Role Overview

The Senior Manager / Head - Centre for Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Strategic Funding is an institution-wide leader responsible for converting academic, research, and entrepreneurial capability into funded programmes, scalable ventures, commercial outcomes, and durable partnerships. Reporting to the Executive Vice President of the Trust, the role will establish a coherent centre serving students, faculty, researchers, startups, alumni, industry, investors, government agencies, and community partners. The role-holder will own strategy, portfolio governance, external funding, incubation and acceleration, technology transfer, sponsored research, consulting pathways, and ecosystem visibility. Success will be measured through credible outcomes in funding, venture development, research commercialisation, partnerships, capability building, and institutional impact.

Key Responsibilities

- Define the Centre's multi-year strategy, annual operating plan, portfolio priorities, budget, milestones, and measurable institutional outcomes.
- Build and govern a diversified funding pipeline spanning government grants, sponsored research, corporate partnerships, CSR, philanthropy, seed support, and investor networks.
- Lead grant intelligence, consortium formation, proposal development, submission calendars, compliance, utilisation, reporting, audits, and relationship stewardship.
- Establish structured ideation, pre-incubation, incubation, and acceleration pathways for student, faculty, researcher, alumni, and external ventures.
- Oversee venture selection, mentor matching, milestone reviews, product validation, market access, investment readiness, seed-support governance, and portfolio progression.
- Advance research commercialisation through invention disclosure, technical and market validation, intellectual-property strategy, licensing, technology transfer, and venture creation.
- Create industry-academia programmes covering sponsored research, consulting, joint laboratories, innovation challenges, internships, executive engagement, and problem-led collaboration.
- Develop strategic alliances with government bodies, incubators, accelerators, investors, industry associations, corporates, mentors, experts, alumni, and research organisations.
- Promote an institution-wide culture of innovation and entrepreneurship through challenges, hackathons, fellowships, showcases, mentoring, faculty enablement, and policy-aligned initiatives.
- Build practical venture support covering business models, financial planning, intellectual property, legal readiness, product development, customer discovery, fundraising, and scaling.
- Recruit, lead, and develop a multidisciplinary Centre team while governing vendors, delivery partners, confidential data, conflicts of interest, risks, and decision rights.
- Track and communicate results including grants submitted and won, funds mobilised, prototypes, intellectual-property assets, research contracts, startups, investment, revenue, jobs, and partnerships.
- Represent the institution during funder meetings, industry and client visits, government engagements, conferences, pitches, delegations, reviews, and ecosystem events.
- Advise the Executive Vice President and Trust leadership on strategic initiatives, partnership choices,



resource allocation, policy opportunities, and responsible expansion of the Centre.

Required Qualifications

- Minimum qualification: B.E., B.Tech., or an equivalent bachelor's degree in engineering; alternatively, M.Sc., M.S., or an equivalent postgraduate degree in science.
- A relevant postgraduate qualification is preferred; a doctorate in engineering, science, technology, innovation, or a closely related discipline is most preferred.
- Qualifications and employment history must be verifiable through recognised institutions and appropriate documentation.

Required Experience

Candidates should bring 15-30 years of progressive professional experience across higher education, research and development, innovation management, entrepreneurship, incubation, technology transfer, industry collaboration, consulting, funding, or venture development. The record should include senior ownership of multidisciplinary portfolios, teams, budgets, executive stakeholders, and external relationships. Evidence of mobilising grants or strategic funding, building consequential partnerships, developing ventures or incubators, and translating research into usable or commercial outcomes is essential. Experience may combine academic, institutional, corporate, public-sector, research, consulting, investment, or startup settings, provided the candidate has personally led outcomes at comparable scale and complexity.

Technical and Functional Skills

- Innovation and entrepreneurship strategy, ecosystem design, portfolio prioritisation, and operating-model development.
- Grant discovery, proposal leadership, consortium building, budgeting, donor compliance, utilisation, reporting, and audit readiness.
- Incubator and accelerator operations, startup evaluation, mentoring systems, milestone governance, market validation, and investor readiness.
- Research commercialisation, technology transfer, intellectual-property pathways, licensing, knowledge transfer, and venture creation.
- Industry-academia collaboration, sponsored research, institutional consulting, strategic partnerships, and relationship management.
- Funding strategy, venture finance fundamentals, seed-support governance, investor engagement, and responsible capital mobilisation.
- Programme and project governance, financial stewardship, contracting coordination, risk management, policy interpretation, and confidential-data controls.
- Impact measurement, management information systems, executive dashboards, evidence-based reviews, and outcome storytelling.
- Working knowledge of Indian higher-education, research, startup, innovation, and public-funding ecosystems and their relevant schemes.

Soft Skills and Behavioural Competencies

- Strategic leadership, systems thinking, sound judgement, ownership, and disciplined execution across long-horizon and urgent priorities.
- Executive communication, persuasive proposal writing, public speaking,



facilitation, listening, and evidence-led presentation.
- Relationship building, negotiation, diplomacy, constructive challenge, and influence across academic, commercial, and public stakeholders.
- Mentoring orientation, curiosity, integrity, confidentiality, resilience, inclusiveness, and comfort operating through ambiguity and change.

Preferred or Value-Added Qualifications

- Doctorate and formal learning in innovation, entrepreneurship, intellectual property, technology transfer, project management, finance, or grant management.
- Prior leadership as a Manager, Senior Manager, Head, Chief Executive, or senior programme leader within a university centre, incubator, accelerator, research organisation, innovation office, or corporate venture environment.
- Documented success securing competitive grants and building multi-year industry, government, investor, or CSR relationships; familiarity with Bengaluru or Karnataka networks is advantageous.
- Evidence of patents, licensing, research translation, sponsored research, consulting, startup formation, incubation outcomes, investment, market entry, or venture scaling.

Professional Tenure and Background

A strong career trajectory will show movement from functional or technical contribution into enterprise-level programme ownership, external representation, and executive accountability. Candidates should demonstrate sustained tenure, increasingly complex mandates, measurable outcomes, credible references, and responsible stewardship of people and funds. Experience in a well-governed higher-education institution, research organisation, incubator, corporate innovation function, consulting environment, funding body, or startup ecosystem is valuable; employer prestige alone will not substitute for directly relevant achievement, governance maturity, or ethical leadership.

Compensation and Advantages

The offered salary range is INR 15-30 lakh per annum (LPA), commensurate with qualifications, experience, demonstrated outcomes, internal parity, and final approval. This is a full-time, work-from-office position. The role requires client and partner visits, regular travel in and around Bengaluru and across Karnataka, and the flexibility to extend working hours when proposals, reviews, visits, programmes, or events require it. The position follows the institution's six-day working pattern; Sundays and two Saturdays each month are normally off, provided no institutional event or critical work requirement is scheduled. Applicable benefits, leave, reimbursements, and other employment terms will follow institutional policy and will be confirmed during the authorised selection process.

Application Instructions

Submit a current resume and a concise achievement note to [email protected], through LinkedIn message, or by WhatsApp message to (phone hidden). State the exact role title and quantify relevant grants or funding mobilised, industry and institutional partnerships, sponsored research, intellectual-property or commercialisation outcomes, ventures supported, and the scale of teams, budgets, or portfolios led. Provide only accurate, verifiable information and do not disclose confidential information belonging to a current or former organisation.

📌 Head - Centre For Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Strategic Funding (Bengaluru)
🏢 Manav Sansadhan Vikas Salaahkar
📍 Bengaluru