External Partnerships Manager - Capstone and ME
External Partnerships Manager - Capstone and ME
Job Summary
Job Summary
The External Partnerships Manager serves as the strategic lead for industry engagement within the Capstone Senior Design Program and the Department of Mechanical Engineering, driving external partnerships that deliver long-term value and support the program's growth and reputation. This role pursues, cultivates, expands, and sustains a strong pipeline of industry-sponsored projects that form the foundation of the Capstone experience, providing students with meaningful, real-world experiences.
Acting as the primary liaison among industry sponsors, faculty, and students, the External Partnerships Manager develops and executes proactive outreach strategies to expand partnerships, grow markets, and strengthen relationships. The position identifies and develops strategic alliances and partnerships to enhance program value and financial sustainability, while ensuring alignment between industry goals and student learning outcomes. Responsibilities include securing project sponsorship, defining and vetting project scope, supporting sponsor-student engagement, and monitoring project progress to ensure successful outcomes.
Operating with a high degree of autonomy and independent judgment, the External Partnerships Manager performs complex, high-impact work under minimal supervision and is recognized as a highly skilled professional within the discipline.
More about the Capstone Design Program
The Capstone Design program is a two-semester course required of all students in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Working in teams of four-to-six students undertake a design challenge to meet the needs of a project sponsor (industry, academic, or competition). Teams follow a rigorous design process including: identification of user needs, development of design specifications, concept generation, analytical design analysis, detailed design, prototyping, and testing. Teams are expected to demonstrate a working prototype by the end of the two-semester sequence. Past industrial projects have been sponsored by companies in a variety of industries including aerospace, medical device, and robotics.
Learn more about the great benefits of working for University of Utah: benefits.utah.edu
The department may choose to hire at any of the below job levels and associated pay rates based on their business need and budget.
Responsibilities
1. External Partnership Development & Pipeline Management
- Develop and sustain a robust pipeline of industry-sponsored Capstone projects to support program growth and long-term sustainability.
- Proactively recruit and cultivate partnerships with industry, government, start-ups, alumni, and community organizations.
- Represent the Capstone program at professional events and expand strategic alliances to enhance program reach and reputation.
- Gather sponsor insights and monitor industry trends to refine engagement strategies and identify new opportunities.
- Collaborate with sponsors to define project scope, budget, and deliverables that align with both organizational objectives and academic learning outcomes.
- Conduct initial technical vetting and coordinate faculty review and approval.
- Serve as the primary liaison with sponsors, ensuring clear communication and strong working relationships between students, faculty, and sponsors.
- Support effective sponsor-student engagement by coaching teams on professional communication and proactively resolving issues.
- Facilitate connections between industry partners and relevant faculty, research groups, or student organizations as appropriate.
- Monitor project progress to ensure successful execution and consistent sponsor experience across sections.
- Support contract documentation, invoicing, and administrative processes in collaboration with operations staff.
- Coordinate logistics and address project-related challenges to maintain quality and timelines.
- Partner with faculty to ensure sponsored projects support Capstone learning objectives and maintain academic standards.
- Promote consistency, quality, and continuous improvement across industry-sponsored experiences.
Pursue, cultivate, and expand opportunities that deliver long-term value and fuel the university's growth. Create strategic opportunities to grow customers, markets, and relationships. Stay knowledgeable about the current market and effectively target opportunities for growth. Define target audiences to understand which solutions/features interest them. Brainstorm new ideas, initiatives, and activities to increase profitability and create value for the organization and customers. Identify and develop strategic alliances and partnerships, working to execute new markets, new distribution channels, and new products. Conduct competitive analysis, track industry trends, and identify new markets. Considered highly skilled and proficient in discipline. Conducts complex, important work under minimal supervision and with wide latitude for independent judgment.Requires a bachelor's (or equivalency) + 6 years or a master's (or equivalency) + 4 years of directly related work experience.This is a Career-Level position in the General Professional track.Job Code: P22393Grade: P18
Strategic Partnerships Manager, IV
Pursue, cultivate, and expand opportunities that deliver long-term value and fuel the university's growth. Create strategic opportunities to grow customers, markets, and relationships. Stay knowledgeable about the current market and effectively target opportunities for growth. Define target audiences to understand which solutions/features interest them. Brainstorm new ideas, initiatives, and activities to increase profitability and create value for the organization and customers. Identify and develop strategic alliances and partnerships, working to execute new markets, new distribution channels, and new products. Conduct competitive analysis, track industry trends, and identify new markets. Recognized as subject matter expert and advanced individual contributor professional. Requires specialized skill set. Conducts highly complex work, unsupervised and with extensive latitude for independent judgment.Requires a bachelor's (or equivalency) + 8 years or a master's (or equivalency) + 6 years of directly related work experience.This is an Advanced-Level position in the General Professional track.Job Code: P22394Grade: P21
Minimum Qualifications
EQUIVALENCY STATEMENT: 1 year of higher education can be substituted for 1 year of directly related work experience (Example: bachelor's degree = 4 years of directly related work experience).
Department may hire employee at one of the following job levels:
Business Development Specialist, III: Requires a bachelor's (or equivalency) + 6 years or a master's (or equivalency) + 4 years of directly related work experience.
Business Development Specialist, IV: Requires a bachelor's (or equivalency) + 8 years or a master's (or equivalency) + 6 years of directly related work experience.
Preferences
- Bachelor's degree in Business, Engineering, or a related field.
- Significant experience in business development, external partnerships, engineering management, product development, or university-industry collaboration.
- Demonstrated success building and managing a strategic partnership pipeline from prospecting and scoping through negotiation, execution, and renewal.
- Strong consultative and relationship management skills, with the ability to effectively translate between technical faculty, students, and industry partners.
- Understanding of the higher education environment and engineering learning outcomes.
- Ability to establish or leverage an extensive list of contacts in engineering and manufacturing sectors.
- Strategic, data-informed thinker with experience tracking partnership performance and refining outreach strategies.
- Executive-level communication skills, high emotional intelligence, and professional presence.
- Proactive problem solver with an ability to operate with a high degree of autonomy in complex ambiguous environments.
Special Instructions
Requisition Number: PRN44574B
Full Time or Part Time? Full Time
Work Schedule Summary:
Department: 00068 - Mechanical Engineering
Location: Campus
Pay Rate Range: $90,000-$120,000 depending on experience
Close Date: 4/24/2026
Open Until Filled:
To apply, visit https://utah.peopleadmin.com/postings/198659
Copyright 2025 Jobelephant.com Inc. All rights reserved.
Posted by the FREE value-added recruitment advertising agency
jeid-43f2a4ea8a8cc1448ef5053924fcf7f0
