Careers that change lives start here. Medtronic is a global leader in healthcare technology with a Mission to alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life. Our 95,000 employees work across more than 150 countries to put patients first — developing innovative medical technologies that improve the lives of 72+ million patients each year. Your unique talents will help shape the future of healthcare while building a career grounded in purpose, growth, and impact.

A Day in the Life

Position Summary
The Principal Business Development Specialist will identify, evaluate, develop and advance external innovation and strategic partnership opportunities that can create value for Medtronic in Japan and globally. The role will build trusted relationships across the healthcare innovation ecosystem and serve as a key connector between startups, universities, research institutions, healthcare providers, investors, government organizations and internal Medtronic stakeholders.
This position is expected to contribute beyond opportunity identification. The successful candidate will shape strategy, assess strategic and commercial fit, create compelling business cases, align cross-functional stakeholders and support execution of partnership opportunities, including co-development, commercial collaboration, licensing, investment and potential acquisition pathways. The role requires a highly autonomous, externally oriented professional who can lead complex and ambiguous initiatives from concept through decision and implementation.

Key Responsibilities
External Innovation Scouting and Ecosystem Development

• Proactively identify innovative startups, emerging technologies and new business models in medical devices, digital health, artificial intelligence, robotics, diagnostics, therapeutics and adjacent healthcare fields.

• Build and maintain a high-quality external network across startups, universities, research institutions, healthcare providers, venture capital and corporate venture capital firms, accelerators, industry associations and government organizations.

• Represent Medtronic at industry conferences, startup events, pitch sessions, innovation programs and other ecosystem forums.

• Monitor market, technology, customer and competitor developments to identify emerging opportunities and strategic implications for Medtronic.

Opportunity Assessment and Business Case Development

• Lead initial assessment of opportunities, including unmet need, technology differentiation, market attractiveness, competitive landscape, business model, development maturity, risks and strategic fit with Medtronic.

• Conduct preliminary commercial and business due diligence and coordinate input from technical, clinical, regulatory, legal, finance and business stakeholders.

• Develop clear evaluation frameworks, executive summaries, business cases and recommendations to support prioritization and investment decisions.

• Translate external innovation into defined value propositions and practical collaboration or commercialization pathways.

Strategic Partnership Development

• Cultivate trusted, long-term relationships with external innovators and strategic partners.

• Design and advance partnership models such as co-development, commercial collaboration, licensing, strategic investment, research collaboration and other alliances.

• Support or lead discussions, negotiations and internal approval processes in partnership with relevant functions.

• Help external partners understand Medtronic priorities, decision criteria and evidence requirements, while accurately representing partner capabilities and needs internally.

Internal Stakeholder Engagement and Influence

• Partner closely with Medtronic business units and functions, including Global Business Development, Strategy, R&D, Clinical, Regulatory, Health Economics, Legal, Finance, Marketing, Commercial and Operations.

• Create alignment among stakeholders with different priorities, risk perspectives and decision timelines.

• Prepare and deliver concise, evidence-based recommendations and presentations for senior leaders and decision-making forums.

• Act as the primary internal contact for selected opportunities and initiatives, influencing decisions without direct authority.

Portfolio and Project Leadership

• Build and manage a transparent pipeline of external innovation and business development opportunities, including prioritization, stage gates, next steps, risks and decision milestones.

• Lead complex cross-functional projects from discovery and evaluation through partnership formation and early implementation.

• Coordinate workstreams, clarify ownership and maintain momentum across internal and external teams.

• Identify barriers, develop solutions and escalate decisions when needed to advance high-potential opportunities.

Differentiating Factors
Autonomy: Acts as a recognized expert and manages large, complex projects or processes. Exercises considerable latitude in determining deliverables and approaches, with limited oversight from the manager.
Organizational Impact: Contributes to the direction of new partnerships, processes, standards and strategic plans based on business priorities, with significant impact beyond the immediate job area.
Innovation and Complexity: Addresses difficult, moderately complex and often undefined issues requiring detailed information gathering, analysis and investigation. Independently develops and implements solutions and significant improvements.
Communication and Influence: Represents the organization as a primary contact for selected initiatives. Communicates with internal and external stakeholders at multiple levels, negotiates to reach understanding or agreement and influences decision-making.
Leadership: Provides guidance, coaching and knowledge sharing within the job area. Leads major or moderately complex projects, including delegation and review of work products, and may act as a team leader.

＜Must Haves＞
Experience

• Minimum 7 years of relevant professional experience with a bachelor's degree, or minimum 5 years with an advanced degree, in business development, strategic partnerships, corporate strategy, management consulting, venture capital, startup ecosystems, healthcare innovation or a related field.

• Minimum 7 years’ experience in the medical device, healthcare, life sciences or health technology industry

• Experience evaluating startups, innovation opportunities, or strategic partnerships using structured customer, market, business, and technology assessment frameworks

• Demonstrated experience identifying, evaluating business opportunities and converting analysis into recommendations for senior leadership.

• Proven success leading complex, cross-functional strategic initiatives with multiple internal and external stakeholders.

• Experience building trusted relationships and influencing decisions without direct reporting authority.

• Experience working independently in ambiguous environments, establishing priorities and delivering results with limited oversight.

• Experience creating executive-level presentations, business cases, proposals and decision materials.

Skills and Knowledge

• Knowledge of medical device development, commercialization and partnership lifecycles.

• Strategic thinking and ability to connect external trends and opportunities to enterprise priorities.

• Strong business acumen, including commercial assessment, market analysis, business case development and basic financial analysis.

• Excellent stakeholder management, facilitation, negotiation and influencing skills.

• Strong project and portfolio management capabilities, with disciplined follow-through and attention to detail.

• Clear, persuasive written and verbal communication, including confidence presenting to senior leaders and external executives.

• Strong analytical problem-solving skills and sound judgment when information is incomplete.

• Japanese: Native level or equivalent.

• English: Business level or above.

Competencies
Innovation Mindset | Strategic Agility | External Orientation | Influencing Without Authority | Collaboration | Learning Agility | Results Orientation

Education

• Bachelor's degree required.

• Advanced degrees such as an MBA, master's degree or PhD is preferred.

＜Preferred Experience and Capabilities＞

• Experience working with healthcare startups, venture capital, corporate venture capital, accelerators or innovation centers.

• Experience in M&A, licensing, alliance management, strategic investment, co-development or research collaboration.

• Experience assessing technology maturity, clinical value, regulatory pathways or healthcare economics.

• International or global project experience, including collaboration across cultures, functions and time zones.

• Established network in Japan's healthcare innovation, academic, investor or government ecosystem.

• Understanding of intellectual property, due diligence, valuation, term sheets or partnership governance.

• Advanced financial modeling, market sizing or scenario analysis capabilities.

＜Working Style＞

• Hybrid working arrangement, mainly remote.

• Periodic presence at the Tokyo office and attendance at external meetings, industry events and partner sites as business needs require.

• Other working conditions are subject to company policies and employment regulations.

＜Benefits＞
At Medtronic, we believe that the success of the company and the growth and well-being of our employees should go hand in hand. We offer a comprehensive range of benefits and reward programs designed to support employees' financial, physical and emotional well-being.

• Childcare expense support of up to JPY 360,000 per year.

• Six weeks of leave for eligible family care or adoption-related needs.

• Access to babysitter and childcare matching services.

• Career development opportunities, including mentoring programs and e-learning.

• Internal career networks supporting women's development and advancement.

• Employee stock purchase plan and other benefits.

​Other Information

＜Allowances＞
Commuting allowance, overtime allowance, holiday work allowance and other applicable allowances.

＜Holidays and Leave＞
Saturdays, Sundays, national holidays, annual paid leave, occupational injury or illness leave, maternity and other statutory or company-provided leave.

＜Standard Working Hours＞
9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., subject to applicable company policies and employment terms.
 

Physical Job Requirements

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by employees assigned to this position, but they are not an exhaustive list of all the required responsibilities and skills of this position. 

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Apply only through official Medtronic channels. All legitimate Medtronic recruiting communications come from approved Medtronic platforms and official @medtronic.com email addresses. 

Medtronic will never ask for payment or sensitive personal information (such as bank account or Social Security details) during early stages of the hiring process. Any such requests are not legitimate. 

If you receive a suspicious message claiming to be from Medtronic, do not respond, click links, or open attachments. 

If you have any questions, concerns regarding the authenticity of a communication alleged to have been made by or on behalf of Medtronic, please contact us immediately at [email protected]. 

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Benefits & Compensation

Medtronic offers a competitive Salary and flexible Benefits Package
A commitment to our employees lives at the core of our values. We recognize their contributions. They share in the success they help to create.  We offer a wide range of benefits, resources, and competitive compensation plans designed to support you at every career and life stage.