Associate Director of Strategic Research Initiatives

Required Qualifications (as evidenced by an attached resume):
Bachelor’s degree (foreign equivalent or higher). Five (5) years of full-time experience in research development, research strategy, or proposals, grants, and contracts. Three (3) years of experience supervising, mentoring, and driving high performance across teams. Demonstrated experience in defense, energy, or specialized mission-driven research strategy including building high-level relationships with agencies, contractors and/or industry partners. Proven track record of developing and executing institutional research strategies with executive-level rigor. Direct experience in research administration at a research-intensive (R1) university. Advanced proficiency in data management, analytics, and tools in Microsoft Office Suite and Google Workspace. 

Preferred Qualifications\: 
Master’s degree (foreign equivalent or higher) in a relevant scientific or technical discipline. Direct experience executing strategic intelligence, including generating policy briefs, federal legislative tracking, and/or funding trend analysis. Proven track record of positioning, seeding, or organizing faculty teams for major center-scale awards (e.g. DOD, NSF, NIH, DOE) prior to formal submission. Demonstrated capability using advanced research intelligence and analytics software (e.g. Dimensions, Academic Analytics, Pure, or federal databases). Experience building joint initiatives with national laboratories or regional innovation ecosystems.

Brief Description of Duties:
The Office of Strategic Research Initiatives (OSRI), within the Office for Research and Innovation (OR&I), drives institutional research growth by using local, state, and federal policy insights to build strategic partnerships and expand extramural funding. The Associate Director translates research intelligence into actionable strategy, builds multi-institutional consortia, and expands engagement with specialized, mission-driven funding streams that require targeted sponsor intelligence and intentional positioning. 

This position requires strategic sophistication, proactive leadership, and high- quality execution across all deliverables. The Associate Director forms multidisciplinary faculty teams and stewards alliances with specialized sponsor communities, national laboratories, and industry partners. Focusing upstream rather than on hands-on proposal development or submission, the role drives portfolio expansion, capability mapping, and landscape analysis to position teams for new funding opportunities while building a vibrant culture of research collaboration across campus. The Associate Director also supervises OSRI staff and connects key internal partners, including the Office of Proposal Development, the Office of Core Facilities, the Office for Sponsored Programs, Intellectual Property Partners, and the Office of Research Security as examples.
 

• Specialized & Strategic Portfolio Expansion:
  • Lead the development and execution of multi-year strategies to expand, diversify, and sustain the university’s engagement with specialized, mission-driven funding streams.
  • Foster a vibrant culture of collaboration by mapping Stony Brook’s scientific, engineering, and scholarly capabilities against federal agency needs and state priorities, proactively convening interdisciplinary faculty teams and consortia to position them well in advance for center-level, multi-million-dollar funding opportunities across key technical domains (e.g., AI/autonomy, advanced materials, cybersecurity, quantum, microelectronics, sensing, biotechnology, and energy).
  • Build and maintain high-level relationships with program managers, national laboratories, industry partners, and key Stony Brook research units (e.g., centers/institutes, NYSTAR assets), key partners (e.g. Brookhaven National Lab), and higher education coalitions (e.g., APLU).
  • Partner with institutional research and security compliance and facility units to align the operational infrastructure required for restricted, classified, or controlled research.
• Cross-Sector Alliances, Executive Counsel & Operational Handoff:
  • Build cross-sector collaborations with industry, small businesses, national laboratories, and academic peers to create competitive multi-institutional consortia.
  • Serve as a key strategic partner and sounding board to the SAVPRI and research leadership, providing technical and strategic counsel on institutional positioning, high-stakes funding priorities, and portfolio strategy.
  • Connect key internal enterprise partners—including the Office of Proposal Development, Office of Core Facilities, Office for Research Security, Intellectual Property Partners, Office for Innovation, and Office of Sponsored Programs to ensure smooth operational transitions as upstream strategy moves into formal proposal development.
  • Align university research capabilities with state and federal advocacy efforts alongside university leadership and government relations teams.
• Strategic Intelligence & Analytics:
  • Oversee OSRI’s research intelligence infrastructure, tracking local, state, and federal legislation, budget appropriations, agency spending trends, and internal capacity.
  • Direct the production of executive-ready decision briefs, policy reports, white papers, and official responses to Requests for Information (RFIs) from specialized sponsors.
  • Remain current on federal regulations and agency policies, assisting with the development or revision of internal policies and procedures to ensure institutional alignment and compliance.
  • Prepare and disseminate communications to the campus research community regarding policy updates and meet with key stakeholders to brief or review as necessary.
  • Ensure all intelligence outputs deliver rigorous, actionable recommendations for campus leadership.
  • Manage an opportunity-tracking process that monitors sponsors, programs, funding levels, deadlines, and strategic alignment to share targeted opportunities with leadership and faculty.
• Team Supervision & Operational Excellence\: 
  • Provide direct supervision, performance management, mentorship, and professional development for Research Partnerships and Strategic Intelligence staff.
  • Set operational goals and performance standards for team deliverables to maintain unit efficiency and accountability.
  • Manage unit workflows to execute projects in alignment with leadership priorities.
• Responsive Initiatives:
  • Perform responsive, rapid-deployment duties and ad-hoc strategic assignments as directed by leadership to address fast-moving institutional research priorities, complex problem-solving needs, or urgent sponsor requests.
• Other duties as assigned.

Special Notes:
The Research Foundation of SUNY is a private educational corporation. Employment is subject to the Research Foundation policies and procedures, sponsor guidelines and the availability of funding. This is a full-time appointment. FLSA Exempt position, not eligible for the overtime provisions of the FLSA. Minimum salary threshold must be met to maintain FLSA exemption.

Occasional travel, evening, and weekend work will be required at times.

Due to U.S. Export Control laws and regulations, the candidate hired will need to be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or other "protected individual" (as defined by 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1324b(a)(3).

For this position, we are unable to sponsor candidates for work visas.

Resume/CV and cover letter should be included with the online application.

Stony Brook University is committed to excellence in diversity and the creation of an inclusive learning and working environment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, pregnancy, familial status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status and all other protected classes under federal or state laws.

If you need a disability-related accommodation, please call the university Office of Equity and Access (OEA) at (631) 632-6280 or visit OEA.

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The starting salary range (or hiring range) to be offered for this position is noted below, it represents SBU’s good faith and reasonable estimate of the range of possible compensation at the time of posting.