Breakthrough Victoria Hiring for Associate Director – BV University Innovation Platform at Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Full Time

About Breakthrough Victoria

Breakthrough Victoria Pty Ltd has been established to manage the Victorian Government’s landmark $2 billion Breakthrough Victoria Fund.  

Victoria is home to some of the best scientific, digital and knowledge institutes, businesses, and founders in the world – all sharing a mission to discover the next breakthrough. Whether it’s the next generation of medical tech, designing sustainable food sources, or uncovering new ways to take action on climate change, Victorian innovators are already developing the research, technology and ideas that will have a positive impact for Victorians and transform our lives for the better. We target investments across five sectors: Advanced Manufacturing, Agri-food, Clean Economy, Digital Technologies, and Health & Life Sciences, across all investment stages from pre-seed start-ups to investing in scaling and growth.

Breakthrough Victoria’s mission is to positively contribute to environmental and social advancements through our Investing for Impact objectives.

About You

We want to attract fresh talent into the Victorian early-stage investment ecosystem – no prior investment experience is required.

We understand that the world of university research spinouts is broad and you will have to assess technologies that you may have no prior expertise in, but you will be successful in this role if you:

• Are intellectually curious and can quickly grasp new technical concepts and can communicate these clearly.
• Are interested in university research commercilisation and like learning more about new technologies
• Act with compassion, care and understanding in your interactions with others
• Look at things critically and are bold and inventive in your approach to new challenges
• Are a self-starter who sees possibilities and is motivated by continuous learning and improvement

Description:

Breakthrough Victoria University Innovation Platform

Breakthrough Victoria University Innovation Platform is a $100 million investment program designed by Breakthrough Victoria to support Victorian universities to commercialise university research through a new investment platform that matches investment by those Victorian universities to invest in proof‐of‐concept, pre‐seed, seed or venture capital research commercialisation opportunities.

About The Role

ing to Senior Director, Pre-Seed, the Associate Director will ensure the platform’s success through supporting its implementation and ongoing activities in partnership with Victorian universities. Key accountabilities will include:

• Conduct due diligence on promising opportunities.
• Perform financial analysis and modelling.
• Identify possible applications via desktop market analysis and customer interviews.
• Help to develop an investment thesis and draft investment memos.
• Work closely with the legal team to finalise transaction documents.
• Produce s regarding the platform and investment performance.

Skills and Experiences:

Key Selection Criteria: knowledge and skills

The following knowledge, experience, or skills are expected:

• Data analysis: the ability to build and interrogate models in Excel.
• Curiosity: possess thinking styles that allow you to evaluate early-stage investment opportunities.
• Critical thinking: the ability to draw conclusions from large/sophisticated s and the ability to ask questions based on these s.
• Communication: active listening, reasoning and persuasion skills (verbal and written). Ability to communicate with transparency; breaking ‘silos’ and partnering cross-functionally.
• Self-management: ability to manage your own time and prioritise a number of projects simultaneously. Appreciation the importance of time, input and the value of others in their work.

Knowledge, experience, or skills in either (or both) the following areas will also be considered highly advantageous:

• Innovation and start-ups: An understanding of the commercialisation barriers confronting start-ups, industry innovation and innovators.
• Technology adoption: An understanding of the process of bringing new technology to market.

Qualifications and Education:

A bachelor’s degree or higher in engineering, science, business or other relevant discipline or having worked within multiple industries/ domains.

Applying for this role at Breakthrough Victoria

We’re a growing team and want our team now and into the future to grow with us. So, if you think you have what it takes, but don’t necessarily meet every single point on the job description, please apply or reach out to hiring manager Olga Hogan ([email protected]). We welcome a chat to see if you could be a great fit.

Please submit your resume/CV via Seek or LinkedIn, along with a cover letter addressing the above key selection criteria and any other relevant experience, knowledge, or skills by 8 October 2023.

The recruitment process will involve completing a small project (not more than 2 hours of your time) before presenting it at a panel interview.