Business Development Officer
About TICAN:
Talent Innovation Canada (TICAN) powers Canada’s innovation economy by embedding the country’s brightest graduate talent into its most innovative firms, accelerating breakthrough technology development and growing Canadian IP.
Focusing on high-growth industry sectors including mobility & electric vehicles, biomanufacturing & bioscience, clean growth & sustainable resource development, microelectronics & ICT, TICAN supports Canadian firms in becoming leaders in these areas by ensuring they can access the advanced talent needed to develop next-generation technologies in Canada.
About the Role:
Join a team that will strengthen Canada’s position as a leader in technology development and innovation. This isn’t a traditional business development role. You are selling a value proposition to fast-growing companies and giving them access to the nation’s sharpest graduate students, Postdocs, researchers, and technical talent. You will identify high-growth companies seeking advanced talent, match them with the right trainees, and design partnership structures that benefit both the talent and industry.
Being part of TICAN’s business development team is an exciting opportunity to help redefine how industrial and academic research can level-up Canadian competitiveness in one of the four key sectors mentioned above. The target sector for this role is one of the following three:
- Biomanufacturing/Biosciences:
Rapid advances in molecular biology brought on, in part, by the genomic revolution presents a unique opportunity to positively impact human health. Preserving biological diversity to ensure sustainable ecosystems is a global effort while advances in biochemistry are yielding novel materials as well as giving us new tools for mitigating pollution. Key focus areas include pharmaceuticals, medical devices, digital health, agricultural technology, plant and animal health, and environmentally focused bio-innovations. - Clean Growth (Natural Resources, Energy, Infrastructure):
Sustainable energy generation and storage is making rapid advances. Key opportunities include building energy infrastructure (generation, extraction, storage, transport, and carbon storage/sequestration), the built environment (infrastructure, transportation systems), digital infrastructure (such as low carbon data centres), sustainable food systems (agriculture, food processing, lowering food waste), and resource extraction (mining, forestry, etc.). - Mobility technology (Automotive, Aerospace, Maritime):
The EV revolution and more generally the automotive sector presents a unique opportunity to develop advanced technologies for a global market. These include novel battery design, charging infrastructure, critical minerals, specialized chips, autonomous vehicles, robotics, novel materials, and advanced manufacturing. More broadly, the same challenges arise in aerospace and maritime mobility. Addressing these challenges in the context of Canada’s renewed commitment for substantial investments in building a state-of-the-art military presents a once in a lifetime opportunity.
You will be working with research leaders in their respective fields in conjunction with innovative Canadian companies developing breakthrough technologies. Collaborating on long-term commercialization roadmaps with partners is a key deliverable for this role.
Quality is paramount. The trainee’s work is expected produce commercialization opportunities for industry in Canada and at the same time will form the core of their academic research and/or thesis work. At the conclusion of the work there will be a direct path to full-time employment, keeping the best and brightest right here in Canada.
What You’ll Do:
- Strategy & Hunting:
Identify and engage “Scale-up” and Enterprise companies that need specialized R&D talent to maintain their competitive edge. - Partnership Design:
Create bespoke engagement models that advance the organization’s R&D internships. - Relationship Management:
Manage the full lifecycle of industry partners, from the first “cold” outreach to long-term account growth. - Ecosystem Building:
Represent the organization at major tech conferences, research symposiums, and summits. - Internal Collaboration:
Work closely with others on our Business Development team to ensure the “supply” (our trainees) matches the “demand” (the industry partners you engage).
Business Development Activities:
- The “Pitch”:
Move from selling “partnerships” to selling a high-impact talent pipeline. You’ll be pitching to VPs of Engineering and R&D Heads at tech-forward companies. - Program Design:
Work with companies to understand their most pressing R&D challenges and define what a “successful” R&D internship looks like (e.g., specific outcomes vs. extra hands on deck). - Conversion Strategy:
Help companies see the internship as a “long-term interview,” building a bridge for these researchers to become full-time hires post-graduation. - Market Mapping:
Identify “clusters” of high-growth companies and understand their R&D talent needs to map larger sectoral opportunities for industry engagement.
Other Activities Include:
- Driving collaboration with decision makers at partnering universities and top research labs to ensure the consistent supply of exceptional R&D trainees.
- Matching trainees equipped with specialized skills with industry partners who can benefit.
- Working with partner universities to establish & nurture long-term relationships with leading research labs & top-tier graduate programs and promote these programs to potential Canadian industry partners.
- Establishing long-term partnerships with innovative Canadian companies developing breakthrough technologies in the one of the target sectors listed above.
- Implement strategies to maximize the conversion of industry partnerships that result in technology development and commercialization.
- Interpreting highly complex and technical data, ensuring results meet appropriate research and innovation standards.
- Develop project schedules including milestones, critical path, timelines, deliverables and detailed reporting.
Qualifications:
- A graduate degree in a field relevant to one of the three target sectors listed above.
- Minimum of eight (8) years of recent experience in industrial and/or academic research settings in one of the target sectors or a related discipline.
- Experience formulating, coordinating, and implementing industry-based research projects and commercialization plans.
- Experience engaging with graduate programs and academic research labs.
- Extensive experience in senior business development positions, with proven experience cultivating, developing, and sustaining long-term, multi-layered relationships.
- Experience drafting agreements and generating public-facing partnership materials (such as MOUs, contracts, grant and investment proposals, commercialization plans) and compiling statistical reports.
- Strong interpersonal skills to build consensus, employ multiple approaches and have demonstrated ability to manage conflicting expectations of stakeholders.
- Excellent communication and presentation skills.
- Ability to work independently as well as in a team setting.
- Fluency in French and English desired for this role.
Logistics:
Location: Applications from across Canada will be accepted. Candidates located in the greater Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary and Halifax areas will be given priority. Periodic travel to Toronto will be required.
TICAN offers competitive salary and benefits, commensurate with experience.
To apply for this role, please email your latest CV to hr@ticanada.ca. The subject line should read; “TICAN Business Development Officer application.” Please add a brief note expressing the reason for your interest and your suitability for the role.