Director, Customer Success & Channel Partnerships

Syenex; Evanston (IL); Remote; USD 170,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Syenex, Inc. is seeking a Director of Customer Success & Channel Partnerships to own the post-sale journey and maintain momentum as customers move toward IND-enabling and clinical-stage programs.

You will coordinate tech transfer with CDMOs, manage key regional partners, and drive channel collaborations across the US, EU, UK, and APAC. The role requires a strong network in cell/gene therapy, experience in channel partnerships, and the ability to blend relationship management with direct sales

Qualifications

• 6+ years in cell and/or gene therapy with customer-facing program management, CDMO or channel-partnership experience, and business development/sales.
• Experience moving programs from platform adoption to GMP manufacturing through tech transfer and scale-up.
• Proven ability to manage multiple accounts and partner relationships, protecting and growing retention.

Responsibilities

• Own the post-adoption customer journey, ensuring momentum from platform use into IND-enabling and clinical stages.
• Coordinate tech transfer, scale-up timelines, and deliverables with CDMOs to prevent handoff stalls.
• Build and manage strategic relationships with CDMO and channel partners across US, EU, UK, and APAC; drive joint programs and reviews.

Skills

CDMO partnerships

Channel sales

Account management

Networking

CRM proficiency

Education

Bachelor's/Master's/PhD in life sciences or engineering

Job description

About Syenex

Syenex is building the delivery infrastructure for the next generation of genomic medicines. Our platform combines cell-specific delivery vectors with programmable payload systems, giving cell therapy developers a faster, more precise way to engineer therapies — designed from the outset to rapidly scale into the clinic through CDMO/CRO partnerships. We're a small, scientifically-driven team, and we're now building Syenex's first commercial function to bring these tools directly to the biotech developers who need them.

About The Role

Syenex is hiring a Director, Customer Success & Channel Partnerships to own the relationship between Syenex, our regional CDMO partners, and the customers moving through their programs after adopting our platform. This is a post-sale, momentum-focused role: once a customer brings Syenex's delivery technology into a program, you make sure that program keeps moving — through tech transfer, scale-up, and toward the clinic — by actively managing the handoffs and relationship between the customer's program team and our CDMO partners. You'll also be Syenex's regional owner for channel partnerships more broadly: building and running the relationships with the CDMOs and other partners who manufacture, test, enable and/or co-sell alongside Syenex across the US, EU, and UK, or APAC region and using those partnerships plus your own network and direct outreach to drive both direct and indirect new business. You'll also coordinate regional marketing and promotion, acting as the connective tissue between our central Growth Manager's marketing and promotional plan and your channel partners' own marketing teams so Syenex shows up consistently across your markets. This role covers the US, EU, and UK partnerships or APAC partnerships. You'll work closely with counterparts to keep Syenex's customer success and channel approach consistent worldwide.

What You'll Do

• Own the customer journey after platform adoption — serving as the primary point of contact ensuring customers' programs maintain momentum as they move from platform use into IND-enabling and clinical-stage programs
• Act as the connective tissue between customer program teams and Syenex's CDMO partners — coordinating tech transfer, scale-up timelines, and deliverables so nothing stalls in the handoff
• Build and manage strategic relationships with CDMO and other channel partners across the US, EU, and UK — establishing joint working processes, escalation paths, and regular business reviews
• Monitor program health and account retention risk across your regional book of business, proactively flagging and resolving issues that threaten momentum or renewal
• Drive regional new business both directly (your own network and prospecting) and indirectly (through CDMO and channel-partner referrals and co-selling)
• Coordinate regional marketing and promotional activity — serving as the regional link between Syenex's Growth Manager and your channel partners' marketing teams to plan joint content, events, and campaigns
• Represent Syenex at regional industry conferences and partnering events, and at joint events with channel partners
• Report on account health, channel partner performance, and regional pipeline to the Head of Commercial, informing broader commercial and partnership strategy

What You'll Bring

• Bachelor's, Master's, or PhD in a life sciences or engineering discipline
• 6+ years of experience in the cell and/or gene therapy industry, spanning some combination of customer-facing program/project management, CDMO or channel-partnership management, and business development or sales
• Direct experience working with CDMOs — you understand tech transfer, scale-up, and the practical realities of moving a program from platform/tool adoption into GMP manufacturing
• Proven ability to manage a portfolio of accounts and partner relationships simultaneously, with a track record of protecting and growing customer retention
• Comfort operating as both a relationship manager and a seller — equally at ease driving a renewal conversation, a channel-partner business review, or a new-logo pitch
• An existing professional network across cell and gene therapy biotechs and CDMOs in the US, EU, and/or UK
• Comfort coordinating marketing and promotional activity across internal and partner teams, even without direct authority over either
• Comfort with modern commercial tools and AI-assisted workflows (CRM, sales engagement platforms, reporting/dashboarding tools)
• Willingness to travel regularly (roughly 30–50%) across the US, EU, and UK for customer, partner, and conference engagement

Why Join Syenex

This role is built for someone who wants ownership over the full post-sale relationship — not just closing a deal, but making sure it turns into a thriving, growing account — with a direct hand in Syenex's most important channel partnerships. You'll work as a close partner to the Head of Commercial, with real influence over how Syenex builds its regional commercial and partner strategy from an early stage.