Director, IP Strategy & Technology Intelligence

Director, IP Strategy & Technology Intelligence 

Agilent Technologies 

Organization: Office of the CTO 
Reports to: VP, Research 

Position Summary 

The Director, IP Strategy & Technology Intelligence will translate Agilent’s scientific and technical innovation into durable competitive advantage, commercial value, and informed growth choices. The role aligns strategy and technology intelligence with enterprise research priorities, business objectives, technology roadmaps, and unmet customer needs. Reporting to the VP, Research in the Office of the Chief Technology Officer, the Director will partner closely with Agilent’s Legal team and connect researchers, technology leaders, and business stakeholders to shape innovation and IP priorities. 

Key Responsibilities 

Enterprise Strategy & Governance 

• Support and drive enterprise strategy in close partnership with Research, business and technology leaders, Legal/IP Counsel, and Business Intellectual Property Coordinators (IPCs). 

• Translate enterprise strategy, technology roadmaps, product plans, and business priorities into actionable innovation, protection, and portfolio priorities. 

• Coordinate the annual IP strategy review and establish a regular governance cadence for emerging inventions, strategic coverage, portfolio gaps, and investment or pruning opportunities. 

• Partner with Legal/IP Counsel to evaluate IP protection approaches. 

• Develop decision frameworks that balance customer value, technical differentiation, strategic relevance, geographic coverage, timing, and lifecycle cost. 

Innovation & Portfolio Development 

• Engage scientists and engineers to identify innovations with meaningful technical differentiation and commercial potential. 

• Facilitate invention assessments with Research, business stakeholders, IPCs, and IP Counsel. 

• Recommend portfolio priorities based on customer value, strategic relevance, competitive differentiation, business priorities, technology maturity, and cost drivers. 

• Use portfolio analytics and external intelligence to identify white space, concentration risk, and opportunities. 

Technology, Market & Competitive Intelligence 

• Conduct competitive landscaping, technology scouting, market and scientific surveillance, and analysis of emerging technologies. 

• Develop repeatable methods for opportunity framing, including technology maturity, market attractiveness, customer pain points, adoption barriers, and strategic fit. 

• Translate findings into recommendations for research investments, technology roadmaps, product-platform choices. 

• Provide technical analysis and coordinate researcher input for risk assessments led by IP Counsel. 

• Communicate concise, grounded insights to business, Research, Strategy and Corporate Development, and CTO leadership. 

Strategy   

• Understand enterprise strategy, M&A priorities, and active opportunity areas. 

• Help translate strategic growth priorities into technology and screening criteria for potential acquisitions, investments, partnerships, and licensing opportunities. 

• Support early-stage opportunity evaluation through technology landscaping, target and competitor mapping, technical differentiation assessment, and strategic-fit analysis. 

External Innovation & Commercialization 

• Partner with business leaders and Legal to evaluate licensing, technology transfer, and strategic collaborations. 

• Support evaluation of universities, startups, research institutes, suppliers, and other ecosystem partners, including technical fit, IP position, collaboration model, and path to commercialization. 

Innovation Leadership & Operating Model 

• Build strategic and competitive-intelligence capabilities across Agilent’s global scientific and engineering communities in partnership with Legal and business leadership. 

• Support integration of technology intelligence and external-innovation considerations into research planning, stage-gate and technology-review processes, and portfolio decisions. 

• Build trusted networks across R&D, product management, marketing, Legal, Strategy and Corporate Development, Finance, and external experts. 

Required Qualifications 

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, chemistry, physics, life sciences, computer science, or a related technical discipline. 

• 10+ years of relevant experience spanning R&D, technology strategy, competitive or technology intelligence, product strategy, external innovation, or corporate development. 

• Strong working knowledge of scientific and IP information sources, portfolio analytics, and product lifecycles. 

• Ability to understand complex technologies and connect technical differentiation to customer needs and commercial opportunities. 

• Experience supporting cross-functional evaluation of external technologies, strategic partnerships, licensing opportunities, investments, or acquisitions. 

• Strong analytical judgment, written and oral executive communication, facilitation, and stakeholder-management skills in a global matrixed organization. 

Preferred Qualifications 

• Advanced technical degree; MBA or formal training in strategy, finance, economics, data analytics, or intellectual property. 

• Experience in analytical instrumentation, laboratory technologies, life sciences, diagnostics, or other regulated scientific-technology industries. 

• Familiarity with one or more relevant technology areas, including chromatography, mass spectrometry, spectroscopy, cell imaging, flow cytometry, genomics, laboratory automation, or scientific software. 

• Experience supporting licensing, technology transfer, strategic partnerships, or acquisition due diligence. 

• Experience building invention programs and portfolio review processes within a global technology organization. 

• Experience with patent and non-patent literature databases, market-intelligence sources, portfolio analytics, visualization, and AI-assisted research methods, with appropriate validation and governance.