Strategic Partnerships Manager

Company Overview

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.


Role Overview

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.

Key Responsibilities
Research Operations, Contracts & Spend

• 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
  
  
  Strategic Partnerships

• 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
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• Cross-Functional Communication

• 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
  
  
  Qualifications Required

• 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