Academic Partnerships Director

Beacon Biosignals is seeking a scientifically and clinically credentialed, relationship-driven Academic Partnerships Director to grow adoption of the Beacon Platform, including the research use of its medical devices, within academic and research institutions. This remote role starts as a senior independent contributor in the Life Sciences Commercial organization, reporting to the President of Life Sciences and Chief Business Officer, with potential to evolve into academic alliance management and team leadership. In-person hubs are preferred in Boston and New York City.

Responsibilities

Build and manage a portfolio of relationships with PIs, academic medical centers, core facilities, and research consortia pursuing NIH, NSF, foundation, and other grant-funded studies in neurology, psychiatry, and sleep-related disorders; Partner with PIs during proposal development to position Beacon's Waveband EEG platform and analytics as the preferred solution for grant-funded studies; Apply working knowledge of U.S. academic grant funding cycles and mechanisms and EU and other international regulatory frameworks to time outreach and shape proposals; Grow and steward relationships with academic core facilities and research consortia, identifying institution-wide or multi-site adoption opportunities; Own account-level pipeline generation, negotiation, and closing for academic and grant-funded opportunities, and record activity and forecasts in CRM; Represent Beacon at academic and scientific conferences and build a network among grants administrators, research development offices, and technology transfer offices; Serve as a scientific thought partner to PIs and research teams; Collaborate with Program Management, Clinical Operations, Marketing, and Scientific teams to scope and deliver academic partnerships; Provide leadership with visibility into pipeline health, win/loss patterns, and emerging opportunities; Manage and extend the Academic strategy, including pricing structure

Requirements

MD with training in psychiatry or neurology, or PhD in neuroscience; 3+ years of experience in business development, academic partnerships, alliance management, or a related commercial role; Firsthand familiarity with the academic research and grant funding environment, gained through prior lab, postdoctoral, or research administration experience; Demonstrated ability to translate strategic and commercial context into actionable operational briefs for delivery teams; Exceptional interpersonal skills, with a demonstrated ability to build trusted relationships with PIs, research administrators, and academic leadership; A track record of self-generated pipeline, including building new interest with PIs, core facilities, and consortium relationships through creative demand generation that become revenue generating partnerships; Entrepreneurial mindset, comfortable navigating long and unpredictable academic funding timelines while managing a disciplined pipeline; Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to build compelling proposal language and presentations for scientific and administrative audiences; Ability to use CRM tools to track accounts and opportunities; Experience contracting with academic institutions, including Tech Transfer Offices and Legal teams; Willingness to travel for conferences, site visits, and internal meetings, 1-3 times per quarter; Empathy for all stakeholders, including academic researchers, research administrators, co-workers, and patients

Nice to have

Experience in neuroscience, sleep science, or a related clinical research domain; Strong scientific acumen

Benefits

Incentive compensation; Equity; PTO; Other benefits as part of total compensation package