FaBA Makerspace Industry Liaison Manager

About the Food and Beverage Accelerator

Australia’s Food and Beverage Accelerator (FaBA) is a $160 million initiative to boost growth and innovation in the food and beverage manufacturing sector. Part of the Federal Government’s Trailblazer Program, FaBA leverages $50m of government investment with more than $110m from universities and industry. Partners work across four areas: the research programs ‘Innovative Ingredients’ and ‘Premium Food and Beverage Products’, and the enabling programs ‘Innovation Pathways’ and the ‘FaBA Training Centre’.

A national initiative, FaBA provides F&B manufacturers access to research teams, next generation industry professionals, state-of-the-art equipment and pilot facilities. FaBA is proudly hosted by The University of Queensland, in collaboration with participants QUT, UniSQ and UniQuest.

Join a community where excellence is at the core of our culture, contributions are valued and a range of benefits and rewards are available, such as:

• 26 weeks paid parental leave or 14 weeks paid primary caregiver leave

• 17% superannuation contributions

• 17.5% annual leave loading

• Access to flexible working arrangements including hybrid on site/WFH options, flexible start/finish times, purchased leave, and a condensed fortnight

• Health and wellness discounts – fitness passport access, free yearly flu vaccinations, discounted health insurance, and access to our Employee Assistance Program for staff and their immediate family

• On campus childcare options

• Cheap parking (from just $5.75 a day)

• Salary packaging options

You will be responsible for exploring opportunities with the food and beverage industry for the use of the FaBA MakerSpace facility to develop innovative food products and ingredients, understanding the training and capacity-building needs of the industry and developing internships for students and staff with the industry. In collaboration with the FaBA training centre management team and the Centre for Nutrition and Food Sciences team, you will play a key role in facilitating and creating opportunities in the development of projects with the SMEs, start-ups and large companies in the food and beverage sector in Australia.

Your key objective will be to seek out, build and maintain effective and productive interaction with the industry partners as they seek to engage with the FaBA MakerSpace. The MakerSpace offers industry participants facilities to test formulations and reformulations at a laboratory scale, enabling technology readiness towards translation to other FaBA programs and commercial outcomes.

You will contribute to understanding the training and capacity-building needs of the industry, students and researchers at FaBA and develop tailored programs that would benefit all stakeholders. This is a joint appointment between the Centre for Nutrition and Food Sciences (CNAFS) in the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI) and the School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability (AGFS). 

Details of the research interests of QAAFI may be accessed on the Institute’s web site at https://qaafi.uq.edu.au/

Information about the School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability may be accessed on the School’s website: https://agriculture-food-sustainability.uq.edu.au/

Duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Work in collaboration with the FaBA Training Centre Management team and the Centre for Nutrition and Food Sciences team and other relevant partners in FaBA to leverage productive links with relevant internal and external stakeholders to identify opportunities for the food and beverage industry.

• Compilation of a database of SMEs, start-ups and large companies in the food and beverage sector in Australia.

• Lead the development and implementation of an engagement strategy with the SMEs, start-ups and large companies in the food and beverage sector in Australia to understand their needs and opportunities to use the MakeSpace facilities in FaBA.

• Support the development of a training and capacity-building program for industry participants, students and researchers at FaBA for internships and industry placements.

• Analyse and prioritize the strategic priorities of key stakeholders, including potential funders, to develop funder engagement strategies in partnership with researchers and secure agreements in principle to fund new concepts. In doing so, work with FaBA, QAAFI and AGFS Communications, UQ Marketing & Communications, FaBA Finance and HR as appropriate to develop supporting collateral and budgets.

• Engage with FaBA and other Business Development Managers, Research Partnership Managers, or equivalents, in other Faculties/Institutes and in the central Research Partnerships Office to work collegiately to ensure the University achieves its targets and realises identified opportunities

• Any other duties as reasonably directed by your supervisor

Other

Ensure you are aware of and comply with legislation and University policy relevant to the duties undertaken, including but not exclusive to:

The position reports to the Director Centre for Nutrition and Food Science at QAAFI, it will be a joint appointment with Agriculture and Food Sustainability (AGFS) and direction and guidance will be provided by the relevant leadership within the FaBA Training Centre. It is expected that where appropriate, the Industry Liaison Manager will contribute (in areas relevant to AGFS and QAAFI ) to teams developing specific strategic relationships at the University level under the overall coordination of the Research Partnerships Office.

This is a full-time (100%), fixed-term position until 31 December 2026.

At HEW level 8, the full-time equivalent base salary will be in the range $108,975.08 - $122,176.31, plus a generous super allowance of up to 17%. The total FTE package will be up to $127,500.84 - $142,946.29 annually. As this role is covered by an Enterprise Agreement, you will also receive regular remuneration increases – at least once a year.

Essential

• Graduate and Postgraduate qualifications in food science, business or agriculture sciences or a relevant discipline. Extensive management and business development experience (preferably in developing private-academic and private-public partnerships in the food and beverage sector) and proven management expertise and other relevant education/training.

• Demonstrated skills in business development to generate negotiated research funding at a senior level, preferably within a large, complex institution.

• Excellent interpersonal skills appropriate for interacting with different stakeholders including the initiative, drive, and flexibility to achieve results.

• Exceptional organisational skills with the demonstrated ability to meet deadlines, with a commitment to quality outcomes, the ability to work under pressure and establish priorities regarding workload and to work both independently and as part of a team.

• Demonstrated understanding of intellectual property and managing knowledge transfer.

• Demonstrated experience in successfully engaging with stakeholders and industry partners and in undertaking research negotiation.

• Track record of success in generating significant funded programs with diverse stakeholders especially in the food and beverage sector.

Desirable

• Experience in liaising and collaborating with external agencies to develop research initiatives in the food and beverage manufacturing area.

In addition, the following mandatory requirements apply:

• Work Rights: You must have unrestricted work rights in Australia for the duration of this appointment to apply. Visa sponsorship is not available for this appointment. 

• Background Checks: All final applicants for this position may be asked to consent to a criminal record check. Please note that people with criminal records are not automatically barred from applying for this position. Each application will be considered on its merits. 

For more information about this opportunity, please contact Professor Yasmina Sultanbawa ************@uq.edu.au. 

For application queries, please contact ******@uq.edu.au stating the job reference number (below) in the subject line. 
 

All applicants must upload the following documents in order for your application to be considered:

• Cover letter addressing the ‘About You’ section  

• Resume 

Please note that you will be asked to add all documents into the one upload box labelled ‘resume’, which is step one of the application form.
 

At UQ we know that our greatest strengths come from our diverse mix of colleagues, this is reflected in our ongoing commitment to creating an environment focused on equity, diversity and inclusion.  We ensure that we are always attracting, retaining and promoting colleagues who are representative of the diversity in our broader community, whether that be gender identity, LGBTQIA+, cultural and/or linguistic, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples, people with a disability, or age. Accessibility requirements and/or adjustments can be directed to ******@uq.edu.au.

If you are a current employee (including casual staff and HDR scholars) or hold an unpaid/affiliate appointment, please login to your staff Workday account and visit the internal careers board to apply for this opportunity. Please do NOT apply via the external job board.

Applications close Wednesday 17 July 2024 at 11.00pm AEST (Job Reference Number - R-39464). Please note that interviews have been tentatively scheduled for mid-late July.