Director of Applied Research and Partnerships

About the company An early-stage, venture-backed neurotechnology company is building a multimodal biosensing platform to measure and improve human performance and health. The product combines physiological signals into proprietary assessment metrics for enterprise, elite sports and defense customers. Commercial launch is planned for 2027.The role This is a new, foundational role. You’ll own the research and evidence strategy behind the platform: what needs to be proven, what evidence each claim requires, which studies and partners get you there, and how the results turn into product claims, customer confidence and long-term company value. You’ll partner closely with the company’s principal scientist, who owns signal methodology and model development. Your focus is research strategy, validation, partnerships, grants and commercial evidence.What you’ll doOwn the research roadmap. Prioritize studies by commercial value, product needs and scientific gaps. Sequence near-term work to support pilots and longer-term work to build durable evidence. Decide what runs in-house versus with partners.Lead platform validation. Define the validation pathway from device performance and signal quality to metrics and real-world outcomes. Establish what the company can credibly claim today and what evidence stronger claims will need.Build the value case. Develop ROI and economic evidence linking outcomes to customer value: productivity, readiness, performance, cost savings.Build and manage external partnerships. Build a portfolio of university, clinical, government and CRO partners. Structure studies with clear objectives, budgets, deliverables, data rights and publication plans, and drive them to readout.Shape scientific credibility. Lead the publication strategy and help build and manage a Scientific Advisory Board.Build the non-dilutive funding pipeline. Identify grant opportunities (e.g., SBIR/STTR, DoD, NIH, ARPA-H), assemble partner teams, and lead submissions end to end.What we’re looking for8+ years of industry experience leading applied research or evidence generation for a commercial product or platform. Academic-only backgrounds are not a fit.A track record of building research roadmaps focused on the questions that matter most to the business.Experience managing external research programs with universities, PIs, CROs, health systems or government labs.Hands-on quantitative skills: study design, working directly with datasets and statistics. You’ll need to be comfortable evaluating and challenging study design and assumptions.Strong command of validation concepts: reliability, validity, benchmarking, sensitivity to change and external validation.Hands-on experience with human-subjects research: IRB, consent and participant data protection.Strong program management across budgets, contracts, timelines and deliverables.A clear communicator who works well with data science, product, engineering, commercial and executive teams.An advanced degree (PhD or Master’s) in biology, behavioral science, biostatistics, biomedical engineering or a related field. A neuroscience background is not required.Nice to haveExperience in wearables, digital health, digital biomarkers or other sensing and measurement platforms.Experience establishing the evidence base for a new metric, score, algorithm or measurement category.Experience validating hardware or sensor performance, including human factors testing.A track record of winning competitive grants or running government-funded research.Experience substantiating product claims for wellness or regulated health products.What’s on offerA foundational, high-ownership seat on a small, fast-growing team ahead of commercial launch.Competitive base salary, meaningful equity and comprehensive benefits.Relocation assistance to Austin.