Strategic Partnerships Manager
About The Position
We are an early-stage Ai platform modernizing how biopharma outsources early drug discovery research. Our technology enables efficient, transparent collaboration between biopharma companies and leading university research cores, acting as a trusted operational layer between industry and academia. We are seeking a Strategic Partnerships Manager to be one of our first key hires. This role owns external research operations, contract and spend management, and strategic partnerships , ensuring academic research engagements meet enterprise biopharma standards while scaling long-term relationships across universities, biotechs, and pharma.
Requirements
- 5+ years in external research operations, strategic partnerships, CRO/academic research management, Procurement or biotech/pharma outsourcing
- Experience managing contracts, SOWs, and external spend
- Strong stakeholder management and communication skills
- Comfort operating in an early-stage, fast-moving environment
Responsibilities
- Manage contracts, SOWs, amendments, and invoicing with academic research partners
- Track external R&D spend, burn, and forecasts in partnership with finance and procurement
- Ensure operational rigor, documentation, and delivery suitable for enterprise biopharma clients
- Proactively identify and resolve scope, cost, and timeline risks
- Build and manage long-term partnerships with university institutions, academic labs, biotechs, and pharma by building rapport by offering platform context
- Serve as primary relationship owner for external collaborators
- Support onboarding and expansion of research partners
- Gather partner feedback to inform platform and process improvements
- Act as the coordination point between academic partners, biopharma clients, and internal teams
- This role is highly cross functional and will work with the product team, engineering, business development and leadership.
- Represent the company professionally with enterprise customers and institutions
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Manager
Education Level
No Education Listed
