Head of Venture Creation and Platform

Description:

Location: Sydney

Reports to: CEO

Works closely with: CSO, CFO, COO, Investments team, Science team

Why this role exists

Proto Axiom is building a repeatable company-creation engine. This role is the single owner for everything between “we like this asset” and “this is a fundable, Series A-ready company with a credible team and plan”.

Role Summary

You will turn scientific conviction into new ventures, fast and clean. You will design spin-outs, build founding teams, stand up day-1 company infrastructure, and codify the playbook so venture creation becomes a system, not heroics. You will run the venture creation side of the triad model per deal (Science, Investments, Venture Creation), and make founders terrifyingly effective.

What You Will Own

• Venture creation, end-to-end
• Decide spin-out vs in-house development pathways, and drive the chosen path to execution in coordination with the CSO and Science team
• Lead university, MRI and hospital negotiations (IP, licences, equity, governance, milestones) in coordination with the COO
• Design cap tables, option pools, and governance that survive real financing rounds in coordination with the CEO and CFO
• Build “day-1” companies: incorporation, board setup, reporting cadence, budgets, bank accounts, hiring plan, vendors, and operating rhythm
• Founder and leadership recruitment
• Build and maintain a founder pipeline (Entrepreneur in residence bench, CEO candidates, early executives)
• Run CEO searches for newco formation and founder transitions when needed
• Coach and support founders through early “firsts”: first board, first clinical hire, first BD deal, first fundraise narrative
• Company-building platform and playbook
• Codify Proto Axiom’s venture creation playbook: templates, checklists, timelines, decision gates, and kill points
• Establish shared vendor relationships (CROs, CMC, regulatory, legal, finance ops) and a standard early-stage stack
• Stand up repeatable launch kits: diligence to formation, formation to seed, seed to Series A readiness
• Operating cadence and decision hygiene
• Run weekly “build room” working sessions for venture creation workstreams
• Maintain clear ownership loops with Science and Investments so IC decisions are decisive, not circular
• Drive portfolio reviews with explicit thresholds: kill, fix, or double down
• Portfolio support as a system
• Implement a lightweight but rigorous portfolio operating cadence
• Ensure each venture has clear KPIs, governance, board pack discipline, and executional hygiene
• Be the escalation point for early execution blockers, hiring gaps, and founder support needs
  
  

Ideal background, Core profile

• Science-first investor with real company-creation mileage: you have led or co-led the translation of academic or early biotech assets into investable companies, not just memos and committees.
• Strong judgement under uncertainty: you can underwrite messy early data, map what proof actually matters, and sequence de-risking to match financing reality.
• Comfortable straddling worlds: you can speak credibly with top scientists, tech transfer, clinicians, and growth-stage capital, and you can hold your own with sceptical ICs.
  
  

Must-have Experience

• Scientific evaluation: repeated reps assessing preclinical packages, translational rationale, competitive landscapes, and platform risk. You can pressure-test mechanisms, biomarkers, endpoints, and what could kill a program.
• Deal structuring and negotiating: term sheets, licensing, option deals, sponsored research, milestone frameworks, governance design, and incentive alignment across university, founders, and investors.
• Path-to-Value design: clear ability to define the smallest set of experiments that unlock the next value inflection, and to budget and schedule that plan with credible vendors and operators.
• Founder and team formation: you have recruited CEOs, CSOs, and early executives, or have built repeatable access to people who can. You know what “founder-market-fit” looks like in biotech.
• Financing fluency: you understand seed through Series A mechanics, syndicate design, investor signalling, data rooms, and narrative discipline. You can build a fundable story that is still true.
• Operating discipline: you can install early operating cadence: board rhythm, KPI stack, runway management, vendor governance, and decision gates.
  
  

Nice-to-have

• Domain depth in one or more of: immunology, oncology, metabolic, neuro, gene or cell therapy, RNA, biologics, devices, diagnostics, AI-bio tools, or other areas of obvious focus to the Proto Axiom portfolio.
• Pattern recognition from a recognised VC, crossover, venture studio, or strategic BD seat, plus a strong network across KOLs, CROs, CMC, and regulatory talent.
• Experience bridging Australia-to-global: setting ventures up to raise offshore and recruit internationally, while keeping Australian translational advantages.
  
  

Signals that you are probably the one

You can point to 2 to 5 assets where you materially changed trajectory: better experiments, better team, better structure, faster formation, cleaner financing.

You are allergic to “science theatre” and can politely dismantle it in a room full of smart people.

You can move from hypothesis to decision to execution without losing scientific integrity.