Director, Strategic Partnerships & Alliances, Chemical Simulation

About SandboxAQ

SandboxAQ is a high-growth company delivering AI solutions that address some of the world's greatest challenges. The company’s Large Quantitative Models (LQMs) power advances in life sciences, financial services, navigation, cybersecurity, and other sectors.

We are a global team that is tech-focused and includes experts in AI, chemistry, cybersecurity, physics, mathematics, medicine, engineering, and other specialties. The company emerged from Alphabet Inc. as an independent, growth capital-backed company in 2022, funded by leading investors and supported by a braintrust of industry leaders.

At SandboxAQ, we’ve cultivated an environment that encourages creativity, collaboration, and impact. By investing deeply in our people, we’re building a thriving, global workforce poised to tackle the world's epic challenges. Join us to advance your career in pursuit of an inspiring mission, in a community of like-minded people who value entrepreneurialism, ownership, and transformative impact.

The Opportunity

SandboxAQ’s Chemical Simulation group combines physics-based simulation, AI, materials science, and experimental validation to accelerate the discovery and commercialization of materials that matter to industry and national resilience.

We are seeking a Director, Strategic Partnerships & Alliances to build and execute the partnership strategy supporting our semiconductor-materials programs for our CHIPS funding and broader commercial ambitions. This role will identify high-value partners across the materials value chain, develop relationships with senior technical and business leaders, and turn promising scientific opportunities into structured government-funded relationships and commercial engagements.

You will own the commercial motion from partner discovery through agreement execution and ongoing relationship management. This includes shaping partner value propositions, defining collaboration models, negotiating contracts and statements of work, coordinating internal deal teams, and ensuring that partnerships create clear technical, strategic, and commercial value, especially as it relates to delivering on our government obligations.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and execute a strategic-partnerships and alliances strategy across semiconductor-critical materials, including catalysis, process chemicals, batteries, magnets, and PFAS alternatives.

• Identify, qualify, and prioritize potential partners across the value chain, including chemical and materials companies, semiconductor manufacturers, equipment providers, experimental laboratories, manufacturers, national laboratories, and other strategic ecosystem participants with an urgency to meet government-set milestones/timelines.

• Build trusted relationships with senior executives, R&D leaders, technical experts, procurement teams, and business-development stakeholders at prospective partner organizations.

• Translate SandboxAQ’s scientific capabilities, materials-discovery workflows, and commercial objectives into compelling partner-specific value propositions and engagement strategies.

• Lead partnership development end-to-end, from first conversation through diligence, business-case development, negotiation, approval, launch, and expansion including structuring and negotiating the full range of agreements (NDAs, MOUs, LOIs, joint development and co-development agreements, statements of work, validation agreements, and licensing structures) in partnership with Legal and Finance.

• Develop clear key for partner roles, technical scope, milestones, success criteria, data exchange, validation responsibilities, economics, intellectual-property treatment, publication rights, exclusivity, field of use, and commercialization pathways.

• Ensure that proposed partnerships align with applicable government-program, export-control, confidentiality, intellectual-property, and compliance requirements; escalate issues early and bring the right internal stakeholders into the decision process.

• Coordinate cross-functional deal teams and maintain a disciplined operating cadence across technical, commercial, legal, financial, and executive workstreams in order to convert technical proof points and partner-validation results into commercial opportunities, follow-on agreements, product requirements, and durable ecosystem relationships.

• Represent SandboxAQ at customer meetings, industry events, conferences, and other forums, communicating credibly with both technical and executive audiences.

Essential Skills & Experience

• 10+ years of experience in strategic partnerships, business development, alliances, licensing, corporate development, or a related commercial role in a technical industry.

• Demonstrated success sourcing, developing, negotiating, and closing complex multi-party partnerships, preferably involving R&D, technology licensing, government funding, co-development, or technical validation.

• Strong contract and deal-structuring experience, including the ability to work effectively with Legal on intellectual property, data rights, confidentiality, economics, milestones, liability, exclusivity, and commercialization terms.

• Experience translating complex technical capabilities into business value, commercial proposals, and executive-level decisions.

• Experience managing long-cycle enterprise or industrial sales and partnership processes with multiple decision makers and significant technical diligence.

• Strong understanding of industrial materials, chemicals, semiconductors, advanced manufacturing, scientific software, or a closely related domain.

• Excellent written, verbal, and executive communication skills, with the ability to earn trust across scientists, engineers, lawyers, finance leaders, executives, and external partners.

• Demonstrated ability to operate independently in a high-growth, ambiguous environment and to create structure where a repeatable playbook does not yet exist.

• Bachelor’s degree in business, engineering, chemistry, materials science, or a related field; advanced degree or equivalent technical experience preferred.

• Willingness to travel regularly for partner meetings, customer engagements, conferences, and other business-development activities.

Highly Desired Skills & Experience

• Direct experience with semiconductor materials, process chemicals, catalysis, batteries, magnets, PFAS alternatives, specialty chemicals, or related industrial R&D markets.

• Experience operating within CHIPS Act, DOE, DOD, national-laboratory, BAA, OTA, SBIR, or other federally funded R&D programs.

• Experience negotiating partnerships involving government-funded research, domestic manufacturing, supply-chain resilience, or commercialization of research-generated intellectual property.

• A track record of closing partnerships that progressed from exploratory discussions to signed agreements, technical execution, revenue, licensing, or strategic investment.

• Familiarity with technology commercialization, IP licensing, joint development, contract manufacturing, qualification, scale-up, and industrial go-to-market processes.

• Existing relationships with senior leaders in semiconductor, chemical, materials, manufacturing, equipment, or national-laboratory ecosystems.

• Experience building commercial processes, partner-management systems, or an alliances function within a growing company.

Why Join Us?

We offer competitive compensation, a comprehensive benefits package, and opportunities for professional growth.

• Compensation: Competitive base salary commensurate with experience, plus equity and performance-based incentives.

• Benefits: Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance; 401(k) with company match; generous parental leave.

• Work-Life Balance: Flexible hybrid work arrangements, generous PTO, and a culture that respects focus time and recovery.

• Career Development: Direct exposure to frontier AI and materials-science programs, senior scientific and executive leadership, strategic industrial partners, and federally funded R&D initiatives.

SandboxAQ Welcomes All

We are committed to fostering a culture of belonging and respect, where diverse perspectives are actively sought and valued. Our multidisciplinary environment provides ample opportunity for continuous growth - working alongside humble, empowered, and ambitious colleagues ready to tackle epic challenges.

Equal Employment Opportunity: All qualified applicants will receive consideration regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, or Veteran status.

Accommodations: We provide reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities in job application procedures for open roles. If you need such an accommodation, please let a member of our Recruiting team know.

Read: Guidance for candidates on using AI Tools in interviews