Venture Director

Company Description

Avery Dennison Corporation (NYSE: AVY) is a global materials science and digital identification solutions company that provides branding and information labeling solutions, including pressure-sensitive materials, radio-frequency identification (RFID) inlays and tags, and a variety of converted products and solutions. The company designs and manufactures a wide range of labeling and functional materials that enhance branded packaging, carry or display information that connects the physical and the digital, and improve customers’ product performance. The company serves an array of industries worldwide, including home and personal care, apparel, e-commerce, logistics, food and grocery, pharmaceuticals and automotive. The company employs approximately 36,000 employees in more than 50 countries. Reported sales in 2022 were $9.0 billion. Learn more at www.averydennison.com.

At Avery Dennison, some of the great benefits we provide are:

• Health & Wellness benefits starting on day 1 of employment
• Paid parental leave
• 401K eligibility
• Tuition reimbursement
• Flexible work arrangements
• Employee Assistance Program eligibility / Health Advocate
• Paid vacation and Paid holidays

Job Description

The Venture Director is responsible for driving our global corporate venture capital program.  You will be responsible for the full investment cycle, from sourcing to negotiating the investment agreements, for further strengthening our engagements with the startup and venture ecosystem, and for developing partnerships that will accelerate our strategies through venture-capital type equity investments.  In addition, you will work closely with our business unit leadership teams and our open innovation group to build commercial relationships with our portfolio companies that will accelerate our strategies. This role is a key member of the strategy and corporate development team. You will need to demonstrate an in-depth understanding of our business and core technical capabilities, real passion for identifying and developing new technologies, ability to link technology to business trends, and build strong relationships in the ecosystem. This leader works cross-functionally within R&D, Procurement, Legal, Strategy & M&A and Marketing teams in each region to:

• Develop key relationships within the startup ecosystem, venture capital funds, etc. and execute our venture investment strategy
• Develop a robust pipeline of high potential startups that can fill technology/capability gaps at Avery Dennison, and drive investments and commercial pilots that will  accelerate our strategy 
• Source, evaluate (lead due diligence), negotiate, and execute (including presenting to our executive investment committee) on investment opportunities that present both strategic relevance for Avery Dennison and potential for successful returns on invested capital
• ​Represent Avery Dennison as a Director/Observer on the boards of our portfolio companies and monitor and support companies’ growth and strategic projects related to the portfolio
• Drive market and ecosystem learning and help incorporate these into the business teams to assure value gathering and further shape our business strategy
• Promote strong working relationships between divisional businesses and the venture team to build and promote innovation capability and create strategic value 
• Bring external qualified market intelligence from the venture community by monitoring and prioritizing a broad scope of external and industry trend and competitor information; use this to identify inputs to our strategy
• Build external network with startups, academia, venture-capital, etc to assure Avery Dennison gets access to key technologies, best potential investments, and authorities in our field

Qualifications

• 5+ years' experience as a venture capital investment professional (with industrial tech and materials investment, as well as corporate venture capital experience a strong plus). 
• Prior experiences in entrepreneurship, engineering,  line business, strategy and/or enterprise innovation ranging across multiple fields preferred.
• Demonstrated transaction and board experience with a track record of leading and executing deals at all startup stages
• Excellent project leadership skills in multi-functional team settings; able to lead a team without hierarchical authority against challenging deadlines.
• Demonstrated capabilities in assessing opportunities and evaluating the attractiveness of new technologies and tech investments - both quantitatively and qualitatively.
• Strong technical depth and breadth within Avery Dennison technologies & adjacencies to assess opportunities.
• Strong presentation, influence and negotiation skills
• Strong business and fina