Director, Customer Success & Channel Partnerships

Syenex; Evanston (IL); On-site; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Syenex, Inc. is hiring a Director of Customer Success & Channel Partnerships to own post-sale momentum across US, EU, UK, and APAC regions.

You will manage tech transfer, scale-up, and handoffs between customer programs and CDMO partners, while building channel partnerships and driving regional growth. You will coordinate marketing with Growth and partner teams, maintain governance, and travel 30–50% to support customers and events.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD in a life sciences or engineering discipline.
• 6+ years in cell and/or gene therapy with customer-facing program management, CDMO or channel-partnership experience, and business development or sales.
• Direct CDMO experience and understanding of tech transfer, scale-up, and GMP manufacturing realities.
• Proven ability to manage a portfolio of accounts and partner relationships with retention growth.
• Ability to operate as both relationship manager and seller for renewals, reviews, or new-logo pitches.
• Existing professional network across US, EU, and/or UK biotech/CDMOs.
• Comfort coordinating marketing across internal and partner teams, without direct authority.
• Experience with modern commercial tools and AI-assisted workflows (CRM, engagement platforms, dashboards).
• Willingness to travel regularly (30-50%) across US, EU, UK for customer, partner, and events.

Responsibilities

• Own the post-sale customer journey, ensuring momentum from platform adoption to IND-enabling and clinical stages.
• Coordinate tech transfer and scale-up timelines between customer teams and CDMO partners.
• Manage strategic relationships with CDMOs and channel partners across regions with joint processes and reviews.
• Monitor account health and retention risk, proactively addressing issues.
• Drive regional new business directly and via partner referrals and co-selling.
• Coordinate regional marketing activities linking Growth Manager plans with partners’ marketing teams.
• Represent Syenex at regional conferences and partner events; support joint events with channel partners.
• Report on account health, partner performance, and regional pipeline to inform strategy.

Skills

Relationship management

Sales & business development

Program management

Cross-functional leadership

CRM & analytics

Education

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

Tools

CRM systems

Sales engagement platforms

Reporting/dashboard tools

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 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.