City of Shakopee

About our group:

Seagate Technology innovates with our customers at exabyte scale in both devices and systems to harness the potential of data in an ever-evolving digital landscape. Our mission is to drive incremental customer value and planet stewardship through powerful partnerships. If you are a dynamic leader with an obsession for customer value with a market mindset, we invite you to join us in shaping the future of storage technology.

About the role - you will:

The Emerging Business Manager is responsible for evaluating, managing, and dispositioning Strategic Research Group (SRG) emerging market projects and businesses outside of Seagate's core HDD portfolio. This role serves as the process owner for SRG project disposition and commercialization activities, providing objective business assessments and recommendations regarding whether projects should continue, be licensed/sold, partnered, spun out, or discontinued.

The position requires strong business acumen, strategic thinking, cross-functional leadership, and experience assessing the commercial viability of new technologies, products, and business opportunities.

Key Responsibilities

Commercialization Leadership

• Lead the commercialization assessment process for SRG-sponsored emerging market projects and businesses.
• Evaluate the market attractiveness, competitive positioning, technical readiness, and financial viability of new opportunities.
• Develop business cases, commercialization strategies, and value creation plans for emerging technologies and ventures.
• Support the transition of mature projects into business units, external partnerships, licensing arrangements, or standalone ventures.

Project Disposition Process Ownership

• Serve as the process owner for the SRG Project Disposition framework for non-HDD related projects.
• Establish and maintain standardized governance, stage-gate reviews, decision criteria, and reporting mechanisms.
• Coordinate disposition reviews and executive decision-making forums.
• Ensure consistent evaluation methodologies are applied across the SRG portfolio.

Portfolio Management

• Review SRG-related emerging market projects and businesses to determine strategic alignment and commercialization readiness.
• Recommend project actions including:
  • • Continue investment and development
    • Sell or license intellectual property
    • Establish partnerships or joint ventures
    • Spin out businesses
    • Stop or exit projects
• Monitor and communicate portfolio health, risks, opportunities, and resource requirements.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Orchestrate cross-functional collaboration between Research, Product Management, Finance, Legal, Corporate Development, Strategy, and Executive Leadership.
• Facilitate executive reviews and present disposition recommendations supported by quantitative and qualitative analysis.
• Align stakeholders around commercialization pathways and disposition outcomes.

Strategic Analysis

• Conduct market, customer, technology, and competitive assessments.
• Identify commercialization barriers and develop mitigation strategies.
• Evaluate potential licensing, acquisition, partnership, and monetization opportunities.
• Drive fact-based decision making through business modeling, scenario planning, and financial analysis.

Deliverables

The Commercialization Business Expert is accountable for:

• Orchestrating SRG Project Disposition activities across the emerging technology portfolio.
• Owning and continuously improving the SRG Project Disposition process for non-HDD related initiatives.
• Developing executive-ready recommendations for project continuation, licensing, sale, partnership, spinout, or termination.
• Maintaining portfolio health metrics, governance reviews, and commercialization readiness assessments.
• Delivering business cases and commercialization plans that support investment decisions.

About you:

• Extensive experience in strategy, commercialization, venture development, product management, corporate development, technology management, or related disciplines.
• Demonstrated experience evaluating new technologies and emerging business opportunities.
• Strong financial modeling and business case development skills.
• Experience leading cross-functional teams and executive-level reviews.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and stakeholder management capabilities.
• Bachelor's degree in Business, Engineering, Technology Management, Finance, or equivalent experience.

Your experience includes:

• Preferred MBA or advanced technical degree.
• Experience working with research organizations, incubators, innovation groups, or venture portfolios.
• Knowledge of licensing, IP monetization, spinouts, joint ventures, and strategic partnerships.
• Experience in storage, semiconductor, cloud infrastructure, AI, or adjacent technology markets.
  
  

Success Measures

Success in this role will be measured by:

• Quality and effectiveness of commercialization recommendations.
• Timely and consistent execution of the SRG Project Disposition process.
• Portfolio value creation through commercialization, licensing, partnerships, or successful project transitions.
• Executive confidence in disposition decisions and business assessments.
• Efficient allocation of resources toward the highest-value opportunities.

Location:

Location: Shakopee, MN; On-site or hybrid

Our Shakopee campus is located 25 minutes southwest of Minneapolis in a setting with a rural vibe – it overlooks a horse racing track and stables, yet it has great entertainment venues close by as well. With wide-open spaces, the campus has plenty of space for running, biking, shooting some hoops or playing volleyball over lunch. If working out is your thing, the on-site fully equipped fitness center hosts wellness programs, tournaments and group workouts. Hungry? Seagate offers an on-site café with freshly sourced foods and specialty coffees, or if you prefer, drive to one of many restaurants just minutes away.

The estimated base salary range for this position is $124,000 - $180,000. The individual salary is based on work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.

Seagate offers comprehensive benefits to its eligible employees, including, but not limited to, , eligibility to participate in discretionary bonus program, medical, dental, vision, and life insurance, short-and long-term disability, 401(k), employee stock purchase plan, health savings account, dependent care, and healthcare spending accounts. Seagate also offers paid time off, including 12 holidays, flexible time off provided pursuant to Seagate policy, a minimum of 48 hours of paid sick leave, and 16 weeks of paid parental leave. The benefits for this position are based on a full-time schedule for a full calendar year and may differ depending on work location.

Location: Shakopee, United States
Travel: Up to 10%