Director, Operations and Strategic Engagement

About this role

Department PME Chicago Quantum Exchange (CQE) About the Department The Chicago Quantum Exchange (CQE) is an intellectual hub in the Midwest that connects leading universities, national labs, and industry partners to advance the science and engineering of quantum information, train the future quantum workforce, and drive the quantum economy. The CQE is based at the University of Chicago and anchored by the US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Northwestern University, and Purdue University. The community includes more than 50 corporate, international, nonprofit, and regional partners and is one of the largest collaborative teams working on quantum science in the world. The CQE leads national initiatives, including The Bloch Quantum Tech Hub, a US Economic Development Administration (EDA) designation endorsing the Chicago metro area as a central driver of US leadership in quantum technologies.

The Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) is the first school in the nation dedicated to molecular engineering, and integrates science and engineering to address global challenges from the molecular level up. UChicago PME’s rigorous academic and research programs are enhanced through the University of Chicago’s unique partnership with Argonne and Fermi National Laboratories, and the broad excellence of scholarship and education on campus. In the next phase of growth as a School, PME will continue to expand its team of world-class faculty researchers and empower students from diverse backgrounds to collaborate with faculty in cutting-edge facilities. PME aims to bring solutions for urgent societal problems to the forefront, while training the next generation of scientific leaders and entrepreneurs. Job Summary The Director serves as a primary liaison among CQE, Economic Development Administration (EDA), University, industry, and state government stakeholders. The Director reports to and provides comprehensive operational support to the Regional Innovation Officer (RIO) and coordinates daily administrative workflows for the Chicago Quantum Exchange (CQE). The Director collaborates in fiscal and budgetary activities with the RIO and CEO, manages non-disclosure agreements and memorandums of understanding, and supports the creation and monitoring of procedures for research security and risk assessment. This role proactively identifies operational issues and implements process improvements, allocates resources across regional hub sites, and designs standardized operational tools and procedures. The role oversees federal grant budgets, ensures regulatory compliance, and synthesizes financial and operational data for mandatory reporting. The Director acts as the primary operational contact for principal investigators, corporate partners, and government agencies, organizing governance meetings and aligning cross-functional teams. Additional responsibilities involve monitoring sub-recipient financial workflows, assisting with grant proposal preparation, and supporting outreach and engagement activities. Responsibilities • Provides comprehensive operational support to the Regional Innovation Officer (RIO) and directs daily administrative workflows. • Facilitates and supports the collaboration between CQE, EDA, and University, industry and state government stakeholders. • Proactively identifies issues and implements process improvements. • Coordinates fiscal and budgetary activities in collaboration with the RIO and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the CQE. • Coordinates and tracks non-disclosure agreements and memorandums of understanding in collaboration with the RIO and the CEO of the CQE. • Supports the creation and monitoring of procedures for research security and risk assessment by stakeholders in coordination with RIO, other CQE staff, and partnering government institutions. • Monitors multi-institutional project timelines to ensure EDA grant milestone compliance. • Manages physical space, equipment deployment, and scheduling across diverse regional hub sites. • Designs and implements standardized operational tools, communications protocols, and standard operating procedures (SOPs). • Manages complex federal grant budgets, tracking expenditures against projected allocations. • Ensures adherence to EDA, federal, University, and state regulatory and procurement protocols. • Synthesizes financial data and operational metrics to generate mandatory quarterly and annual federal performance reports. • Audits financial workflows, invoicing, and contract compliance for University and corporate partners. • May provide input for the preparation of grant proposals, ensuring compliance with all University, federal and private foundation guidelines and regulations. • Serves as the primary operational point of contact for principal investigators, corporate partners, and state agencies. Organizes and schedules governance board meetings and assure proceedings. • Partners closely with CQE and partner institution leadership. • Facilitates operational alignment across workforce development programs, partner institutions, and corporate sponsors. Executes and supervises outreach events in collaboration with CQE staff. • Assists Bloch PME Regional Innovation Officer in developing Bloch data collection and tracking processes, leveraging the CQE’s Salesforce system, to track growth, measure impact, inform course-corrections, and communicate Bloch impact to a wide variety of audiences, maximizing engagement, fundraising, and overall impact. • Acts as a researcher and planner for a wide array of efforts led by the department/division. • Develops and maintains a database of peer and competitor profiles. Helps establish and maintain a database of faculty (international) research topics and international inter-institutional collaborations. • Performs other related work as need

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