Director, Commercialization & Growth- SFBUE

Director, Commercialization & Growth- SFBUE

San Francisco Bay University

Category: Staff
Type: Full Time
Min. Experience: Director
Salary: $185,000 - $215,000

About SFBUE

San Francisco Bay University Education (SFBUE) is a wholly owned subsidiary of San Francisco Bay University (SFBU) established to extend and commercialize the university's innovation beyond higher education. SFBUE operates at the intersection of human capability, artificial intelligence, workforce transformation, enterprise technology, research, and learning innovation.

SFBUE is developing Capability Science as a scientific foundation for understanding human capability in the AI Age, Capability Management as the enterprise discipline through which organizations understand, develop, deploy, and improve those capabilities, and SFBUE products as the AI-native commercial platform that operationalizes this work at scale. SFBUE also supports selected SFBU initiatives, including Pro+, while building a broader portfolio of enterprise services, research partnerships, methodologies, and commercial offerings.

Position Overview

Reporting to the Vice President of Strategy & Operations, the Director, Commercialization & Growth leads development and execution of SFBUE's go-to-market strategy across enterprise products, Capability Management, Capability Science ecosystem initiatives, services, strategic partnerships, and category development. This hands-on 0-to-1 leader converts emerging science, methodologies, technology, and university innovation into clear market propositions, qualified enterprise demand, repeatable commercial offerings, and durable external relationships. This is an exempt, full-time hybrid position, with up to 50% travel expected for in-person collaboration in Fremont, California, as well as for external business activities.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

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  Own and continuously refine the phased go-to-market strategy, customer segments, ideal customer profiles, buyer personas, priority use cases, market-entry hypotheses, and commercialization roadmap.
  
  
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  Develop positioning, packaging, pricing, pilot structures, commercial proposals, land-and-expand pathways, and conversion models that balance near-term services revenue with recurring platform growth.
  
  
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  Lead executive customer discovery, design-partner recruitment, pilot development, early customer conversion, and structured feedback loops that inform product and methodology development.
  
  
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  Build and manage the early enterprise pipeline and opportunity process from discovery through proposal, contracting support, and handoff into implementation or customer success.
  
  
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  Develop relationships with senior enterprise buyers and influencers across workforce strategy, talent, learning, AI transformation, technology, strategy, and business leadership.
  
  
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  Identify and develop strategic alliances, technology relationships, channels, research partnerships, and ecosystem relationships that strengthen market access, credibility, evidence generation, or adoption.
  
  
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  Develop the participation, value proposition, recruitment, and launch strategy for the Capability Science Consortium or related research/industry ecosystem initiatives.
  
  
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  Own the integrated marketing and category-development plan, including product marketing, thought leadership, digital content, events, executive communications, case studies, partner marketing, and market education.
  
  
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  Establish commercial operating discipline, including CRM, pipeline stages, forecasting, opportunity reviews, KPIs, marketing effectiveness measures, and executive reporting.
  
  
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  Partner closely with product, technology, research, academic operations, finance, legal, SFBU stakeholders, and leadership so commercial commitments are feasible, appropriately governed, and aligned with brand and intellectual-property requirements.
  
  
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  Support annual operating planning, revenue forecasting, sales and marketing budget development, and recommendations on when to invest, productize, expand, partner, pause, or change direction.
  
  
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  Perform other duties as needed.
  
  

Supervisory Responsibilities:

This role may manage external agencies, contractors, consultants, and future commercial team members. The Director is expected to lead cross-functional commercialization work while supporting the establishment of a mature sales and marketing organization.

Minimum Qualifications:

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  Bachelor's degree in business, marketing, strategy, technology, organizational development, education, or a related field.
  
  
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  8+ years of experience across commercialization, enterprise go-to-market, business development, product marketing, enterprise sales, strategy, consulting, or related roles.
  
  
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  Demonstrated success taking a new B2B product, service, offering, or business line from concept through market validation and early commercial traction.
  
  
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  Strong enterprise customer-discovery and consultative-selling skills, including experience engaging senior executives and translating ambiguous customer problems into structured opportunities.
  
  
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  Experience developing positioning, packaging, pricing, pilots, proposals, and go-to-market plans for complex offerings.
  
  
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  Ability to build or source commercial infrastructure from scratch, including CRM discipline, pipeline management, forecasting, metrics, and operating cadence.
  
  
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  Strong written communication and narrative-development skills across executive, commercial, product-marketing, and thought-leadership contexts.
  
  
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  Demonstrated comfort operating in an early-stage environment with ambiguity, limited resources, and a high degree of personal ownership.
  
  

Preferred Qualifications:

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  Experience commercializing enterprise AI, workforce transformation, HR/talent technology, learning technology, workforce analytics, or other complex enterprise software and services.
  
  
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  Experience with category creation, market education, or commercialization of an emerging methodology, research concept, or management discipline.
  
  
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  Experience developing research partnerships, industry consortia, advisory networks, or university-industry collaborations.
  
  
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  Existing relationships with enterprise leaders in workforce strategy, talent, learning, AI transformation, strategy, technology, or related functions.
  
  
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  Experience balancing professional services, implementation, research partnerships, and recurring software within a land-and-expand commercial model.
  
  
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  Master's degree, MBA, or other relevant advanced degree.
  
  
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  Bay Area presence and ability to work in person with SFBU/SFBUE stakeholders and external partners on a regular basis.
  
  

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

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  Strong 0-to-1 commercialization judgment and ability to distinguish market hypotheses from validated, repeatable commercial evidence.
  
  
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  Ability to sell and build relationships credibly before every aspect of an emerging offering is mature, without overpromising product or scientific readiness.
  
  
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  Strong executive communication, customer discovery, consultative selling, negotiation, and partnership-development skills.
  
  
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  Product and services fluency, including understanding of implementation boundaries, product readiness, customer value measures, and recurring-revenue economics.
  
  
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  Ability to translate complex scientific, technical, academic, or strategic concepts into clear buyer value and coherent market narratives.
  
  
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  Data-driven commercial discipline, including pipeline quality, forecasting, conversion, market validation, and marketing effectiveness metrics.
  
  
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  Demonstrated strong commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice.
  
  

Salary Range:

The anticipated base salary range for this position is $185,000-$215,000 annually, depending on experience, qualifications, and scope. The role may also be eligible for performance-based incentive compensation and long-term incentive participation, subject to applicable plans and approvals.

Anticipated Start Date:

To be determined.

Application Process:

1. For full consideration, please submit your completed application, letter of interest describing your experience based on the stated responsibilities, your leadership approach, a current CV/ resume, and the names and contact information of three references.

This position description is not intended to cover or contain a comprehensive list of activities, duties, or responsibilities required of the employee. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change, or new ones may be assigned at any time, with or without notice.

SFBUE is an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action Employer: SFBUE is committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all employees and applicants for employment. SFBUE does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices based on race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation or any other characteristic protected by law.

In accordance with federal and state disability laws, SFBUE provides reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities. If you require assistance during the application or interview process, please contact hrmgr@sfbu.edu.



To apply, please visit: https://apptrkr.com/9816865"">https://app.trinethire.com/companies/33737-san-francisco-bay-university/jobs/124526-director-commercialization-growth-sfbue







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