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Director, Data Partnerships

About Us: 

The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) was founded in 2000 with one clear objective: finding a cure for Parkinson’s disease in our lifetime. The Foundation applies extraordinary scientific, business and media assets to this singular focus—thus creating a unique and dynamic organization. Since inception, MJFF has quickly grown into the largest nonprofit funder of Parkinson’s disease research worldwide, having funded more than $800 million in research projects in academic and industry labs worldwide. We exist to put ourselves out of business, so we deliberately hold no endowment but instead spend what we raise quickly and efficiently; 88 cents of every dollar spent goes directly to research programs. Core to our philosophy is how we think of our capital and its risk profile relative to other stakeholders in the drug development pipeline. We work aggressively to de-risk various treatment ideas and tools in the hopes of building a robust pipeline of new treatments for patients.

Job Summary:

The Director, Data Partnerships plays a key role in enabling the Foundation to meet its strategic goal of better understanding Parkinson’s by most effectively leveraging our research data resources. You will have an opportunity to use your strategic leadership skills to manage and cultivate relationships with external collaborators & partners to democratize research data to accelerate discovery and therapeutic development. We are looking for an individual who excels in several key areas: internal/external relationship-building & negotiation, translating complex data & technology concepts into strategic recommendations, management and development of people, and budgeting.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:

  • Provide strategic and operational oversight on implementation and maintenance of our research data ecosystem, keenly focused on collection, sharing, and strategic use of data resources to accelerate research while making investments driven by ROI
  • Drive pilot efforts to validate the efficacy and scalability of emerging technology and analytics products, and involve additional data experts as needed
  • Identify and interpret trends in complex data sets in order to enable business data-driven decisions
  • Provide data insights for technical solutions and system improvements based on interpreted results
  • Proactively manage multiple relationships with key collaborators, partners, and vendors that support development of data collection and distribution platforms as well as analytic tools, leveraging your technical experience to translate complex concepts into strategic recommendations
  • Develop & implement consistent data sharing guidelines across MJFF research data resources
  • Financial accountability for grants, expenses, and investments in research data platforms & analytics
  • Mentor, coach and manage team members

Qualifications and Skills: 

  • Degree in computer science or other related discipline
  • Understand the end-to-end data management process, including quality assurance and demonstrated proficiency in reading logical and physical data models, understanding data types, understanding relational databases.
  • 5+ years of experience with demonstrated success managing teams & partnerships at a technology, data-focused, or other relevant organization
  • Exceptional communication skills, with the ability to translate technical language into lay-friendly discussion
  • Experience in building and managing budgets and strategic plans
  • Experience with business intelligence, CRM, project management, and other web-based tools and technologies

Additionally, the ideal candidate will possess the following personal attributes:

  • Passionate about data and technology, with an ability to assess, formulate and deliver data driven solutions
  • Positive can-do attitude, creative, resourceful, entrepreneurial, and solution-oriented
  • Able to multi-task and deliver under tight deadlines
  • Strong, executive-level presentation skills
  • Highly organized and performance driven

How to Apply 

Interested candidates should submit a resume and thoughtful cover letter describing their specific qualifications and interest in the position. Submissions without cover letters will not be considered. Please, no telephone inquiries and do not contact our staff directly. Only applicants who best match the position needs will be contacted.  

The Michael J. Fox Foundation is an equal opportunity employer.

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