Director, Strategic Business Development (Colton Center)

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Posted Job Title

Director, Strategic Business Development (Colton Center)

Job Profile Title

Director D, Research, Clinical

Job Description Summary

The Colton Center for Autoimmunity is a cutting-edge, international research consortium dedicated to advancing our understanding of autoimmune diseases and providing innovative and effective care for patients. The Colton Center for Autoimmunity at UPenn is the central hub of this consortium that also involves centers at Yale, NYU, and Tel Aviv University. We are seeking an experienced and dynamic Director of Strategy to join our leadership team. This individual will report directly to the Director of the Penn Colton Center for Autoimmunity and will play a pivotal role in driving the center's growth and success. The ideal candidate will have a blend of scientific expertise and business acumen, allowing them to effectively foster collaborations, identify strategic opportunities, and engage with key stakeholders across academia, biotechnology, pharmaceutical industries, and funding agencies. This position will stay abreast of emerging technologies, trends, and breakthroughs in autoimmune research, leveraging innovative approaches to drive scientific discovery and therapeutic development.

Position contingent upon funding.

Job Description

Job Responsibilities

• Work closely with the Center Director in the development and execution of strategic initiatives to enhance the scientific, translational and business development goals of the Penn Colton Center. 
• Significantly contribute to consolidating the Colton Consortium, executing the strategic vision and act as a guiding leader within the Consortium.

• Cultivate strong internal and external relationships with key stakeholders, including donors, scientific advisors, researchers, healthcare professionals, Consortium partners as well as with biotech, pharma, and venture capital. Identify potential partnerships, negotiate, and manage partnerships, collaborations, and agreements with external entities to advance goals of the Penn Colton Center.

• Identify, propose and develop strategic partnerships, pursuing new funding opportunities, partnerships, and collaborations to support research activities and advance the mission of the center.  Fulfills requests for proposals (RFP) from potential partners.  Interface with legal and intellectual property experts to assess, protect, and leverage intellectual property assets generated by the center's research activities.

• Monitor scientific trends, developments, and advancements relevant to the center’s focus on autoimmunity. Identify promising technologies, assess market potential, and develop commercialization pathways and opportunities based on intellectual property emerging from Center-funded work.  Establish and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) to evaluate the effectiveness of scientific and business development efforts, making data-driven decisions to optimize outcomes.

• Represent the Penn Colton Center at conferences, meetings, and other events, effectively communicating the center's mission, achievements, and capabilities to external audiences

• Contribute to the development and documentation of yearly strategic research goals and preparing an annual report to key stakeholders.

• Build cross-functional teams to guide and develo