The University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI) is committed to delivering outstanding experiential learning opportunities that encourage our students to develop to their full potential in both the classroom and the community. The UPEI Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering serves as a flagship in quality programming and bridging the classroom and community for long-term success and sustainability.

The UPEI Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering is a first for Canada with a focus on real challenges, real solutions, and real impacts. Through its unique project-based, hands-on, industry-linked program model, the UPEI Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering takes learning and collaboration to a new level by removing traditional barriers to learning and enabling true, real world solutions.  

The Dean is the administrative head of the UPEI Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering. Under the leadership of this position, the Faculty is organized into four divisions; Student Experience, Industry Partnerships, Industry Research, and Operations. Each division is led by a Director/Manager who reports directly to the Dean. Together, the Dean and the four Directors/Manager form the Faculty’s Management Group.

The Director of Industry Partnerships oversees the operations of the Industry Partnerships Group (IPG), which includes dedicated administrative, engineering, and technical support.  The IPG operations are to a large extent externally focused and involve recruitment and retention of the Faculty’s industry and community partners. 

RESPONSIBILITIES:

The UPEI Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering is founded on innovation and collaboration. The Director of Industry Partnerships plays a key role in building this culture as a champion for the development of partnerships that enable the Faculty to develop a new generation of problem solvers needed to address the increasingly complex challenges of our world.

More specifically, the responsibilities of the Director of Industry Partnerships, as delegated by the Dean, include:

• With a focus on fulfilling the potential of our students and institution, development and implementation of an ongoing strategy for the identification, recruitment and relationship management of strategic and collaborative research partners for the undergraduate design clinic program and the Centre for Engineering Design and Industry Partnerships
• Management of a Client Relations Management (CRM) database
• Fostering relationships with governments and research funding agencies
• Coordination and delivery of presentations and workshops to potential community and industrial partners at the organizational and industry level
• Organization and coordination of the Faculty’s presence at industry oriented fairs, expos and events
• Collaboration with the Faculty’s communication team to review and comment on external promotion and recruitment material
• Work with the Faculty’s Director of Student Experience  and Director of Industry Research  in developing and implementing effective internal communication and  engagement models to ensure timely delivery of services via the Faculty’s design clinics and research programs
• Development and review of design clinic, collaborative and strategic agreements
• Coordination of responses to inquiries from organizations, industry and government agencies
• Coordination of faculty and staff meetings with potential industry and community partners
• Coordination of an effective and dynamic web presence for the Faculty by researching, soliciting and developing content and providing advice to web team on site structure and navigation
• Provide functional direction to IPG staff with respect to the above assigned responsibilities
• Perform quality assurance for projects completed by the other operational units

QUALIFICATIONS:

In addition to an undergraduate degree in a relevant area, applicants must have ten years senior management and business development experience in an advanced engineering or R&D environment. An engineering degree would be an asset.

The successful candidate must have the following skills:

• Demonstrated success as a business development professional in an advanced engineering environment
• Track record of securing new research and development projects and clients
• Exceptional leadership, strong judgment and demonstrated recruiting skills
• Track record of negotiating collaborative partnerships agreements and R&D contracts
• Experience working with university, government, and funding agency personnel
• Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communications skills
• Strong entrepreneurial mindset and creative spirit that leverage outstanding results
• Previous experience in staff supervising and budget management
• A strong team player with the ability to work  in a highly effective, cooperative and collaborative manner within a dynamic and fast-paced environment