Partnerships and Innovation Specialist

Description:

About us:

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

Your opportunity:

The Partnerships & Innovation Specialist will support UTM’s research community to advance UTM’s and the University of Toronto’s strategic research administration activities. The position will work in collaboration with the VPRI, and under the direction of the Director, Partnerships & Innovation, Office of the Vice-Principal, Research and Innovation

You will be responsible for developing and enhancing the research enterprise at UTM. Working closely with academic leadership, you will identify opportunities for research funding, support the application development process of collaborative funding opportunities, including team and interdisciplinary projects, and develop strategies for partnerships. You will support the research endeavours at UTM by drafting and coordinating submissions for research funding, awards, and honours. You will support faculty and UTM in ensuring all submissions and applications meet University and sponsor standards and requirements. You will support the UTM research environment by cultivating relationships and partnerships across the university and within the division.

The Partnerships & Innovation Specialist is an integral member of the UTM research enterprise and acts as a resource and support to faculty and academic leadership. 

Your responsibilities will include:

• Advising faculty on funding application strategies
• Coordinating and guiding applicants through various phases of the research funding application process
• Providing detailed information to faculty and administrative staff on completing and submitting research applications
• Writing applications for research funding
• Keeping well-informed on research funding programs, application guidelines, policies/procedures and regulations
• Planning and overseeing activities that enhance and expand research funding activity and effectiveness
• Identifying, developing and executing strategies for research and development collaborations
• Developing and implementing plans to support areas of research relevant to partnership needs that are consistent with the University’s academic mission

Essential Qualifications:

• Master's Degree or acceptable combination of equivalent experience.
• Minimum five years of relevant experience in an academic research environment required.
• Experience writing, editing and coordinating the creation of complex, multi-stakeholder grant applications required.
• Expert understanding of Provincial, Canadian and International partnership-based research funding programs and sponsors, such as ERA, ORF, CFI, SSHRC, etc. required.
• Experience organizing and facilitating workshops and training sessions required.
• Demonstrated experience identifying, cultivating and managing relationships with external partners (e.g., industry, government or community organizations) to advance research and innovation priorities required.
• Demonstrated project management skills, including the ability to manage multiple concurrent, deadline-driven initiatives with numerous stakeholders required.
• Experience negotiating and interpreting partnership agreements, such as memoranda of understanding or intellectual property terms.
• Advanced computer skills (Excel, Access, Word, PowerPoint).
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Excellent organizational, analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent interpersonal, negotiating, and marketing skills

To be successful in this role you will be:

• Communicator
• Diligent
• Diplomatic
• Organized
• Resourceful
• Team player

Please note that one continuing position is available. 

Closing Date: 09/24/2026, 11:59PM ET
Employee Group: USW 
Appointment Type : Budget - Continuing 
Schedule: Full-Time
Pay Scale Group & Hiring Zone:
USW Pay Band 15 -- $97,348. with an annual step progression to a maximum of $124,491. Pay scale and job class assignment is subject to determination pursuant to the Job Evaluation/Pay Equity Maintenance Protocol.
Job Category: Administrative / Managerial
Recruiter: Desiray Stewart

Lived Experience Statement
Candidates who are members of Indigenous, Black, racialized and 2SLGBTQ+ communities, persons with disabilities, and other equity deserving groups are encouraged to apply, and their lived experience shall be taken into consideration as applicable to the posted position.

Job descriptions are available upon request for internal applicants.