Translation Program Director

Super Fab Lab @ UNC-C; Portal (GA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Super Fab Lab @ UNC-C is seeking a Translation Program Director to lead proactive industry engagement and translate UNC Charlotte’s research into commercial opportunities. You will coordinate across ORTIA units and guide technologies from discovery to partnerships, influencing energy, advanced manufacturing, and optics sectors.

The role emphasizes strong communication, strategic networking, and experience advancing translational programs with corporate partners and venture ecosystems.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a field related to translation domains.
• Minimum of ten years of industry experience in energy, advanced manufacturing, autonomous vehicles, aerospace, defense and intelligence, or optics and photonics.
• Equivalent combination of training and experience.

Responsibilities

• Leads proactive, campus-wide engagement with UNC Charlotte researchers to identify translation potential at early TRL stages.
• Facilitates structured problem-framing sessions with industry partners to translate findings into actionable statements.
• Evaluates translation readiness using TRL/ARL/MRL assessments and prepares clearance documentation.
• Cultivates relationships with VP/Director-level counterparts in corporate R&D and engineering.
• Coordinates across ORTIA units to move technologies through the translation pipeline.
• Proposes Mentor-in-Residence matches for technologies in TRL 3–5 and builds industry networks.
• Supports federal and state commercialization programs and integrates outputs into the pipeline.

Skills

Stakeholder engagement

Communication skills

Strategic partnerships

Industry networking

Project coordination

Education

Bachelor's degree

10+ years industry experience

Job description

General Information

Position Number 001937 Vacancy Open to All Candidates Working Title Translation Program Director Position Designation EHRA Non-Faculty Employment Type Permanent - Full-time Months per Year 12 Work Schedule
8:00 am – 5:00 pm; Monday – Friday with occasional evening and weekend hours required, as necessary. Hours per week 40 FLSA Status Exempt Division Research Department Div of Research (Adm) Work Location PORTAL Building 226

Primary Purpose of Department

The Office of Research Translation and Industry Alliances (ORTIA) exists to convert UNC Charlotte’s research into realized economic and social impact for the Charlotte region and beyond. It does this by organizing around the full translation arc — from identifying promising research at its earliest stages, through validating it against real industry problems, to forming spinout companies and building sustained partnerships with Charlotte’s corporate community. ORTIA’s three units — Translation Intelligence, New Ventures & Industry Alliances, and IP & Technology Transfer — work in sequence to ensure that translatable research finds its way to the companies, investors, and markets that can deploy it, rather than exiting through publication unrealized. As UNC Charlotte’s R1 infrastructure matures, ORTIA is the institutional mechanism that converts research excellence into the spinouts, industry partnerships, and deployed technologies that define what R1 status means in practice.

Primary Purpose of Position

Leads proactive, systematic engagement with UNC Charlotte’s full research portfolio — in research centers, institutes, and directly with individual researchers not affiliated with any center — to identify commercially promising research at TRL 2–3, before it self-selects through formal disclosure or exits through publication unrealized.

Translates early-stage research findings into problem statements that Charlotte’s industry partners and the region’s financial community recognize as operationally relevant and worth investing in, drawing on deep personal domain expertise in energy, advanced manufacturing and metrology, autonomous vehicles, aerospace, national defense and intelligence, and optics and optoelectronics.

Connects researchers with the right corporate counterparts, investors, and Mentors-in-Residence through peer-level personal relationships built over a career in industry — converting UNC Charlotte’s proximity to six Fortune 500 headquarters and the Carolinas Engine for Grid Modernization coalition into active translation partnerships.

Drives the translation pipeline that feeds all three ORTIA units — coordinating across Translation Intelligence, New Ventures & Industry Alliances, and IP & Technology Transfer — and produces the Translation Validation documentation required to move technologies into spinout formation, industry alliance development, and funding programs.

Summary Of Position Responsibilities

• Conducts proactive, campus-wide engagement with UNC Charlotte researchers — in research centers, institutes, and directly with individual researchers not affiliated with any center — to identify research with commercial translation potential at TRL 2–3, before it self-selects through formal disclosure or exits through publication unrealized.
• Facilitates structured problem-framing sessions between researchers and Charlotte industry counterparts, translating scientific findings into operational problem statements that corporate partners in energy, advanced manufacturing, autonomous vehicles, aerospace, defense and intelligence, and optics recognize as real and worth solving.
• Evaluates the translation readiness of technologies in the assigned portfolio by conducting Technology Readiness Level (TRL), Adoption Readiness Level (ARL), and Manufacturing Readiness Level (MRL) assessments, and prepares the Translation Validation Clearance documentation required for handoff to New Ventures & Industry Alliances.
• Cultivates and sustains direct, working-level relationships with VP and Director-level counterparts in corporate R&D and engineering at Charlotte’s corporate partners and with C-level leadership at SMBs in assigned domains, drawing on personal industry expertise and networks to make peer-level introductions between faculty inventors and potential corporate partners and investors.
• Coordinates across all three ORTIA units — Translation Intelligence, New Ventures & Industry Alliances, and IP & Technology Transfer — exercising cross-unit convening authority as designated by the AVC to move technologies through the translation pipeline from initial identification through Translation Validation Clearance and handoff.
• Proposes Mentor-in-Residence matches for technologies at TRL 3–5 in the assigned portfolio, identifying experienced entrepreneurs and former corporate executives from Charlotte’s business community whose domain background and operational experience align with the technology and the faculty inventor.
• Supports federal and state commercialization programs — including NSF I-Corps, NSF Tech Scout, and internal grant programs, preparing them for application, and ensuring program outputs are integrated into ORTIA’s translation pipeline.
• Maintains accurate and current documentation of all researchers and technology engagements in ORTIA’s pipeline tracker, and participates in weekly pipeline coordination meetings to report portfolio status, identify technologies at handoff points, and surface resource needs across units for resolution by the AVC.

Minimum Education/Experience

• Bachelor’s degree required in a field relevant to one or more of the assigned ORTIA translation domains.
• Minimum of ten years of industry experience in one or more of the following domains covered by this position: energy (generation, transmission, grid modernization), advanced or smart manufacturing, autonomous vehicles, aerospace, defense and intelligence systems, or optics and photonics. Big 4 Management Consulting technology commercialization/development and/or strategy experience with clients in the domains is accepted.
• Or an equivalent combination of training and experience.

Preferred Education, Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Advanced degree (MS, PhD, MBA, or equivalent) preferred.
• Demonstrated personal network of working relationships with corporate R&D, engineering, and technology leadership at companies in the assigned domains.
• Demonstrated ability to work credibly with both research scientists and corporate technologists — translating between scientific language and operational problem language without losing precision in either direction.
• Track record of identifying early-stage technical work with commercial potential and facilitating connections to market or capital — whether as an industry R&D professional, a venture investor, a government program officer, a Big 4 management consultant or in an equivalent role.
• Strong written and oral communication skills. The TPD regularly produces written Translation Opportunity Reports, problem-solution fit statements, and TRL/ARL/MRL assessments that are used as institutional decision documents.
• Prior experience as a venture capitalist/analyst, angel investor, investment professional, or technology development/commercialization or market strategy consultant with direct involvement in early-stage technology company evaluation. Former VCs are particularly valuable in this role for their ability to make peer-level introductions to active investors and to frame technologies in investment-committee language.
• Prior experience in forming public-private partnerships between a university and external companies/institutions/organizations.
• Prior experience in a university research environment — as a post-doctoral researcher, industry research affiliate, or industry liaison — that gives the TPD credibility and practical knowledge of how academic research is conducted, incentivized, and published.
• Experience with NSF I-Corps, SBIR/STTR, or other federal commercialization programs as a participant, mentor, or program officer.
• Familiarity with the Charlotte regional business community or demonstrated ability to build a regional network rapidly through existing national industry relationships.
• Experience with multi-readiness level assessment frameworks — TRL, ARL, MRL, or equivalent — in a defense, energy, or manufacturing context.

Special Notes to Applicants

• The finalist will be subject to a Criminal Background Check and/or a Motor Vehicle Report.
• The Search Committee will not contact references without first verifying permission with the finalist.
• Please ensure your resume reflects the knowledge, skills, abilities, and experiences to support your answers to the supplemental questions.
• UNC Charlotte Benefits Information: https://hr.charlotte.edu/benefits/benefits-overview/

Posting Open Date 06/16/2026
Posting Close Date Open Until Filled Yes
Proposed Hire Date 07/13/2026
If time-limited please indicate appointment end date
Contact Information