Industry Partner Experience and Business Development Lead
About The Position
The Office of the Senior Vice President for Research at Penn State seeks an experienced, collaborative professional to join its Research Business Development team as the Industry Partner Experience and Business Development Lead. This position will be filled as Industry Relations Coordinator - Senior Professional. This role will expand Penn State's industry engagement by identifying and attracting prospective partners, building early-stage relationships, and enhancing how companies discover and engage with the University's research enterprise. Penn State's extensive research enterprise offers industry partners access to a broad range of disciplines, technologies, facilities, and expertise. This role provides an opportunity to shape how companies experience Penn State research, from initial awareness through early relationship development, while helping create a more strategic, connected, and effective approach to attracting, engaging, and supporting industry partners.
Requirements
- Master's Degree
- 6+ years of relevant experience; or an equivalent combination of education and experience accepted
- Strategic marketing, digital engagement, and user experience
- Industry relations, business development, and external partner engagement
- Relationship marketing, lead generation, and lead nurturing
- CRM and business development platforms
- Stakeholder management and cross-functional collaboration
- Project leadership and change management
- Presentation development, facilitation, and partner-facing communications
- Candidates should be able to independently address moderately complex strategic and operational challenges, develop innovative solutions, manage multiple stakeholders, and translate market and user insights into effective engagement strategies.
- Applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S.
Responsibilities
- Identify, attract, and cultivate prospective industry partners through market intelligence, audience segmentation, strategic marketing, targeted outreach, networking, and other business development activities.
- Develop lead-nurturing strategies that progress prospects from initial interest to meaningful engagement with Penn State researchers and units.
- Lead and enhance the industry partner experience across digital and human touchpoints by evaluating how companies discover Penn State expertise, technologies, facilities, and partnership opportunities, and implementing improvements that increase accessibility, responsiveness, and ease of engagement.
- Develop and optimize lead-generation and partner-engagement pathways, including websites, landing pages, forms, CRM-integrated processes, lead routing, follow-up workflows, digital campaigns, and related engagement channels.
- Lead strategic projects and change-management initiatives that strengthen Penn State's industry-facing digital infrastructure, including project planning, stakeholder coordination, implementation, and user training.
- Manage and continuously improve business development platforms and processes by assessing needs, identifying gaps, defining requirements, establishing workflows, and implementing solutions that support industry engagement and revenue-generating activities.
- Create presentations, content, and engagement materials that communicate Penn State's research strengths, technologies, facilities, and partnership opportunities.
- Supervise assigned staff and student employees and manage relationships with external vendors supporting marketing, digital development, and industry engagement initiatives.
- Ensure accessibility, usability, and quality across industry-facing digital resources and experiences in alignment with University standards.
Benefits
- Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage
- Robust retirement plans
- Substantial paid time off which includes holidays, vacation and sick time
- 75% tuition discount, available to employees as well as eligible spouses and children
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
