Business Developer - External partnerships in Computer Science

Are you passionate about connecting research with real-world impact? The Computer Science Department at VU Amsterdam is looking for a dynamic Business Developer to help build bridges between our research and external partners.

Business Developer Opportunity at VU Amsterdam's Computer Science Department

Are you passionate about connecting research with real-world impact? The Computer Science Department at VU Amsterdam is seeking a dynamic Business Developer to help build bridges between our cutting-edge research and external partners in industry and government. From AI to digital sustainability and cross-fertilization with domains such as healthcare and life sciences, you’ll help turn ideas into collaborations that matter.

Your Duties

The VU Computer Science Department focuses on cutting-edge research and education in a broad range of topics that play an increasingly important role in society, including Artificial Intelligence, Digital Sustainability, Computer Security, Large-Scale Computing, and beyond. The Department has a strong focus on societally relevant research and aims to further strengthen its ties with companies and governmental organizations. We are therefore looking for a business developer who will support a wide range of activities to scout external leads and obtain deep insights into the interests of such organizations. From this intelligence, high-potential leads are identified and further developed into strong and long-term relationships. This network is continuously engaged to find potential matches between internal research interests and external research needs as well as matches for lifelong learning, contributing to a continuous stream of external funding for the Department and opportunities to share our knowledge with society at large. This position requires broad insight about (or at least an affinity with) commercial activities in the area of Computer Science, the current landscape in Computer Science, as well as a detailed understanding of research agreement contracts, patent strategy, and product development strategies.

Your Profile

• You have at least 2 years of experience or demonstrated examples in roles pertaining to sales or business development.
• You have a PhD in a Computer Science-related field or a Master’s degree in the same area, with proven affinity with research.
• You either have or want to grow a strong network of companies and governmental organizations that are working on or are interested in Computer Science-related activities.
• You are a self-starter who takes ownership of tasks and projects.
• Experience from activities related to funding of (research) projects is a plus.
• Strong communication skills (both English and Dutch are required).
• You have strong interpersonal skills and are an extrovert in professional situations.
• You are respectful of others and their differences.
• You like to work with flexible working hours – you make sure the job is done!
• Solution-oriented and agile. You don’t hesitate to ask for help.

We realize that everyone brings a unique set of skills, expertise, and mindset. Therefore, we are happy to invite anyone who recognizes themselves in the profile to apply, even if you do not meet all the requirements.

What We Offer

A challenging position in a socially engaged organisation. At VU Amsterdam, you contribute to education, research, and service for a better world. And that is valuable. So in return for your efforts, we offer you:

• A business developer position in a dynamic and collegial academic environment in the Department of Computer Science.
• A salary of minimum €5,705 (Scale 12) and maximum €7,904 (Scale 13) gross per month, on a full-time basis. The exact salary depends on your education and experience.
• A position for at least 0.8 FTE. Your employment contract will initially last 3 years. Afterwards, there is a prospect of a permanent contract.
• Close collaborations with other business developers within IXA-GO (the technology transfer office of the VU).

We also offer you attractive fringe benefits and regulations. Some examples:

• A full-time 38-hour working week comes with a holiday leave entitlement of 232 hours per year. If you choose to work 40 hours, you have 96 extra holiday leave hours on an annual basis. For part-timers, this is calculated pro rata.
• 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus.
• Solid pension scheme (ABP).
• Contribution to commuting expenses.
• Optional model for designing a personalized benefits package.

Department of Computer Science
The Department of Computer Science has approximately 300 employees, including 70 permanent staff members. We offer an outstanding environment with much internal collaboration and easy access to key application domains, unique infrastructure, and other computer science researchers. On the VU campus, we have organized multidisciplinary collaborations like the Network Institute and the Digital Sustainability Center. We also have connections with many applications from the Netherlands eScience Center, which is also based in Amsterdam. Likewise, we offer access to outstanding research infrastructure, for example: the unique Distributed ASCI Supercomputer, which was coordinated by us over the past 25 years; the excellent supercomputer and networking infrastructure of SURF; and several local departmental labs for GreenIT, Internet-of-Things, and robotics. Our educational environment is characterized by a variety of international Bachelor and Master programs with high numbers of students.

Faculty of Science
Researchers and students at VU Amsterdam’s Faculty of Science tackle fundamental and complex scientific problems to help pave the way for a sustainable and healthy future. From forest fires to big data, from obesity to malnutrition, and from molecules to the moon: we cover the full spectrum of the natural sciences. Our teaching and research have a strong experimentally technical, computational and interdisciplinary nature.

We work on new solutions guided by value-driven, interdisciplinary methodologies. We are committed to research, valorisation and training socially engaged citizens of the world who will make valuable contributions to a sustainable, healthy future.