Lab Summary:
The Emerging Technologies Group is uniquely positioned to be at the heart of Samsung Research America’s innovation engine aimed towards advancing Samsung’s product offerings across smartphones, wearables, TVs, XR devices, and identifying the next big growth drivers for Samsung. The group’s mission is to discover and incubate high-potential innovative technologies across the spectrum of fundamental and applied research that lay the foundation for future Samsung products and services. To achieve this mission, the group collaborates closely with both with external entities such as universities, startups, VCs, and government labs, and with several Samsung Product and Advanced Research labs. SRA’s academic programs enable research breakthroughs on cutting edge technologies by fostering collaborations between academia and industry, and the Emerging Technologies Group is at the core of these programs.
Position Summary:
As the R&D University Innovation Programs Manager, you will serve as the ambassador for SRA’s academic collaboration programs. You will partner deeply with universities to identify new research themes between SRA and universities. You are well versed in the academic-industry research program constructs within the United States (and optionally, Canada). You are able to deftly navigate multiple public and private university systems to define and execute new research projects. You have a keen eye for technologies at the cusp of a breakthrough and will work in close partnership with university professors, researchers and SRA teams to mature these technologies in alignment with Samsung’s strategic direction. You are a highly motivated self-starter who will discover and recruit top-tier researchers and subject matter experts in academia, lead negotiations and contracting discussions to onboard them onto our collaboration programs and drive these programs from inception to Proof of Concept. You excel at influencing without authority and successfully navigate ambiguity by taking a structured and principled approach. You demonstrate strategic thinking, strong problem-solving and analytical skills, excellent communication skills, and an ability to influence business and technical leaders.
Position Responsibilities:
- Manage SRA’s academic collaboration programs, including serving as the primary liaison for university engagements, identifying top-tier researchers and high-potential research projects, building academic-industry program constructs, executing contracts, and driving the programs.
- Define and implement processes to discover, evaluate, prioritize, and manage academic research collaborations. Perform periodic reviews of program metrics, address issues and take proactive actions to meet milestones, and identify and implement ways to drive improvements to the programs.
- Be the company-wide ambassador for SRA’s academic collaboration programs and coordinate with internal and external stakeholders to ensure a unified approach.
- Represent project milestones and impact in review meetings with executive leadership and
- lead the efforts to present and demonstrate the research outputs to executive leaders in a compelling manner.
- Partner with SRA teams to plan and present the research outputs in both internal technology showcases and external public engagements such as research conferences.
Required Skills:
- Master’s degree in technology or engineering discipline, or equivalent combination of education, training, and experience.
- 7+ years of experience running early-stage technology research programs
- Sound knowledge of early-stage technology research programs: understanding user needs, gathering requirements, defining project scope and deliverables, building schedules and executing programs from inception to prototyping.
- Exposure to several technologies, including but not limited to: Mobile, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Robotics, Health/Medical Tech, Computer Vision, Advanced Materials, etc.
- Strong professional network with academic institutions and industry.
- Demonstrated ability to work in a fast-paced, ambiguous cross-functional environment and communicate effectively across organizational structures and multiple management levels.
- Must be willing to travel domestically and internationally (20%)
Special Attributes:
- Positive attitude and energy, imagination, resilience, flexibility and resourcefulness.
- Clear communication skills with the ability to adapt to the audience and situation.
- Strong analytical skills to build deliberate, objective recommendations and respond to challenges and objections.
- Structured thinking to navigate ambiguous technological, organizational and scheduling situations.
- Resilience to overcome hurdles and address failures with alternative paths.
- Ability to rally the organization to believe in the technology vision and execute on tight deadlines.