Director of Partnerships

Job Title: Director of Partnerships

Remote (Travel 35%)

Job Type: Full-time 

Reports To: Vice President of AM Forward Technologies

FLSA Status: Exempt

Position Summary

The Director of Partnerships is a strategic leader responsible for identifying, pursuing, and winning federal funding opportunities (e.g., grants, cooperative agreements, OTAs, subawards, and FAR-based procurement contracts). This role addresses top-of-funnel capture, focused on strong market intelligence and relationship-building.

About ASTRO America

ASTRO America is a nonprofit research institute and think tank. We team with industry, government, and academic partners to develop Advanced Manufacturing Accelerators in key locations across the United States. Through our unique networks, expertise, and approach to technology maturation and qualification, we are driving transformative change in American defense production.

Core Responsibilities

1. Federal Business Development & Capture (60%)

Agency Engagement & Positioning: Cultivate relationships with federal program officers, contracting officials, state partners, and prime/subcontractor networks to increase their awareness of ASTRO’s capabilities, identify upcoming opportunities, and shape requirements.

• Pipeline Management: Monitor agency forecasts, existing OTA and membership programs, as well as SAM.gov, Grants.gov, and market intelligence tools (e.g., GovWin) to identify and qualify federal funding opportunities. Maintain a tracking pipeline via CRM systems.
• Shaping: Work with key government agencies to identify potential opportunities for collaboration to support common goals in manufacturing technology, supply chain, and industrial base development.
• Bid Strategy: Lead Bid/No-Bid gate reviews. Develop win strategies, value propositions, and price-to-win analyses tailored to agency pain points.
• Teaming & Partnerships: Identify, negotiate, and establish strategic teaming agreements, subcontracts, and academic/industry partner alliances to strengthen probability of win.

Partnerships & Consortium Engagement (40%)

• Industry Liaison. Oversee operational leadership, governance, and member engagement for collaborative research and technology deployment consortia.
• Government Support. Structure and manage Executive, Technical, and Government Advisory Committees to align public-private R&D investment priorities.
• Facilitate. Advance consensus among stakeholders across industry, government, and academia to accelerate technical adoption and commercialization pathways.

Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Business, Communications, Public Policy, or any STEM discipline (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math).
• Experience:
  • 5+ years of progressive experience in federal business development, capture, or proposal management.
  • Demonstrated track record of writing and securing high-value federal grants or contracts (e.g., DOD, DOE, NSF).
  • Existing knowledge and relationships in Advanced Manufacturing and the Defense Industrial Base
• Knowledge:
  • Strong working knowledge of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), Grants and Agreements guidance (2 CFR 200), and agency-specific procurement guidelines.
  • Deep familiarity with structured proposal methodologies (e.g., Shipley).
• Skills: Superior communications skills, technical writing, project management, and cross-functional team leadership.

Performance Metrics

• Total value of federal awards won annually.
• Win rate percentage on submitted solicitations.
• Quality and volume of qualified opportunities added to the pipeline.
• On-time, 100% compliant submission of all assigned proposal efforts.