Director, Industry Relations

Advancement at the University of Colorado Boulder encourages applications for a Director, Industry Relations! Reporting to the Senior Director of Industry Relations, this position is a key individual contributor for the Industry and Foundations Relations team (IFR). The Director, Industry Relations manages a portfolio of partners, including industry prospects that can invest in excess of $100,000+, that help further the mission and goals of the university.

The Industry Relations team is organized around liaison assignments, and the Director will be responsible for providing leadership and corporate partnership strategy to the following campus partners primarily;
Leeds School of Business and the College of Arts & Sciences. Additionally, they will support campus initiatives of sustainability and quantum work through industry partnerships. They will be responsible for developing, managing, and sustaining the university’s comprehensive relationship with key external industry partners as a liaison to these particular groups.

CU is an Equal Opportunity Employer and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment. We are committed to creating a workplace where all individuals are treated with respect and dignity, and we encourage individuals from all backgrounds to apply, including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.

At CU Boulder Advancement, we are committed to fostering an environment where everyone matters and all can thrive. This dedication is rooted in our core values and our mission to drive impactful fundraising and engagement. Our team actively engages in learning, reflection, and the transformation of systems, policies, and practices that perpetuate oppressive ideologies—including racism, sexism, ableism, and heterosexism. We recognize our responsibility to lead by example in building a supportive and inclusive culture for both internal colleagues and external partners.

We hold ourselves accountable through individual and divisional goals that continuously assess our progress, growth, and outcomes—ensuring alignment with our mission and values every step of the way.

• Manage a portfolio consisting of ~40 industry prospects.
liDevelop strategies for each industry partner in portfolio and identify, cultivate, solicit, and steward relationships with industry partners.
• Work across matrixed corporate organizational structures to engage companies at various levels, from university relations to C-suite executives.
• Proactively engage in dynamic external relationship-building activities through calls, travel and utilization of research resources to identify and discover new potential partnerships that lead to strong, sustained partner relationships and proposal invitations. This will include individual discover work as well as working in partnership with the IFR Program Manager and Advancement Research teams on proactive discovery work.
• At a director level, it is expected that a majority of activity with industry will focus on major gifts and grants ($100k+), with a goal of growing industry relationships to a principal level ($3M+).
• Host executive campus visits to include, but not limited to, research presentation, tours, roundtable discussions, etc.
• Ensure prospect strategies and agreements are detailed, contact reports are filed, and stewardship plans are carried out.
• Track and meets goals relating to core metrics. Core metrics will be determined in partnership with the Senior Director.
• Conduct regular in-state and out-of-state travel to meet with partners.

• Partner closely with faculty, staff, and college leadership within college liaison assignments to ensure alignment of research, scholarship, workforce development, and support initiatives to represent CU Boulder to potential industry partners effectively and strategically.
• Work with campus partners, including Research and Innovation Office colleagues, Career Services, and academic leaders to initiate partnerships that benefit the University’s mission and require…