Job Details

Johns Hopkins, founded in 1876, is America's first research university and home to nine world-class academic divisions working together as one university.

Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures (JHTV) drives the strategic expansion of corporate-sponsored research across the university by proactively identifying, cultivating, and structuring industry-funded research collaborations that accelerate innovation, deepen corporate engagement, and increase sponsored research revenue. In addition to technology licensing and venture creation, JHTV serves as the central catalyst for long-term corporate research partnerships aligned with institutional priorities and faculty strengths.

We are seeking a Corporate Partnerships Specialist, Materials & Advanced Manufacturing. Reporting to the Director Business Development & Portfolio Management in JHTV, the Corporate Partnerships Specialist will be directly accountable for significantly increasing corporate-sponsored research volume, revenue, and strategic partnerships in Materials & Advanced Manufacturing, by combining deep faculty engagement, domain knowledge and market intelligence to cultivate, source, shape, and enable corporate collaborations in this domain. This role is responsible for developing and executing a domain-specific corporate research growth strategy, building multi-year master research agreements, and securing new industry funding streams aligned with JHU faculty capabilities. This new role expands the work of JHTV’s Corporate Partnerships team by dedicating a resource focused on a specific domain area as a technical specialist and will also actively coordinate with other domain specialists to identify strategic cross-disciplinary research for industry funding. The position will have a dotted-line to the Whiting School of Engineering Senior Associate Dean of Corporate and Global Partnerships and will be embedded in the relevant Department within the Whiting School of Engineering.

The role proactively identifies where companies are investing, sources partnership opportunities, and works alongside our worldclass researchers to shape sponsor-ready collaboration concepts, in close coordination with other teams in JHTV. This role also serves as a liaison and bridge between the relevant departments/centers of the university and the broader JHTV organization, helping to increase connectivity and identify promising intellectual property/licensing opportunities and startup ideas.

Specific Duties & Responsibilities

Faculty Engagement & Relationship Building

Navigate a diverse faculty landscape where industry engagement orientation varies significantly; adapt outreach approach to meet faculty at their current level of readiness.
Build and maintain trusted relationships with faculty, researchers, and leadership across the Materials Science & Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and adjacent departments/academic units/Centers/Institutes.
Conduct regular outreach and meetings with faculty to understand research priorities, emerging projects, and collaboration interests.
Serve as a visible, accessible resource for faculty seeking industry engagement, providing guidance on partnership structures, timelines, and JHTV processes.
Identify and cultivate relationships with high-impact researchers whose work aligns with current industry investment priorities.
Apply a service-oriented approach to faculty relationships, recognizing that faculty trust is a prerequisite for effective corporate matching making.

Market Intelligence & Opportunity Sourcing

Monitor industry trends, competitive landscapes, and corporate R&D priorities in Materials & Advanced Manufacturing to identify where companies are investing.
Track relevant market signals including M&A activity, clinical pipeline, licensing deals, and strategic activities by target companies.
Translate market intelligence into actionable insights that inform faculty engagement and strategies for partnering opportunities.
Identify and prioritize target companies with strategic alignment to JHU's research strengths in Materials & Advanced Manufacturing.
Proactively source and sustain industry-funded collaborations by leveraging, scientific networks, conferences, and internal and external referrals and warm entry points.

Partnership Development & Deal Shaping

Proactively shape and scale industry-funded research programs, centers, consortium models, and master research agreements that expand total corporate research investment at JHU.
Proactively scout faculty work and develop corporate partnership opportunities by matching faculty capabilities with industry needs.
Shape sponsor-ready collaboration concepts, including defining value propositions, research scope, deliverables and timelines.
Develop compelling pitch materials, research summaries, and partnership proposals tailored to prospective corporate sponsors.
Coordinate introductions and facilitate meetings between faculty and industry partners to advance partnership discussions and provide hands-on support to ensure readiness for industry engagement.
Support deal structure and contract negotiations by providing technical context, managing faculty expectations, and ensuring alignment on deal terms.
Treat early stage and lower commitment engagements as deliberate on ramps to deeper partnership rather then stand alone transactions.
Maintain active stewardship of relationships at all stages, ensuring early stage contacts are nurtured systemactically toward higher value collaboration over time.

Pipeline & Portfolio Management

Maintain accurate, up-to-date records of prospects, opportunities, and active engagements in CRM and pipeline management tools.
Track the progress of opportunities through the business development lifecycle, ensuring timely follow-up and momentum.
Provide regular pipeline updates to the Director Business Development & Portfolio Management and The Sr. Associate Dean of Global and Corporate Partnerships, and participate in pipeline review meetings.
Flag stalled opportunities, risks, or resource needs to ensure proactive problem-solving.

Cross-Functional Coordination & Liaising

Serve as the primary liaison between Materials Science & Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and adjacent departments/academic units/Centers/Institutes, and JHTV teams, including Tech Transfer and FastForward to ensure faculty connect to the appropriate JHTV resources.
Identify and surface promising intellectual property, licensing opportunities, and startup ideas emerging from the research portfolio.
Coordinate seamless handoffs to Tech Transfer (for disclosures/IP/licensing) and FastForward (for startup support), as appropriate.
Collaborate closely with fellow domain-focused Corporate Partnership Specialists and other corporate partnerships team members to share best practices, identify strategic cross-disciplinary opportunities, and maintain a coherent approach.
Partner with Research Administration and other central offices as needed to support agreement execution and compliance.

Information Sharing & Reporting

Contribute to team knowledge-sharing by documenting lessons learned, successful approaches, and market insights.
Prepare and deliver portfolio updates, activity reports, and key metrics to JHTV and School leadership as requested.
Participate in regular team meetings, pipeline reviews, and strategic planning sessions.
Other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

Advanced Degree (PhD, MD) in directly related field.
Seven years of experience in corporate development, business development, external innovation, translational research, R&D strategy, or related roles in industry or academia.
U.S. Citizen or legal permanent resident required due to Federal Export Controls.
Additional education may substitute for required experience and additional related experience may substitute for required education beyond a high school diploma/graduation equivalent, to the extent permitted by the JHU equivalency formula.

Preferred Qualifications

Science and business fluency and able to engage academic researchers and industry leaders around a value proposition.
Working familiarity with research/innovation translation and commercialization pathways.
Experience supporting research collaborations in academia, industry, or similar organizations.
Service-minded with strong stakeholder management and communication skills including oral and writing skills.
Experience working in a matrix organization with primary responsibility for success while relying on a team of resources which are not direct reports.
Thrive in cross-functional teams with competing priorities and incomplete information.

Technical Skills & Expected Level of Proficiency

Business Development - Advanced
Commercialization Expertise - Advanced
Market and Opportunity Analysis - Advanced
Project Management - Advanced
Partner Relationship Management - Advanced
Stakeholder Engagement - Advanced
Interpersonal Skills General - Advanced
Negotiation - Advanced
Proposal Development and Writing - Advanced
Data Management and Analysis - Advanced

Corporate Partnerships Specialist, Materials & Advanced Manufacturing (Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures)

Johns Hopkins University

Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA