Company: Total Sonics, the IP Licensing Division of THAT Corporation
Region: Greater China, with additional support throughout Asia as required
Position Type: Independent Contractor
Preferred Location: Greater China; Shenzhen/Greater Bay Area or Qingdao preferred
Travel: As required to support customers, prospects, industry events, and Total Sonics business activities
About Total Sonics
Total Sonics is the audio technology licensing division of THAT Corporation, a U.S.-based audio technology company with decades of experience developing innovative audio technologies used in consumer, professional, and commercial audio and video products worldwide.
Total Sonics develops and licenses advanced audio-processing technologies to consumer electronics and professional audio manufacturers. Our technologies are designed for implementation on a variety of SoCs and DSP platforms and can be incorporated into televisions, home audio/video and home theater products, soundbars, wireless and powered speakers, professional audio products, computers, tablets, smartphones, and other audio-enabled devices.
We are seeking an experienced business development professional to support our existing customers and expand Total Sonics’ licensing business throughout Greater China and, as appropriate, other Asian markets.
Position Overview
The Greater China IP Licensing & Business Development Manager — Contract will serve as a key commercial interface between Total Sonics and consumer electronics manufacturers, OEMs, ODMs, technology partners, and other prospective customers throughout Greater China.
This position has two equally important objectives:
1. Support and grow existing Total Sonics customer relationships and active projects.
2. Identify, develop, and convert new business opportunities into technology evaluations, design-ins, licensing agreements, and long-term customer relationships.
While previous IP-licensing experience is preferred, it is not a requirement. We are equally interested in candidates with strong backgrounds in audio/video hardware product development, product management, OEM/ODM business development, technical sales, semiconductor/SoC sales, or related consumer-electronics fields.
What is most important is a passion for audio, a strong understanding of the Greater China consumer-electronics industry, established relationships within relevant manufacturers, and the ability to turn those relationships into commercial opportunities.
Key Responsibilities
- Manage and support existing Total Sonics customers, prospects, licensing relationships, and active development programs throughout Greater China.
- Develop new licensing opportunities with manufacturers in Total Sonics’ primary markets:
- Television
- Home audio/video
- Soundbars and powered/wireless speakers
- Professional and commercial audio/video
- Personal computers
- Tablets
- Smartphones and mobile devices
- Other appropriate audio-enabled products
- Identify and establish relationships with decision-makers in product planning, product management, engineering, R&D, business development, sourcing, and executive management.
- Introduce Total Sonics technologies to prospective customers and clearly communicate their technical and commercial value.
- Identify appropriate customer products, platforms, and development programs where Total Sonics technologies can provide meaningful differentiation.
- Generate opportunities for technical evaluations, demonstrations, and product design-ins.
- Work closely with Total Sonics engineering and management teams to support customer evaluations and product-development activities.
- Help coordinate the progression of opportunities from initial introduction through technical evaluation, design-in, commercial negotiation, licensing, product launch, and ongoing account development.
- Maintain regular contact with customers and prospects and provide Total Sonics management with accurate updates on opportunities, customer requirements, schedules, competitive activity, and next steps.
- Develop relationships with relevant SoC, DSP, semiconductor, platform, OEM, ODM, and technology partners that can help create additional licensing opportunities.
- Identify market trends, new product categories, competitive technologies, and potential strategic partners relevant to Total Sonics.
- Represent Total Sonics professionally at customer meetings, trade shows, industry events, and other appropriate business activities.
Candidate Background
Relevant experience could include:
Audio or Video Technology
Experience with audio processing, DSP, room correction, immersive audio, audio enhancement, codecs, powered speakers, soundbars, AVRs, televisions, professional and commercial audio/video, wireless audio, or related technologies.
Consumer Electronics Hardware Development
Experience in product development, product management, engineering management, program management, or technology sourcing for televisions, consumer, professional, and commercial audio and video products, PCs, tablets, smartphones, or other consumer-electronics products.
OEM/ODM Business Development
Experience developing business and managing relationships with Chinese and Taiwanese OEMs/ODMs, particularly within consumer electronics, professional and commercial audio/video, mobile, computing, or related markets.
Semiconductor / SoC / DSP
Experience selling or supporting SoCs, DSPs, semiconductor IP, embedded software, audio/video ICs, or related technologies to consumer-electronics manufacturers.
Technology / IP Licensing
Experience licensing audio/video technology, embedded software, algorithms, semiconductor IP, codecs, or other technologies to OEMs and ODMs.
Desired Qualifications
The ideal candidate will have:
- Approximately 8+ years of relevant consumer-electronics, audio/video, semiconductor, OEM/ODM, product-development, technical-sales, or technology-licensing experience.
- Strong existing relationships within the Greater China consumer-electronics ecosystem.
- Demonstrated ability to generate new business as well as manage existing accounts.
- Experience working directly with product-management, engineering, R&D, sourcing, and executive decisionmakers.
- Understanding of how technologies and components are evaluated, selected, designed into products, and brought to mass production.
- Sufficient technical understanding to communicate effectively with customer engineering teams about audio processing, DSPs, SoCs, embedded software, and product integration.
- Strong commercial and negotiation skills.
- Ability to manage multiple customer programs and opportunities simultaneously.
- Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively with Total Sonics management, engineering, and support teams located outside Greater China.
- Excellent Mandarin Chinese verbal and Simplified Chinese writing skills, Traditional Chinese writing skills a plus.
- Strong professional English communication skills.
- Ability and willingness to travel extensively within Greater China and elsewhere in Asia as required.
Particularly Valuable Experience
Existing relationships with leading manufacturers of televisions, audio products, professional and commercial audio/video equipment, PCs, tablets, smartphones, and related products will be highly valued.
Relationships with major OEMs/ODMs, SoC suppliers, semiconductor manufacturers, and technology-platform companies are also highly desirable.
Previous experience with companies involved in audio/video technology, consumer-electronics product development, semiconductor/DSP technology, or OEM/ODM manufacturing is particularly relevant.
What Matters Most
Total Sonics is not looking simply for someone with the right job title or traditional IP licensing background.
We are looking for someone who has a passion for audio, understands how products are developed in Greater China, has relationships with the people making technology and product decisions, and can turn those relationships into evaluations, design-ins, and licensing opportunities for Total Sonics.
The successful candidate should be comfortable moving between commercial and technical discussions—from an initial conversation with a product manager or senior executive to coordinating an evaluation with an engineering team and ultimately helping move a successful design toward a commercial licensing agreement.
An outstanding candidate with deep consumer-electronics hardware-development or OEM/ODM relationships will be considered even without previous IP-licensing experience.
Working Relationship
This is an independent contractor position, not a direct Total Sonics employee position.
The contractor will work closely with Total Sonics management and technical personnel while maintaining significant independence in managing customer relationships, developing new opportunities, scheduling customer activity, and executing the Greater China business-development plan.
Compensation and incentive structure will be discussed with qualified candidates and will reflect experience, existing industry relationships, scope of responsibility, and business-development performance.
Contact
Mitch Witten
Global Sales and Marketing, Total Sonics IP Licensing
mrw@thatcorp.com