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Purdue University

Managing Director of Research Strategy

🇺🇸 West Lafayette, IN

🕑 Full-Time

💰 TBD

💻 Project Management

🗓️ September 7th, 2025

Edtech.com's Summary

Purdue University is hiring a Managing Director of Research Strategy to support research activities for the Eli Lilly and Purdue University 360 Initiative. The role involves developing strategic plans, overseeing workplans to foster team collaboration, and aligning research efforts with industry partners' goals while identifying and resolving challenges in the research ecosystem.

Highlights
  • Develops short- and long-term strategies for thematic research areas under the initiative
  • Maintains oversight of workplans and facilitates connections between teams
  • Collaborates with industry partners to align research plans with strategic goals
  • Identifies challenges in research and proposes solutions to accelerate science
  • Requires Master's degree and a minimum of five years industry-related experience
  • Proficient in Microsoft Office (advanced PowerPoint, Excel), and virtual platforms such as Zoom, WebEx, and MS Teams
  • Strong communication, writing, and organizational skills including report writing and presentation development
  • Experience engaging external partners, working with diverse research teams, and synthesizing complex data
  • Adheres strictly to confidentiality policies and exercises sound judgment in prioritization
  • FLSA Exempt position with benefits including medical, dental, vision insurance, paid time off, and retirement contributions

Managing Director of Research Strategy Full Description

Job Summary
The position will support research activities related to the Eli Lilly and Purdue University 360 Initiative.  Primary responsibilities will include developing short and long-term strategies related tot he thematic research areas under this initiative, maintain oversight of all developing workplans to identify synergies between the teams and facilitate connections to enable broader team science, and work closely with industry partners to ensure the plans align with their strategic goals.  The ideal candidate should have experience in the pharmaceutical industry, understand the drug development pipeline and be able to collaborate with faculty to communicate research priorities.  As programs launch, this person will be responsible for identifying challenges in the research ecosystem and propose solutions to enhance the speed to science.  Further, the ideal candidate must have the ability to adhere to strict confidentiality standards, ability to exercise sound judgment in prioritizing tasks, and be self-motivated to set objectives and work independently on large, complex projects.  Strong written and verbal communication is a must.

What We're Looking For:
  • Master's degree
  • Five or more years of industry-related work experience
  • Experience engaging with external partners including industry and foundations
  • Experience working with diverse research teams and developing strategic plans
  • Ability to synthesize complex data from various inputs, align with initiatives key metrics and goals, and distill into concise reports for communicating with both internal an external senior level stakeholders
  • Self-starter who demonstrates initiative and possesses leadership skills along with ability to work independently under limited supervision
  • Responsible for entire projects or processes within area
  • Ability to solve complex problems, typically through drawing from prior experience and analysis of issues
  • Demonstrated strong communication and organizational skills
  • Ability to be team-focused and customer service oriented and capable of coordinating multiple projects
  • Detail-oriented along with ability to maintain confidentiality and prioritize work to meet deadlines and product high quality, accurate results with frequent interruptions
  • Strong writing skills along with experience with report writing, editing, and developing PowerPoint presentations from written text and disparate inputs from Principal investigators
  • Microsoft office skills including advanced PowerPoint, Excel and database skills as well as virtual technologies including Zoom, WebEx and MS Teams
  • Comfort working on virtual platforms and in-person for meetings and other engagements activities
  • Strict adherence to Purdue confidentiality policies

What We Want You To Know:
  • Purdue will not sponsor employment authorization for this position
  • A background check is required for employment in this position
  • FLSA: Exempt (Not eligible for overtime)
  • Retirement Eligibility: Defined Contribution Waiting Period
  • Purdue University is an EO/EA University. 

What You'll Get In Return:
All university employees are afforded a generous benefits package, https://www.purdue.edu/hr/benewell/index.php, including medical/dental/vision insurance, paid time off, and retirement contributions. As part of Purdue University’s expansive employee benefit package, the University is proud to offer its employees the opportunity to grow, learn, and advance by offering a tuition remission opportunity at both Purdue University and Purdue Global.

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