Director, Strategic Partnerships & Alliances, Chemical Simulation

The role

The Director will build and execute a partnership strategy supporting semiconductor-materials programs for CHIPS funding and commercial ambitions. This role involves identifying partners across the materials value chain and managing the commercial motion from discovery to agreement execution.

What you will do

• Develop and execute a strategic-partnerships and alliances strategy across semiconductor-critical materials.
• Identify, qualify, and prioritize potential partners across the value chain.
• Build trusted relationships with senior executives, R&D leaders, and technical experts.
• Translate scientific capabilities and commercial objectives into partner-specific value propositions.
• Lead partnership development end-to-end including negotiation of NDAs, MOUs, LOIs, and other agreements.
• Develop partner roles, technical scope, milestones, and commercialization pathways.
• Ensure partnerships align with government-program, export-control, and compliance requirements.
• Coordinate cross-functional deal teams across technical, commercial, legal, and financial workstreams.
• Represent SandboxAQ at customer meetings, industry events, and conferences.

Required qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in strategic partnerships, business development, alliances, licensing, corporate development, or a related commercial role in a technical industry.
• Demonstrated success sourcing, developing, negotiating, and closing complex multi-party partnerships.
• Strong contract and deal-structuring experience.
• Experience translating complex technical capabilities into business value and executive-level decisions.
• Experience managing long-cycle enterprise or industrial sales and partnership processes.
• Strong understanding of industrial materials, chemicals, semiconductors, advanced manufacturing, scientific software, or a closely related domain.
• Excellent written, verbal, and executive communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to operate independently in a high-growth, ambiguous environment.
• Bachelor’s degree in business, engineering, chemistry, materials science, or a related field.
• Willingness to travel regularly for partner meetings, customer engagements, and conferences.

Nice to have

• Advanced degree or equivalent technical experience
• Direct experience with semiconductor materials, process chemicals, catalysis, batteries, magnets, PFAS alternatives, specialty chemicals, or related industrial R&D markets.
• Experience operating within CHIPS Act, DOE, DOD, national-laboratory, BAA, OTA, SBIR, or other federally funded R&D programs.
• Experience negotiating partnerships involving government-funded research, domestic manufacturing, supply-chain resilience, or commercialization of research-generated intellectual property.
• A track record of closing partnerships that progressed to signed agreements, technical execution, revenue, licensing, or strategic investment.
• Familiarity with technology commercialization, IP licensing, joint development, contract manufacturing, qualification, scale-up, and industrial go-to-market processes.
• Existing relationships with senior leaders in semiconductor, chemical, materials, manufacturing, equipment, or national-laboratory ecosystems.
• Experience building commercial processes, partner-management systems, or an alliances function within a growing company.

Benefits

• Competitive base salary
• Equity
• Performance-based incentives
• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) with company match
• Generous parental leave
• Flexible hybrid work arrangements
• Generous PTO

About the company

SandboxAQ is a high-growth company delivering AI solutions that address some of the world's greatest challenges. The company emerged from Alphabet Inc. as an independent, growth capital-backed company in 2022.