Executive Director, Life Sciences Entrepreneurship Center (4871U), Office of the Vice Chancello

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The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research (VCRO) has overall managerial responsibility for Berkeley's research enterprise. Within the VCRO, and under the Office of the Chief Innovation & Entrepreneurship Officer, UC Berkeley's Life Sciences Entrepreneurship Center (LSEC) is a unique "center of centers" that fosters life sciences entrepreneurship by coordinating and building upon existing campus resources.

The Executive Director (ED) is responsible for running, scaling, and ensuring the long-term sustainability of the Life Sciences Entrepreneurship Center (LSEC). Operating as a unique "center-of-centers," created in 2021, LSEC connects and catalyzes UC Berkeley’s world-class life sciences and entrepreneurship ecosystems—including Berkeley Sky Deck, Bakar Labs, the Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI), the Bakar Fellows Program, the Molecular Therapeutics Institute, Berkeley Haas, and others.

The Executive Director operates with a high degree of autonomy and consensus-building skill, managing complex, unprecedented collaborations across organizational boundaries. A prime example includes leading and coordinating high-profile, multi-entity initiatives like the Berkeley Bio Startup Showcase at the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference. This role requires a balance of high-level external relationship management, fundraising, and board governance, paired with a disciplined, execution-focused approach to managing and optimizing LSEC's established portfolio of academic and startup programs.

The Executive Director’s mandate spans five core strategic and operational areas:

• Facilitates seamless collaboration across previously uncoordinated campus entities. The ED must work fluidly across institutional boundaries, identifying and designing innovative programmatic connections that add collective value to the UC Berkeley ecosystem.

• Directly leads and engages LSEC’s Board of Advisors and its broader network of industry experts, serving as the primary liaison to align board expertise with the center's goals.

• Manages and generalizes external industry and donor relationships, ensuring LSEC complements rather than disrupts existing campus partnerships, while maximizing the mutual value generated for both the campus and external partners.

• Leads the transition of LSEC from its initial five-year "term" startup capital toward a self-sustaining financial model. The ED is responsible for identifying new capital pipelines, revenue models, and donor opportunities to fund high-value, emerging initiatives.

• Oversees the delivery, design, and iterative improvement of LSEC's programs. These programs catalyze Berkeley's innovation ecosystem and include startup creation support (Venture Grant Program), the Entrepreneur-in-Residence program, market-needs workshops (I-Corps @ LSEC), graduate career pathway development (LSEC-Nucleate Venture Fellows), and high-profile public-facing showcases.

The First Review Date for this job is August 24, 2026. For full consideration, please apply on or before the first review date.

• Directs the day-to-day operations, logistics, and execution of LSEC’s signature programs (e.g., Venture Grant Program, Entrepreneurs in Residence, Nucleate Venture Fellows, I-Corps @ LSEC, and the J.P. Morgan Berkeley Bio Startup Showcase), ensuring high-quality delivery, project management, and operational excellence.

• Facilitates joint efforts across diverse campus departments, managers, and external constituencies to drive interdisciplinary collaboration. Uses exceptional consensus-building and…