Associate Director for Commercialization

The University of Kentucky is seeking an Associate Director for Commercialization for UK Innovate’s Technology Commercialization team.

About the Role:

The Associate Director for Commercialization serves as the strategic and operational leader of the commercialization function within UK Innovate’s Technology Commercialization team. This position leads a team responsible for advancing University of Kentucky research assets toward real-world application through licensing, startup formation, and industry partnerships. The Associate Director for Commercialization is responsible for overseeing commercialization processes, directing team priorities, and ensuring measurable progress toward executed agreements, startup creation, and meaningful industry engagement.

This role will manage a defined technology portfolio - primarily in life science, drug discovery, drug development, or related biomedical innovation sectors - and model best practices for commercialization execution, market outreach, partner engagement, and data-driven decision-making. The position leads commercialization managers, sets team goals, ensures disciplined pipeline execution, and serves as the primary decision authority on commercialization strategy and deal progression.

Key responsibilities include, but are not limited to …

• engaging inventors early and throughout the innovation lifecycle
• defining commercialization pathways
• identifying qualified licensing partners or startup teams
• evaluating market readiness and competitive positioning
• advising teams on SBIR/STTR resources, translational funding opportunities, and partnership structuring

The Associate Director for Commercialization will coordinate closely with UK Innovate’s IP Development team to ensure market insights drive patent decisions, and with the Contracts Team to deliver well-framed commercial terms that support execution of licenses, options, and interinstitutional agreements.

A critical aspect of this role is leading industry-facing business development and representing the University externally at events, conferences, and industry engagements. The Associate Director for Commercialization serves as advocate for UK inventors, departments, and early-stage founders, and plays a central role in developing strategic relationships that advance technology deployment and startup growth.

Growth in commercialization outcomes - including executed agreements, startups, industry relationships, and market-informed go/no-go decisions - is a significant strategic priority for the University. The Associate Director for Commercialization contributes to these goals by leading commercialization activities, ensuring the team consistently advances opportunities, and delivering high-impact support to innovators that strengthens research impact, economic development outcomes, and the visibility of UK innovations nationally.

Shift Schedule

Monday – Friday, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm

Hybrid work schedule

Required Education / Experience

Master's degree and five (5) years of experience OR equivalent (below)

• High School diploma or GED and eleven (11) years of experience
• Associate’s degree and nine (9) years of experience
• Bachelor's degree and seven (7) years of experience
• Doctorate degree and two (2) years of experience

The University of Kentucky uses equivalencies in determining if a potential applicant meets the minimum education and experience. Related experience can be substituted for education. Click here for more information about equivalencies: https://hr.uky.edu/employment/working-uk/equivalencies.

Want to learn more about the Department?

UK Innovate at the University of Kentucky drives economic, societal and entrepreneurial growth from research discoveries. Through technology commercialization, health care innovations, corporate partnerships, social innovation and economic development, UK Innovate helps researchers and entrepreneurs across UK Research and UK HealthCare accelerate their ideas into use. By connecting talent, research, corporate partners and community resources, UK Innovate works to move ideas into the world faster, where they can make the greatest societal and economic impact possible.

UK Innovate’s Technology Commercialization team advances innovation that makes a difference. Our office supports the university's strategic plan by committing to:

• helping build Kentucky's innovation ecosystem and collaborating with industry partners worldwide
• working cooperatively with innovators to strategically assess, protect, and license early-stage technologies
• cultivating entrepreneurship and co-creating new technology startups

More information about the department can be found at: https://research.uky.edu/uk-innovate/technology-commercialization.

Interested in what UK Benefits have to offer?

The University of Kentucky is proud to offer a benefits package that helps us recruit and retain the very best faculty and staff. In addition to your take-home pay, your benefits package is a major component of your total compensation at UK. These benefits include our 200 percent match on eligible retirement contributions; competitive health, dental, and vision coverage; tuition benefits for classes at UK, and much more. To learn more about these benefits, please visit: https://hr.uky.edu/employment/our-benefits.

Ready to make a difference? - Apply today!