Head of Business Development

Head of Business Development & Program Operations

About Northeastern:
Founded in 1898, Northeastern is a global research university and the recognized leader in experience-driven lifelong learning. Our world-renowned experiential approach empowers our students, faculty, alumni, and partners to create impact far beyond the confines of discipline, degree, and campus.

Our locations—in Boston; Charlotte, North Carolina; London; Portland, Maine; San Francisco; Seattle; Silicon Valley; Toronto; Vancouver; and the Massachusetts communities of Burlington and Nahant—are nodes in our growing global university system. Through this network, we expand opportunities for flexible, student-centered learning and collaborative, solutions-focused research.

Northeastern's comprehensive array of undergraduate and graduate programs— in a variety of on-campus and online formats—lead to degrees through the doctorate in nine colleges and schools. Among these, we offer more than 195 multi-discipline majors and degrees designed to prepare students for purposeful lives and careers.

About the Opportunity:
Northeastern University recently invested $50 million to launch a new interdisciplinary center for research and learning: The Institute for Experiential AI (IEAI). We believe that the true promise of AI lies not in its ability to replace humans, but to optimize what humans do best. Experiential AI provides a framework to design, implement, and scale AI-driven technologies in ways that make a true difference to society. Through the Institute, leading experts in the field of AI and data science will be working with humanities, computer science, law, public policy, health, security, and sustainability to collaborate and develop solutions for important world challenges along with a strong emphasis on the ethical implications of AI. To fulfill this promise, the institute will integrate a cross-disciplinary team of experts, including over 50 tenured and tenure-track faculty, research faculty, and post-doctoral researchers, including as many as 30 new hires.

To support the work of this first of its kind and rapidly growing Institute, we are seeking a “Head of Business Development and Program Operations (BDPO)” to play a key role in developing new industry and public sector partnerships and building multi-faceted corporate relationships that involve research, experiential learning, philanthropy, and corporate learning. The Head of BDPO is responsible for identifying new leads as well as the cultivation and stewardship of a portfolio of organizational and corporate relationships. To meet the responsibilities at this interdisciplinary and global facing Institute, the Director will actively collaborate with IEAI's Executive Director, Institute Faculty, colleges across Northeastern, University Advancement, Corporate Learning (“B2B”), and Northeastern's global network locations (Boston, London, Seattle, San Francisco, San Jose, Portland, Toronto, and Vancouver). The operational aspects of the job have to do with driving the development of academic and professional studies arising around the project-based activities taking place at IEAI. This aspect will require management, as well as relationship and administrative skills in business/academia in order to work effectively with corporations, donors, and industry.

The IEAI is working closely with the Roux Institute, the Northeastern Boston campus, and across the Northeastern Network campuses globally. As such, the role will be located in Portland, Maine, and will interact very closely with, enhance, and collaborate with the Roux Institute teams focused on partnerships, strategic alliances, and marketing, and will interface with the Roux Institute research operation in life sciences, medicine, engineering, and data visualization.

Responsibilities:
The Head of BDPO's primary responsibilities are:

1. To act as chief of operations for the Institute for Experiential Artificial Intelligence, and oversee the IEAI operations, staffing (~4-5 FTE) and budget (of about $5 million)

2. In collaboration with the Roux Institute Partnership team, develop and manage a portfolio of active and potential partners to engage with the IEAI across opportunity areas, building deep relationships, and nurturing and expanding those relationships over time.

3. Working with the Roux Institute Research Alliance team globally, cultivate a dynamic, on-going portfolio of leads, deepening their knowledge of Northeastern and the Institute, exploring opportunities for hiring students (whether as co-ops, interns, apprentices, or full-time employees), supporting the Institute's work philanthropically (via research, scholarships, or other), and engaging in corporate learning, training, and education in Experiential AI.

4. Work with internal and external academic and institute stakeholders to draft and present proposals to secure funding for strategic AI projects.

5. Provide relevant data, facts and figures for cultivation, promotional, and presentational workshops, articles, press briefings, and reports.

6. Participate in meetings and events with new and potential funders at the individual donor as well as the corporate level.

7. Support the IEAI Executive Director, Institute faculty, and other externally facing senior leaders by providing talking points and other materials as needed as well as serve as a spokesperson for the Institute. Present to corporate/business CEOs and Senior Teams as relevant to promote and educate about the mission and activities of the IEAI.

8. Work closely with the IEAI Executive Director to set the job development strategy for the Institute and translate that strategy into annual goals and actionable steps.

9. Work closely with career services and the Roux Institute Experiential Learning team to design and implement industry-focused events and engagement opportunities, including coop and Experiential Network (XN) opportunities.

10. Similarly, collaborate with the corporate /business-to-business learning team, to identify, explore and design corporate learning opportunities.

11. Working closely with the Executive Director of IEAI, collaborate with teams on financial planning, budgeting and business models for services developed and delivered by the institute.

12. Engage in entrepreneurial activities such as seed funding and venture models with potential spinoff companies or start up efforts across the Northeastern Network.

13. Advise, lead and coordinate efforts to build the curriculum and course design related to the experiential education aspects of the Institute's operations. Overall management of experiential activities to create an embedded pipeline process that moves from education and training to intern/apprentice to jobs.

Addition Job Requirements:

Enrich, Deepen, and Organize IEAI Relationship Strategy and Management:

• Actively manage a growing portfolio of companies, organizations, and partners.
  
  
• Collaborate with central advancement and corporate learning teams to nurture and convert opportunities as they arise and are developed.
  
  
• Organize site visits, calls and other IEAI touch points (meetings, presentations, briefings, etc.), leveraging the Executive Director, faculty, and other leaders as needed and appropriate.
  
  
• Develop and implement opportunities for companies to work, socialize with, and interact with students, faculty, and staff, including the deployment of IEAI sponsored events, workshops, and conferences.
  
  
• Work with business development and advancement colleagues to identify philanthropic opportunities for companies, foundations and individuals to support scholarship and research and other strategic IEAI priorities as they evolve.
  
  
• Develop and operationalize company-focused events and communications as appropriate.
  
  Make Use of Data Analytics to Drive Dynamic Management and Planning of IEAI
  
  
• Strategic use of Salesforce, LinkedIn, and other platforms to organize and build relationships, track progress, and inform future strategies
  
  
• Develop a management dashboard with inputs from relevant IEAI inputs/functions to assess progress in key performance indicators of IEAI success. Develop annual tracking and trending reports, as well as statistics demonstrating program and IEAI successes.
  
  
• Create, build, manage, coordinate and motivate a support staff at Roux Institute campus to handle administrative, organizational, and critical components (marketing, PR, published reports, etc.) of a smooth running and professional organization.
  
  
• Design and sustain a professional, welcoming, and attractive IEAI ‘main office' on the Roux Institute campus.
  
  Qualifications:
  
• Ph.D. in fields related to analytics, data science or AI, ML
  
  
• 5 years+ work experience in private sector and/or higher ed driving significant improvement in student/member/client enrollment numbers, as well as demonstrated growth in number of corporate/industry partnerships, translating to substantive revenue increases
  
  
• Proven track record in sales, fundraising, or strategic relationship management in industry, non-profits, and academia
  
  
• 20+ years in industry/non-profit world focused on strategic advanced analytics, data, and AI/ML as a consultant, executive, and thought leader.
  
  
• Strong understanding of the tech industry, artificial intelligence, and workforce development trends.
  
  
• Mission driven, fueled by desire to make computer science education accessible and inclusive.
  
  
• Highly collaborative, creative thinker, action-oriented, versatile, ability to adapt in a dynamic, fast-paced environment and take initiative.
  
  
• Effective communicator and ability to steward and motivate others.
  
  
• Oriented to mission-driven objectives and moving at the ‘speed of business' to meet and surpass goals.
  
  
  Preferred Qualifications:
  Entrepreneurial, energetic, and collaborative leadership skills. Excellent communication skills across diverse audiences and settings. A strategic mindset. Solutions oriented, problem solving mentality a must. Ability to work in a fast-paced and innovative setting. He/she must have experience working independently and as a member of a team.
  
  Experience in Building and directing a recognized STEM certified data science program at a major university system a plus.
  
  Salary Grade:
  14
  
  Additional Information:
  Required Location of Work:
  Portland, Maine, at the Roux Institute facilities.
  
  Travel Expectations:
  There is expectation of significant travel requirements to build partner relationships and engage with Roux Institute stakeholders in Portland, Boston, and across North America.
  
  Northeastern University is an equal opportunity employer, seeking to recruit and support a broadly diverse community of faculty and staff. Northeastern values and celebrates diversity in all its forms and strives to foster an inclusive culture built on respect that affirms inter-group relations and builds cohesion.
  
  All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply and will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.
  
  To learn more about Northeastern University's commitment and support of diversity and inclusion, please see www.northeastern.edu/diversity.
  
  
  
  To apply, visit https://careers.pageuppeople.com/879/cw/en-us/job/506006
  
  jeid-4dadd64b3da69141b9476521948e2d87