Director of Partnerships

At Convergent Research we aim to accelerate global scientific progress towards solutions that will improve human health, combat climate change and boost global prosperity. We achieve this by filling a structural gap in today's R&D system. We empower top scientific talent as teams, Focused Research Organizations, to focus on developing a specific tool or dataset for a 5 year sprint that will enable researchers around the world to adapt these systems and catalyze solutions to some of our most challenging diseases and complex environmental challenges. We are structured as an incubator and accelerator and are part of the Schmidt Future Networks.

The Director of Partnerships will collaborate closely with the CEO to design and implement a fundraising strategy for Convergent Research which will include a combination of philanthropy, non-dilutive funding (i.e., grants), and partnerships. This role will be essential for the long-term sustainability of Convergent Research and will enable our Focused Research Organization teams to focus on achieving their technical deliverables to ultimately catalyze scientific research broadly.

While much of this role is high-level, the Director of Partnerships will also be accountable for delivering an effective portfolio of resources for FRO and for Convergent Research in a time-sensitive manner.

While there are only a few Focused Research Organizations active at this moment, when Convergent Research has scaled, there will be roughly 20+ active organizations and each one will require $30M+/- in funding.
You are (skills)

• An expert scientific fundraising strategist. An experienced major gifts fundraiser. You've led $10M+ fundraises for novel, difficult to understand research, high-risk research projects. You have a vast and intricate network and understand how to manage relationships. You understand how to leverage relationship building, events, and communications effectively to create and sustain a fundraising flywheel.
• Comfortable with ambiguity. You're excited about systems that are in flux. You know how to think big and also get stuff done. You know how to manage competing priorities and deadlines to deliver results.
• Highly organized. You can prioritize tasks and create Excel spreadsheets and documents with all of the information you've collected in a timely manner. You can work with numerous disparate people and computer systems to keep everything in a unified roadmap, while responding in real time to a large number of high-stakes community members.
• Experienced with managing up. You can help our busy scientist CEOs to triage their time according to the highest priority actions for the fundraising and partnerships effort.
• Exceptional scientific communicator. You can talk to scientists and understand their work; you are a translator, helping donors understand complex research in plain English. You have experience writing and editing grant proposals. You can work with professional designers and support staff to ensure that our materials are of the highest quality and finely edited.
• A team player. You will need to collaborate closely with the Convergent Research founders, our existing philanthropic backers and partners, as well as the Focused Research Organization scientists and entrepreneurs. It is important to have humility and partnership across our organization and its support network.

You will (duties)

• Drive and own our fundraising strategy.Given knowledge of our unique moonshot science project portfolio, opportunity space and funding needs and timeframes, you will design and lead our development strategy overall.
• Work closely with our existing funders to align on shared goals and leverage expertise on both teams
• Own our CRM, bringing diverse conversation notes, materials and networks into a unified relationship tracking and triaging system.
• Help the CEO manage his time on development and communications related tasks and priorities
• Help shape our external communications strategy to optimize for growth
• Develop our event and meeting strategy

In 6 months you will have (6 month goals)

• Understood the essence of Convergent Research, Focused Research Organizations, institutional innovation in science, our projects, and why they matter in a unique way. Gone beyond just generic analysis to highly targeted relevance of our particular portfolio.
• Designed our development process. Unified diverse materials, notes and conversations into a prioritized fundraising roadmap and CRM.
• Honed in on key deals. You'll have zoomed into particular projects at high granularity and designed a deal closing strategy based on the project's unique purpose, needs and network.
• Put together at least one major donor cultivation event.
• Built relationships with everyone in and around the Convergent Research sphere

Convergent Research aims to help fill a structural gap in today's R&D system. We enable fundamental research that requires unusual levels of scale and coordination yet is not rapidly monetizable by industry. We're bringing together top talent from academia, industry, and startups to build a new model for innovative R&D. As an incubator within the Schmidt Futures Network, we identify high-impact scientific or technical research and development opportunities, ultimately defining and launching these projects as Focused Research Organizations.

Convergent Research, LLC is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer that proudly pursues and hires a diverse workforce. We do not make hiring or employment decisions on the basis of race, color, religion or religious belief, ethnic or national origin, nationality, sex, gender, gender-identity, sexual orientation, disability, age, military or veteran status, or any other basis protected by applicable local, state, or federal laws or prohibited by Company policy. We strive for a healthy and safe workplace and strictly prohibit harassment of any kind.