Job Purpose
Steers the Institute’s strategic research and innovation agenda to translate academic excellence into commercially viable solutions, ensuring alignment with university priorities and global market needs for sustainable impact.
Key Accountabilities:
Strategic Mission Leadership
Develops and executes the Institute's core mission, establishing its strategic direction. Ensures this agenda is compelling to the university's foundational researchers while remaining fully aligned with commercialisation objectives. Accountable for translating this vision into an actionable research roadmap that addresses the full innovation pipeline.
Strategic Thought Leadership
Serves as the primary external face and academic visionary for the Institute's mission. Proactively cultivates and maintains high-level partnerships with government bodies, key industry leaders, and NGOs to shape policy discussions and industry trends. Leverages these external insights to set the Institute's internal strategic priorities, ensuring its work remains relevant and responsive to real-world challenges.
Mid-Stage Innovation Portfolio Management (TRL 4-6)
Holds direct accountability for the Institute's TRL 4-6 portfolio, managing the translation of foundational research sourced from academic centres into viable prototypes and solutions. Responsible for identifying and sourcing strategic TRL 1-3 research and managing its development through the TRL 4-6 phase.
Commercial Revenue Enablement
Drives the Institute's contribution to revenue by successfully advancing innovations through the TRL 4-6 pipeline. Manages the formal hand-off of mature (TRL 6) innovations to late-stage commercialisation teams. Concurrently enables other revenue streams by identifying strategic market gaps and supplying the expert faculty required for professional education and consultancy services.
Academic Stakeholder Management
Acts as the primary liaison to the university's academic matrix. Responsible for proactively building strategic partnerships and negotiating with academic leadership to secure and schedule the university faculty time required to meet the Institute's impact and revenue goals.
Institute Operations Management
Manages the Institute's day-to-day operations, ensuring the effective execution of its research portfolio and the achievement of key performance indicators. Serves as the primary relationship manager with the university's central operational platform, navigating processes to secure all non-academic resources (e.g., facilities, HR, IT) essential for mission success.
Institute Financial P&L Management
Holds full accountability for the Institute's financial stewardship and P&L performance. Responsible for rigorous budget planning, forecasting, and resource allocation to ensure resources are deployed efficiently. Develops and executes a diversified funding strategy to secure capital from competitive grants, strategic partnerships, and translational activities, ensuring a robust financial foundation for the Institute's research and operational agenda.
Qualification & Experience
Education PhD or equivalent advanced degree in a relevant scientific or technological field.
Experience Extensive leadership experience in managing complex research initiatives, interdisciplinary collaboration, and innovation commercialisation.
Skills and Competencies:
Advanced scientific research methodologies
Strategic foresight and innovation management
Effective stakeholder engagement and partnership development
Robust financial and resource management
Exceptional leadership and mentorship capabilities
Personal Attributes / Desired Characteristics:
Visionary leadership and strategic thinking
Exceptional communication and advocacy skills
Ethical integrity and accountability
Adaptability and resilience in complex environments
Collaborative approach fostering interdisciplinary innovation
Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS) is a leading global energy company committed to powering society’s progress in a responsible and sustainable manner. With close to 50,000 employees and a global reach spanning over 100 countries, we are ranked among the world’s largest corporations by revenue in the Fortune Media IP Ltd’s 2022 Fortune Global 500® list.
As Malaysia’s national oil and gas company, we safeguard and manage the nation’s hydrocarbon resources to ensure national energy security and maximise value. We explore, develop and produce hydrocarbons as well as cleaner energy solutions. We have three core businesses, namely Upstream, Gas and Downstream, supported by Project Delivery and Technology division, which acts as an enabler. We recently launched Gentari, our new entity providing customers with cleaner energy and lower carbon solutions in three core offerings – renewables, hydrogen and green mobility alongside our core portfolio.
We remain committed to produce oil and gas in a differentiated manner, with focus on reducing carbon emissions and at competitive cost. Our hydrocarbon portfolio today is two-thirds gas, which puts us in an advantageous position as gas and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) will continue to play a vital role even as the energy system evolves. As one of the leading LNG players in the world, PETRONAS will continue to serve the global LNG demand.
As a responsible and conscientious global energy player, sustainability is at the heart of our business and how we operate. Our commitment to responsible business growth and positive contributions to society and the environment remains unwavering. Fuelled by our passion to be a partner for our customers in the journey towards a lower carbon energy future, every step we take brings us closer towards achieving our aspiration of Net Zero Carbon Emissions by 2050 (NZCE 2050).
