Director - Strategic Partnerships (Technology—AI frontier labs, major technology)

UNC-Chapel Hill • Chapel Hill, NC

7d

About The Position

Bottom line: You will make Carolina the best university partner for the technology industry AI frontier labs and major technology companies, and help build the next chapter of Carolina’s excellence. Reporting directly to the Vice Chancellor for Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Economic Development, the Director owns this vertical end to end. You own your vertical and you will work shoulder-to-shoulder with the other Directors of Strategic Partnerships, individual academic units (schools, institutes, and faculty), and the Partnership Success Managers who steward each relationship through the life of the partnership. This role demands deep industry knowledge and contacts. Table stakes on day one is the ability to pick up the phone and call the leaders of five major firms in your domain for example, the leading AI frontier labs and Fortune 100 technology companies understand what they actually need, and map those needs to Carolina’s research capabilities, faculty expertise, talent pipeline, and innovation infrastructure then add in what makes Carolina unique. You will run the full partnership cycle: identify the right organizations, open the door (often through Carolina’s 330,000-strong alumni network), discover the partner’s real needs, match them to Carolina’s capabilities, and close institutional-scale agreements. Once signed, you remain the executive relationship anchor for renewal and expansion while Partnership Success Managers drive activation and delivery. Carolina has the assets to be this century’s best university partner: $200M in active industry research, 674 corporate partners, 929 active agreements across 97 departments, 200+ IP-based startups generating $8 billion in annual economic impact, and an alumni network 330,000 strong (with 180+ verified Director-and-above leaders inside Fortune 1000 firms). What Carolina has not yet built is a single front door and that gap costs roughly tens of millions in research and support relative to peers. You are hired to close it. Carolina North a once-in-the-life-of-the-institution development is envisioned as a place where partners can plant a flag: co-locate teams, build centers, and build the future alongside Carolina faculty and students. The Director hired into this role will define how Carolina shows up to industry for the next decade.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree and 10 years of specific industry experience; or a Master’s degree and 5 years of specific industry experience.
• Deep, current industry experience and contacts in the technology vertical.
• An active, personal network of senior leaders in the technology vertical.
• Proficiency in using frontier AI tools daily for research, drafting, and analysis.
• A strong desire for self-directed, autonomous work.
• A track record of building trusted relationships with senior leaders across business, government, and academia.
• Ability to translate complex needs into creative, executable solutions.
• Excellent written, verbal, and executive-level communication skills.
• Ability to collaborate across a matrixed institution.
• Ability to build relationships with individuals and groups from diverse backgrounds.
• A creative, strategic, results-oriented work style.
• A genuine commitment to public service and Carolina’s mission.

Nice To Haves

• A personal track record of sourcing and closing $25M+ in cumulative partnerships, sponsored-research agreements, MOUs, or strategic commercial deals over your career, including at least one institutional-scale agreement closed with a C-suite or senior-executive counterpart at a Fortune 1000 or comparable organization.
• Day-one access to the leaders of at least five marquee firms in the technology and frontier-AI domain (VP-level and above).
• 10+ years of direct experience inside or selling into the technology and frontier-AI sector.
• Demonstrated ability to translate complex organizational capabilities into customized value propositions that solve real partner problems, with a written proposal delivered in 30 days or less.
• Experience negotiating contracts and partnership agreements in coordination with legal counsel, executive leadership, faculty, and operating partners.
• CRM proficiency (Salesforce or comparable): fluency in pipeline management, opportunity forecasting, and deal-stage discipline.
• Familiarity with the university research enterprise, technology transfer, sponsored research administration, or higher-education industry engagement.
• Willingness and ability to travel within North Carolina and nationally as needed.

Responsibilities

• Own the technology industry AI frontier labs and major technology companies vertical end to end.
• Work shoulder-to-shoulder with other Directors of Strategic Partnerships, individual academic units, and Partnership Success Managers.
• Identify the right organizations for partnerships.
• Open doors to potential partners, often through the alumni network.
• Discover partner's real needs.
• Match partner needs to Carolina's capabilities.
• Close institutional-scale agreements.
• Remain the executive relationship anchor for renewal and expansion of signed partnerships.
• Define how Carolina shows up to industry for the next decade.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director