Careers: Chief Technology Officer — Plant Science
TITLE: Chief Technology Officer -- Plant Science
TYPE: Full-time, Salaried Exempt
REPORTS TO: President
LOCATION: TechAccel Headquarters, Overland Park, KS or St. Louis, MO
TRAVEL: 20-25%
RELOCATION: Relocation package is available
Please send cover letter and resume to:
TechAccel, LLC
6811 Shawnee Mission Pkwy Suite 215
Shawnee Mission, Kansas 66202
jobs@techaccel.net
No walk-ins or recruiters.
Position Summary:
TechAccel, LLC, is a private capital firm that invests in, acquires, and advances early-stage technologies in the agriculture, animal health, and food technology sectors, with a focus on platform technologies. These assets are sourced from start-ups looking to expand into adjacencies, universities, and industry. The work environment is innovative, entrepreneurial, and dynamic. Our culture demands excellence, collaboration, flexibility, and bold actions to seize opportunities.
The Chief Technology Officer -- Plant Science is an executive level position at TechAccel’s headquarters in Overland Park, Kansas, or in the Greater St. Louis, Missouri region, reporting directly to the company’s President.
The Chief Technology Officer -- Plant Science leads research and development on plant and animal science-related technical assets, identifies novel and innovative technologies from universities, global strategics, and start-ups (paired with equity investments), oversees technical due diligence on technology investment opportunities, and is a key contributor to the enterprise, deal and commercial transactions teams.
The Chief Technology Officer -- Plant Science will bring a strong complement of scientific expertise in the agriculture and/or animal health sectors with the business acumen to develop successful acquisition and exit transactions in collaboration with the enterprise, deal and commercial transactions teams.
The Chief Technology Officer -- Plant Science will bring an established history of successfully accelerating innovation through the de-risking and advancement process to commercialization. Strong technical due diligence in asset investment selection will be a priority as will collaboration with the enterprise, business development and commercialization teams.
Responsibilities:
• The Chief Technology Officer -- Plant Science duties include:
o Serve on the TechAccel Strategic Leadership Team (SLT), having primary responsibility for recruitment, supervision, direction and mentoring of the R&D team.
o In conjunction with the SLT, develop, promote and implement TechAccel’s Investment Thesis pillars, focus areas under pillars, and associated research capabilities & initiatives.
o Refine TechAccel’s thesis over time in response to scientific findings, emerging technologies, market trends and input from the stakeholders.
o With business development and commercialization teams, focus on key relationships within strategics/go-to-market partners, academia and professional researchers and scientific leaders to elevate our reputation in the industry, gain access to top assets/platforms, and drive market position, asset monetization and revenue growth.
o Work in partnership with internal teams including the Program Management Office (PMO), Enterprise Operations and Commercialization to conduct extensive due diligence on potential assets and/or equity investments, as well as acquisition/deal strategies with exit monetization at the forefront.
o Ownership, along with the PMO, for developing and establishing science advancement metrics, measurement and accountability.
o Oversight of expanding internal research resources and capabilities that have the capability and capacity to perform the needed work and expand the company into new market/technology areas.
o In conjunction with the PMO, provide oversight of, and guidance on, TechAccel sponsored research at universities, CROs and research institutions.
o Lead, motivate and inspire cross-functional team members including university and industrial scientists, consultants, and TechAccel/subsidiary associates.
o Maintain timely awareness of the research progress, keep TechAccel stakeholders informed of project progress and potential challenges, and be receptive to modifications of the research plan based on results and overall objectives.
o Actively participate in meetings with the TechAccel Board of Directors and associated Committees.
o Develop/deliver periodic research updates, and final reports and presentations.
• The Chief Technology Officer -- Plant Science will also focus on identifying potential technology opportunities, particularly platform technologies, and help to develop and communicate them to TechAccel stakeholders.
o Scouting. Identify new opportunities for innovative products using the company’s investment thesis and associated pillars as a foundation.
o Develop and expand a broad-based network of contacts within the agriculture and animal health sectors, attend tradeshows/conferences, and represent TechAccel with societies as appropriate.
o Participate in visits to universities and companies with the goal of having technical exploratory conversations with professors and principal investigators to identify capabilities, interests, and opportunities.
o Using scientific literature, patents, and other resources (e.g., Innography, Web of Science) improve the TechAccel technical research knowledge and capability pool, exploring new technologies, and recent advances in field, sourcing advances from allied institutions and applying knowledge to projects.
• We also expect the Chief Technology Officer -- Plant Science to perform equally well as a collaborative team leader and proactive functional manager as well as a strong scientific individual contributor depending on project needs; be highly adaptive to changing asset/transaction scopes and responsibilities.
o Be a key team member in conducting business and technical due diligence on new opportunities including (but not limited to) technology licenses, emerging company equity investments, science advancement deals, partnerships, and corporate / startup spin-offs.
o Write reports and present results, project and technology assessments to the Investment and Finance Advisory Committee (IFAC) to enable them to make informed business decisions on behalf of the TechAccel investors.
o Assist in developing data and materials for regular presentations made by and to the TechAccel team, including approval recommendations for the Board of Directors/IFAC.
Minimum Requirements:
• Ph.D. in a plant or animal science discipline with 10+ years post-graduate research experience in industry and/or academia
• Established understanding of agriculture and animal health markets and trends
• Proven experience in technical due diligence, technology advancement/de-risking and technology/platform/NewCo exit monetization
• Ability to translate corporate goals and priorities into executable R&D plans while understanding technical risks, mitigations and alternatives
• Existing relationships with key stakeholders and potential partners (e.g., industry strategics, VCs, PEs, universities, start-ups, incubators/accelerators)
• Experience in the regulatory and intellectual property framework for plant or animal agriculture products, animal health devices, diagnostics, or drugs/vaccines/biologics.
• A firm understanding of good experimental design, data analysis and interpretation
• Working knowledge of the best practices and challenges with research
• Ability to prioritize and manage multiple projects simultaneously with an experienced team
• Foster a working environment which is both challenging and supportive
• Demonstrated ability to lead through influence. Projects will be executed by groups that are not TechAccel employees, and these appropriate ‘soft skills’ are critical for success.
• Open to alternative views and opinions as it relates to strategy, R&D, etc
• Highly motivated, detailed individual with the proven ability to think innovatively toward solving technical and structural problems effectively and efficiently
• Self-starter with high level of initiative, resourcefulness; strong work ethic
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, start-up environment.
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively
• Independent thinking, technical passion, curiosity and creativity
• Excellent oral and written communication skills required to clearly explain complex issues, progress reports and technical roadmaps to a variety of audiences across functions and levels
The ideal candidate has additional skills including:
• Comfortable having and contributing to detailed scientific discussions with university professors, and researchers both academic and industrial
• Experience searching for and understanding technical patent literature; experience with Innography
• Strong skills in searching and combing research and other literature and clearly summarizing these results in a way that can be effectively communicated to stakeholders both with and lacking advanced scientific training. Experience with Web of Science
• Experience translating academic thinking and research into commercial possibilities.
• Strong skills in biometrics and statistics.
TechAccel (Technology Acceleration Partners) is a development company focused on advancing innovation in Agriculture and Animal Health. Our partner relationships with Global Industry Strategics leverages their strong technical expertise, regulatory infrastructure and the global distribution network. TechAccel co-funds the development, de-risking and advancement of technologies that fill partner portfolio gaps or addressing new adjacencies. Technologies typically are focused on the many technical paths address to the rapidly growing food and animal health demands. Partner companies utilize TechAccel to accelerate time to market. TechAccel also provides R&D services to meet partner surge needs as well as technology sourcing services.
In addition to our strong technology advancement relationships with Global Industry Leaders, TechAccel partners with leading Agriculture and Animal Health Venture Capital firms in advancing emerging technologies found in aggressive and innovative industry start-ups. TechAccel brings a unique Science Advancement role to these relationships in addition to our invested commitments. This dual commitment adds to the enterprise value creation as well as the breadth of potential innovation derived from each integrated relationship.
TechAccel is an equal opportunity employer. All employees are hired, compensated, promoted, disciplined and evaluated without regard to race, color, religion, gender, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship, genetic information, status as a qualified individual with a disability, military status, or any other protected characteristic as established by law. TechAccel strictly prohibits any and all discrimination and harassment based upon an individual's race, color, religion, gender, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship, genetic information, status as a qualified individual with a disability, military status, or any other protected characteristic as established by law. Any incident of such harassment or discrimination must be immediately reported to the appropriate management level employee.
