The Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships will play a key role alongside the CHESS Director and Senior Leadership Team (SLT) in the expansion of beamline programs – creating and maintaining long-term relationships with external organizations and funding partners.
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The Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) is one of the most advanced scientific facilities in the world, and its pioneering capabilities are helping to keep the United States at the leading edge of scientific research. Located on the central campus of Cornell University, CHESS is internationally recognized for providing high intensity X-ray beams and advanced instrumentation to scientists and students around the world. The lab is comprised of seven state-of-the-art beamlines, each of which routinely hosts world-leading research in physics, chemistry, biology, environmental sciences, materials science, cultural heritage, and engineering. CHESS is a world leader in innovation for complex sample environments including in situ heating and loading, accelerators, detectors, and x-ray optics and plays a key role in many medical discoveries and scientific breakthroughs, including research that received Nobel Prizes in Chemistry in 2003 and 2009. The recent CHESS-U upgrade has expanded the lab’s capabilities to allow scientists to address the most pressing global challenges facing our society. CHESS is committed to engaging with industry, academia and government through its funding from the National Science Foundation, Air Force Research Lab, National Institutes of Health, and New York State.
Key Job Responsibilities:
The Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships will play a key role alongside the CHESS Director and Senior Leadership Team (SLT) in the expansion of beamline programs – creating and maintaining long-term relationships with external organizations and funding partners.
Specifically,
- Advise and work closely with the Director of CHESS and SLT on all matters relating to external strategic partnerships and the maintenance and expansion of major beamline programs fostering relationships with existing and future funding partners.
- Advise and work closely with other CHESS PIs/staff scientists and Cornell faculty, complementing the strength of these individuals from the perspective of strategic engagement with the national and international communities beyond the laboratory.
- Build and maintain close relationships with university senior personnel (OSP, State and Federal Relations, AA&D, etc.) to develop and secure a broad range of funding support for strategic partnerships and beamline program continuation and expansion.
- Build relationships with executives, faculty, staff scientists, researchers, entrepreneurs, and other key personnel at Cornell who are leading and promoting major areas of research related to CHESS.
- Maintain these relationships to create cross campus large-scale program portfolios with high potential for impact that will attract external partner interest.
- Play an active role on the CHESS SLT.
- Take the leading role in building large, complex collaborations between external private and public sector partners and CHESS.
- Develop relationships with and provide essential credibility to external partners, demonstrating that CHESS goes beyond academic research to engage in strategic partnerships with potential for impact at scale.
- Build and maintain relationships with senior-level representatives of potential external partners and develop such relationships into commitments to join with CHESS in creating and executing major initiatives and/or beamline programs.
Personal Characteristics:
- The personal stature to be able to represent CHESS to senior administrators and faculty within Cornell and senior-level representatives in potential partner organizations.
- Proactive and driven to achieve impact.
- An active listener – seeks first to understand, then to be understood.
- Is a strong team payer – adds to the development of team capabilities.
- Must work effectively and cooperatively within a team environment.
- Strong group facilitations, organization problem solving, and project management skills.
- Ability to earn credibility with beamline scientists and faculty across campus along with user communities, and work with those individuals to effectively engage with private and public sectors.
- Willingness to drive change in a successful, well-established research laboratory within an academic institution.
- Capable of adapting to the changing needs of a research environment.
- Able to receive direction and to communicate effectively across all audiences.
- Ability to understand and communicate effectively with a variety of audiences the purpose, goals, and value of CHESS research and the impact of this research.
What We Need:
- Graduate research degree and 7-10 years’ experience working in the areas of organizational research and development, complex partnerships, senior management or similar.
- A track record of having built major multi-partner collaborations, communicating internally and externally, problem solving among a diversity of partners, and delivering results. Potential relevant experiences include but are not limited to: business development, joint venture formation, project management of mega-projects, formation and management of start-ups or early stage companies, management of large, complex consulting engagements, consulting advisory positions, positions in large NGOs or government agencies with an external focus.
- Proven leadership roles and the ability to help an organization discover and envision innovative interactions with a broad range of external partners.
What We Would Prefer:
- PhD and/or a terminal professional degree in a subject area relevant to CHESS.
- Deep experience at a characterization and/or user facility
- Experience with partnering with governmental agencies and/or industrial research and development programs.
Visa sponsorship is not provided for this position.
Please apply online at https://cornell.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/CornellCareerPage (posting #WDR-00028516).
Cornell University requires all employees, whether they work on campus or work fully remotely, to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, or to have obtained a university-approved medical or religious exemption. For additional information on this requirement, visit: https://hr.cornell.edu/covid/university-response/vaccination
Cornell provides great benefits that include comprehensive health care options, generous retirement contributions, educational benefits (Employee Degree, Tuition Aid, Cornell Children’s Tuition Assistance Programs), access to wellness programs, and employee discounts with local and national retail brands. Our leave provisions include three weeks of vacation and 13 holidays, including winter break from December 25th through January 1st.
Cornell has been nationally recognized as an award-winning workplace for our health, wellbeing, sustainability, and diversity initiatives. For more information, follow the link: Benefits at Cornell.