Director - Strategic Partnerships (Medical/Pharma)

Department:

IEED-Carolina Impact Ventures-201460

Career Area :

Other

Posting Open Date:

07/07/2026

Application Deadline:

07/21/2026

Open Until Filled:

No

Position Type:

Permanent Staff (EHRA NF)

Working Title:

Director - Strategic Partnerships (Medical/Pharma)

Appointment Type:

EHRA Non-Faculty

Position Number:

20076975

Vacancy ID:

NF0009872

Full Time/Part Time:

Full-Time Permanent

FTE:

1

Hours per week:

40

Position Location:

North Carolina, US

Hiring Range:

Dependent on experience and qualifications

Proposed Start Date:

09/07/2026

Be a Tar Heel!:

A global higher education leader in innovative teaching, research and public service, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill consistently ranks as one of the nation’s top public universities. Known for its beautiful campus, world-class medical care, commitment to the arts and top athletic programs, Carolina is an ideal place to teach, work and learn.One of the best college towns and best places to live in the United States, Chapel Hill has diverse social, cultural, recreation and professional opportunities that span the campus and community.University employees can choose from a wide range of professional training opportunities for career growth, skill development and lifelong learning and enjoy exclusive perks for numerous retail, restaurant and performing arts discounts, savings on local child care centers and special rates on select campus events. UNC-Chapel Hill offers full-time employees a comprehensive benefits package, paid leave, and a variety of health, life and retirement plans and additional programs that support a healthy work/life balance.

Primary Purpose of Organizational Unit:

The Office of Strategic Partnerships, powered by Innovate Carolina within the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Economic Development (IEED), is Carolina’s single front door for industry. For 230+ years Carolina has advanced its mission through partnership with the state, federal government, and industry; this Office exists to make that partnership easy, fast, and strategic. Carolina is rich in activity but fragmented 674 corporate partners and 929 active agreements spread across roughly 25 units, with no one ‘selling the firm.’ The Office runs a hub-and-spoke, concierge model: one coordinated front door that handles intake, triage, escalation, and orchestration while the right campus experts schools, faculty, research offices, and development remain in the lead on delivery. Its operating principles are simple: one front door; move at the partner’s pace, or faster; communicate exceptionally well; lead with ‘how can we help,’ never with an ask; and go big, not broad 1-5 strategic, institution-level partnerships rather than dozens of pilots. The Office has the concierge ability to understand the full range of university capabilities that can help partners now and to imagine and build new capabilities for what comes next.

Position Summary:

Bottom line: You will make Carolina the best university partner for the medical and pharmaceutical industry, 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, Fortune 100 pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical-device 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.

Minimum Education and Experience Requirements:

Master’s or Bachelor’s and 0-2 years’ experience; or will accept a combination of related education and experience in substitution.

Required Qualifications, Competencies, and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree and 10 years of specific industry experience; or a Master’s degree and 5 years of specific industry experience. ‘Specific industry experience’ means direct, hands-on experience within, or selling into, the industry vertical relevant to this position
• Deep, current industry experience and contacts in the vertical you bring an active, personal network of senior leaders you can reach directly, not a list you would need to build.
• AI as a teammate. You already use frontier AI tools every day to research, draft, analyze, and move faster, and you can show specifically how you do it. Carolina expects this role to be an operational leader in applying AI to accelerate the work.
• A strong desire for self-directed, autonomous work. You set your own pace, operate on ‘more forgiveness than permission,’ and deliver high-quality outcomes without close supervision.
• A track record of building trusted relationships with senior leaders across business, government, and academia, and translating complex needs into creative, executable solutions.
• Excellent written, verbal, and executive-level communication smart brevity, and the credibility to represent Carolina in front of a C-suite.
• The ability to collaborate across a matrixed institution with the other Directors of Strategic Partnerships, deans, faculty, development, legal counsel, and Partnership Success Managers and to build relationships with individuals and groups from diverse backgrounds.
• A creative, strategic, results-oriented work style and a genuine commitment to public service and Carolina’s mission.

Preferred Qualifications, Competencies, and Experience:

We are looking for unique multi disciplinary skill sets. These qualifications are intentionally aspirational and filtering; the strongest candidates will meet most of them.

• 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 your domain. You can pick up the phone today and reach senior decision-makers (VP-level and above) at the category-defining organizations in your domain the world’s leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical-device companies (Fortune 100 / Global 500 scale) and they will take your call.
• 10+ years of direct experience inside or selling into the medical, pharma, and life-sciences sector.
• Demonstrated ability to translate complex organizational capabilities research, talent, intellectual property, programs, infrastructure 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 is a strong plus.
• Willingness and ability to travel within North Carolina and nationally as needed.

Campus Security Authority Responsibilities:

Not Applicable.

Special Instructions:

Please apply via the following link: https://unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/321840. As part of your application, please include your CV/resume, a cover letter and the contact details of three professional references.