and IP investments.
• Develop Market Positioning and Drive Adoption: Create compelling market narratives, value propositions, adoption frameworks, and success metrics that help internal and external stakeholders understand, deploy, and champion emerging technologies.
• Create and Scale New Growth Platforms: Identify and advance opportunities capable of becoming future licensing businesses. Partner with Standards, Patent Strategy, Licensing, Corporate Development, Product, Research, and Business Operations teams to transform promising technologies into scalable commercial opportunities and build repeatable commercialization playbooks.

What You’ll Bring

• 10+ years of experience in technology strategy, product management, business development, ecosystem development, technology commercialization, intellectual property strategy, management consulting, or related disciplines.
• Demonstrated experience bringing emerging technologies from concept to commercial adoption.
• Experience building business cases, commercialization strategies, market assessments, and executive investment recommendations.
• Experience operating in markets where standards, business models, ecosystems, and adoption paths are still emerging.

Strategic and Commercial Skills

• Ability to translate complex technical concepts into compelling business opportunities and actionable strategic recommendations.
• Strong product strategy mindset, including market requirements, adoption planning, ecosystem development, and commercialization.
• Ability to define success metrics and drive execution through influence rather than direct authority.
• Structured thinker comfortable navigating ambiguity and creating clarity where markets are still forming.

Leadership and Influence

• Proven ability to align technical, legal, licensing, standards, strategy, and business stakeholders around a shared vision and execution plan.
• Excellent written, verbal, and presentation skills.
• Ability to communicate credibly with engineers, standards experts, executives, partners, and industry leaders.
• Demonstrated ability to influence senior leaders and external stakeholders without formal authority.

Preferred Experience

• Technology licensing, patent monetization, standards-essential patents, or FRAND-based licensing ecosystems.
• Product management or commercialization experience for platform technologies.
• Experience working with standards bodies, industry alliances, ecosystem-development organizations, or strategic partnerships.
• Familiarity with media technologies, video and audio codecs, telecommunications, connectivity, wireless power, digital trust and authenticity, AI infrastructure, or adjacent technology ecosystems.
• MBA, advanced technical degree, or equivalent combination of technical and commercial experience.

Success in this Role

• Create adoption momentum for emerging technology platforms.
• Build ecosystems that accelerate standards adoption and commercial deployment.
• Align technical, legal, licensing, and business stakeholders around a shared commercialization strategy.
• Establish repeatable frameworks for evaluating and advancing future growth opportunities.
• Help convert Dolby's standards leadership, technology investments, and intellectual property into sustainable long-term business value.

The San Francisco/Bay Area base salary range for this full-time position is $235,000 - 328,000, which can vary if outside this location, plus bonus, benefits, and some roles may also include equity. Our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location. Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, competencies, experience, market demands, internal parity, and relevant education or training. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range and perks and benefits for your location during the hiring process.

Dolby will consider qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of San Francisco Police Code, Article 49, and Administrative Code, Article 12

Equal Employment Opportunity

Dolby is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. Our success depends on the combined skills and talents of all our employees. We are committed to making employment decisions without regard to race, religious creed, color, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion, marital status, family status, medical condition, disability, military service, pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions or any other classification protected by federal, state, and local laws and ordinances.