Business Development Manager Is a Core Part of Success

Name: David Zermeño Pérez (he/him)

PhD: Biomedical and Biomolecular Sciences, University College Dublin, 2024

What was your main area of research?

I studied antimicrobial and antifouling coatings for protection of implantable medical devices, prevention of biofilm using bioresorbable polymers as drug-delivery systems, and 3D printing of bioresorbable polymers for implantable medical devices.

What is your current job?

I am a Global Business Development Manager of Medical Devices for Ashland in Ireland.

My job entails several things:

• Attend workshops/conferences/trade shows to meet customers and guide them in their project from polymer selection to formulation to application.

• Present seminars and webinars about bioresorbable polymers, applications, formulation available and new trends.

• Work with active customers and provide technical support on their projects, support negotiations with sales teams to improve our relationship with key customers and maximize our chance of success.

• Analyze market trends and develop strategies to retain/acquire customers by creating new projects/products working collaboratively with R&D, quality/regulatory, operations and marketing/commercial.

• Analyze financially the whole business, from raw material to finish good, finding bottlenecks and creating work plans to realign, setting priorities and reallocating resources to have a return of investment in the short-medium-long term working closely with commercial to develop a business plan to grow the business.

What is your favorite thing about your job?

I am the first piece of the puzzle to develop a new product. I can talk with customers and draft new projects and products where we can support and work collaboratively.

I always learn something new, and I can feel proud as I am a critical part of the overall coordination of the success of these projects.

What is the most important skill you developed or experience you had during your PhD that now helps you in your current position?

I built my technical knowledge for over 12 years and during my PhD I greatly improved my communication/leadership/prioritization skills. By combining these, I am able to talk with customers and create new projects from scratch using the resources available and drive them towards a successful launch within an allocated deadline.

How did you build the skills necessary for your current role?

I was part of a Marie Curie Horizon 2020 consortium. This consortium and University College Dublin gave me enough resources to improve my soft skills: project and time management, communication skills, multimedia training resources (improve PPT, scientific art, diagrams, videos, etc), draft grants, IP training, commercialisation and finances.

All this helped me to improve my already very specialized technical skills to become a more all-rounder in the job seeking market.

How did you find this position? What were the career steps you took to get to where you are now?

I have done my Bachelor’s, Master’s and PhD as an industry student. I did my PhD with Ashland and University College Dublin and then after 3 years I got offered a full time position as it was drafted in my career development plan with the company.

PhD graduate ➡️ R&D Scientist ➡️ Business Development Manager ➡️ Global Business Development Manager

If someone is interested in a similar role, what would you recommend they start doing now to prepare?

Build a strong core of technical knowledge and skills. However, always learn something that complement this such as finances, communication skills, project management.

I need to have different skills to be able to communicate properly with different departments, so I need to learn R&D, Operations, Quality, Legal, Commercial, HHRR. I understand them all but I don't specialise in any of them besides my role as techno-commercial leader.

Why did you decide to not pursue a career in academia?

I have been always involved in industry since my Bachelor’s. I worked with 3M, Colgate, Mayo Clinic and Ashland. This gave me enough experience to learn that I was always going to head to industry. Academic life was never intended for me.

What advice do you have for someone getting their PhD and looking to pursue a career outside of academia?

Research the topic you want to specialise in, the PI, the group, if there is funding for conferences, for soft skills, etc. Having all the information at hand before committing to something.

A PhD is a 4-7 years commitment and you definitely deserve to be happy while doing it. Therefore, do all the research possible until you are 100% convinced you are happy with your decisions. If you are not convinced, better to keep looking as that can lead you to an unhealthy and unhappy PhD that can be traumatic.

Are there any components of your identity you would like to share, including how they have impacted your journey?

I have always been quite social, a rare trait in sciences or PhD. I identified this strength and tailored it to my career path with my PhD. Finding your strength and weakness is always important to learn where you should spend more or less time improving or learning.

As well, I learned the hard way to ask for help. Physical and mental support is always needed and a PhD is a journey you don't have to do by yourself. Let your family and friends be part of this and support you when you are down.