Academic Partnerships Director

Required

• 3+ years of experience in business development, academic partnerships, alliance management, or a related commercial role, ideally supporting grant-funded research, core facilities, or academic medical centers.
• Firsthand familiarity with the academic research and grant funding environment, gained through prior lab, postdoctoral, or research administration experience.
• Strong scientific acumen, with experience in neuroscience, sleep science, or a related clinical research domain preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to translate strategic and commercial context into actionable operational briefs for delivery teams
• Exceptional interpersonal skills, with a demonstrated ability to build trusted relationships with PIs, research administrators, and academic leadership.
• A track record of self-generated pipeline, managing not only inbound interest but also building new interest with PIs, core facilities, and consortium relationships through creative demand generation that become revenue generating partnerships
• Entrepreneurial mindset, comfortable navigating the long and often unpredictable timelines of academic funding cycles while managing a disciplined pipeline.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to build compelling proposal language and presentations for scientific and administrative audiences.
• Ability to use CRM tools to track accounts and opportunities.
• Experience contracting with academic institutions, including Tech Transfer Offices and Legal teams.
• Willingness to travel for conferences, site visits, and internal meetings, 1-3 times per quarter.
• Empathy for all stakeholders, including academic researchers, research administrators, co-workers, and most of all patients.