That's a big "if". That's why I said "typically". I think you'd find it difficult, if not impossible, to hire someone like that, even though they exist.

This is a conceit I often see in job postings, of listing skills that belong to two (or more!) different specialties. It seems more common in cases where the goal seems to be to have two specialists for the price of one [1].

> "I'd prefer someone familiar with academia and research rather than a general purpose group."

I'm pretty sure "prefer" rather than "urgently need" isn't compelling enough to give a startup a enough of a competitive advantage. There's also not much (if any) synergy with any of the rest of HappiLab's core competencies to make sense as an addon for them.

IT services could be just another vendor HappiLab handles.

[1] Uncharitably, two full-time experts for one salary, but, charitably, merely two half-time experts in one person, which seems likely for startups and other cash-strapped groups.