Research Partnership Manager

Odyssey; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Odyssey is seeking a Research Partnership Manager to act as the operational engine for R&D and commercial partnerships. You will translate the requirements of research teams and external partners into concrete delivery plans, ensuring complex engagements stay on track and aligned with strategic goals.

As the operational backbone, you will manage a high level of activity across a portfolio of strategic relationships, drive operational rigor, and connect business, technical, legal, product,

Qualifications

• Experience in technical program management, research operations, or technical account management within long-cycle R&D environments.
• Orchestrator who excels at organizing people and processes to drive results.

Responsibilities

• Own partnership delivery timelines, milestones, and cross-team accountabilities.
• Ensure that external deliverables are complementary to internal roadmaps.
• Serve as the primary operational point of contact for external partners.
• Shield Research and Business Development leads from administrative friction, enabling focus on high-level strategy.
• Liaise with Product and internal stakeholders, proactively identify and resolve bottlenecks between internal technical teams and external partners.
• Manage a portfolio of active partnerships, maintaining rigor from onboarding through execution.
• Serve as the institutional source of truth for each engagement, ensuring documentation, meeting hygiene, and alignment across diverse teams.
• You own upfront diligence to define and ensure security requirements are upheld over the course of engagements.

Job description

What we’re looking for

Odyssey is seeking a Research Partnership Manager to serve as the operational engine for our R&D and commercial partnerships. Working closely with Business Development and Product, you are the operational backbone, translating the requirements of our research teams and external partners into concrete delivery plans, ensuring that complex, high-stakes engagements remain on track and aligned with our strategic goals.

The right candidate will be able to manage a high-level of activity across a portfolio of high-priority strategic relationships, drive operational rigor, and serve as a connective layer across business, technical, legal, product, policy, and delivery stakeholders.

What you’ll do

• Own partnership delivery timelines, milestones, and cross-team accountabilities.
• Ensure that external deliverables are complementary to internal roadmaps.
• Serve as the primary operational point of contact for external partners.
• Shield Research and Business Development leads from administrative friction, enabling focus on high-level strategy.
• Liaise with Product and internal stakeholders, proactively identify and resolve bottlenecks between internal technical teams and external partners.
• Manage a portfolio of active partnerships, maintaining rigor from onboarding through execution.
• Serve as the institutional source of truth for each engagement, ensuring documentation, meeting hygiene, and alignment across diverse teams.
• You own upfront diligence to define and ensure security requirements are upheld over the course of engagements.

Who you are

• You are an orchestrator who excels at organizing people and processes to drive results, rather than defining feature sets.
• You have strong interpersonal judgment and can mediate between technical teams and external business stakeholders.
• You are a systems‑thinker who builds processes to prevent tasks from falling through the cracks.
• You can synthesize complex research blockers into actionable status updates for Commercialization leadership.
• You bring a background in technical program management, research operations, or technical account management within long‑cycle R&D environments.