Director, Partnerships and Innovation

Date Posted: 01/06/2026
Req ID: 44111
Faculty/Division: UofT Mississauga
Department: UTM: Office of the Vice-Principal, Research and Innovation
Campus: University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM)

Description:

U of T Mississauga—the second largest campus of Canada's top-ranked university and the only research university in Ontario's booming Peel Region—is one of the world's great catalysts of human potential.

Our employee community hums with the energy of 3,400 faculty, librarians and staff, who power our campus with curiosity, connection and care. We work together to spark life-changing research and innovation, make an indelible mark on the world by building equitable cities and societies, enable healthy lives, create a sustainable future and ignite entrepreneurship. Above all, we prioritize student success, and seek to give our 16,500 students the lift of a lifetime through learning and discovery. We love to open opportunities available nowhere else for our community to achieve their ambitions and make their unique contributions to Canada and the world.

This work all comes together on a spectacularly green campus, alongside the Missinihe-ziibi (Trusting Creek or Credit River), where we seek to honour truth, reciprocity and reconciliation on the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, Seneca and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. We're thrilled to welcome those who want to learn more about us and to be part of what we do.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Office of the Vice-Principal, Research and Innovation (OVPRI) at the University of Toronto, Mississauga (UTM) supports, promotes and inspires the research, scholarship and creative activity of the research community, and enhances the research environment, reputation and profile of UTM. The OVPRI is organized in three pillars of research and innovation services and support: 1) Research grant development, 2) Core research facilities, and 3) Partnerships and Innovation, The OVPRI operates several core facilities, a venture incubation hub, and supports highly specialized research teams that draw on world-class research expertise across multiple academic divisions,  regional, national, and international academic partners, and commercial organizations.

The Director of Partnerships and Innovation is responsible for designing and implementing programs and strategies that will diversify UTM's research funding portfolio and increase funded research partnerships through leveraging corporate, government, and not-for-profit opportunities, and enhance UTM's commercialization and entrepreneurship portfolio. This position includes identifying, cultivating, and soliciting corporations, government agencies, and community partners interested in supporting research and training opportunities at UTM, as well as creating opportunities for UTM researchers and trainees to engage and collaborate with entrepreneurs to foster a culture of entrepreneurship and commercialization at UTM.

The Director of Partnerships and Innovation will work with a high-level of autonomy, reporting directly to the Vice-Principal, Research and Innovation (VPRI). The role will require collaboration with the Associate Vice-Principals, Research and Innovation (AVPRIs)–Facilities and Strategic Initiatives, and the Director of the OVPRI, as well as with senior leadership teams across UTM, including the Office of the Vice-President and Principal (OVPP), the Office of Advancement, and divisions across the tri-campus, including the Innovations and Partnerships Office (IPO) and the University of Toronto Entrepreneurship (UTE) portfolio. Primary responsibilities include devising and implementing a long-term financial sustainability strategy for SpinUp and securing funding partnerships to actualize that strategy as well as to diversify UTM's research funding portfolio; tracking appropriate success indicators & metrics for the partnership and innovation portfolio; soliciting and managing a select group of internal and external stakeholders including corporate, government, foundations and community partners that possess major funding interests across UTM's research strengths.

QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED

Education

Post graduate degree or the equivalent acceptable combination of education and experience. A PhD is highly desirable.

Experience

Minimum ten (10) years of experience with increasing responsibility developing and leading initiatives that create and expand on funded research partnerships with high growth potential within an academic and/or industry setting, establishing and leading incubation and related entrepreneurship initiatives, and leading and supporting strategic initiatives.

Experience in accessing and implementing early-stage funding, and partnership-brokering with public, industry and private sectors, promoting industry-partnerships, innovation, and research commercialization. Demonstrated effectiveness in developing operational, financial and staffing plans and structures to support organizational growth potential. 

Skills

Entrepreneurial and transformational leadership skills, adaptable to changing needs, proven ability assessing opportunities in a variety of disciplines; excellent research, analytical, negotiation, partnership development, organizational and interpersonal skills; excellent oral and written communication skills with the ability to concisely summarize information and provide a rationale for action; creative problem solving; mentorship abilities.

Other

Ability to work at the highest strategic levels, to gain and maintain the respect of senior administration and also to take strategy and move it through to tactics and action, strong project management ability. Ability to work in a collaborative and collegial manner. Must be highly self-motivated and sustain a high degree of initiative. High degree of political acuity, tact and judgment, including the ability to partner with senior University Officers and external stakeholders in a manner which facilitates cooperation and consensus building and demonstrated experience maintaining the respect of senior administration, donors and volunteers and moving strategy through to tactics and action. Must be able to identify and understand emerging issues as well as set and manage priorities.

Closing Date: 01/18/2026, 11:59PM ET
Employee Group: Salaried
Appointment Type: Budget - Continuing
Schedule: Full-Time
Pay Scale Group & Hiring Zone: PM 5 -- Hiring Zone: $120,499 - $140,583 -- Broadband Salary Range: $120,499 - $200,831
Job Category: Administrative / Managerial