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Position Summary:
CPES Industry Liaison serves as primary contact for all industry-related activities of the Center for Power Electronics Systems ( CPES ) in the College of Engineering. He/she reports to the CPES Director, who also serves as the Associate Vice President for Research and Innovation in Energy Systems ( AVPRI -ES). CPES Director leads the CPES Executive Board (EB), which governs the complex operations of CPES , involving almost 100 international graduate students and visiting scholars, large state-of-the-art laboratory facilities, millions of dollars in research contracts, and global industry consortium of over 80 companies with annual funding exceeding $2.5 million. AVPRI -ES is responsible for developing coordinated university strategy for research, innovation, business engagement, and education in energy systems, in collaboration with the University Leadership Team, including the President and the Vice Presidents. Operations managed by the AVPRI -ES and the CPES Director are divided between Blacksburg and the National Capital Region.
This position requires a respectful and balanced sensitivity to established operating processes and expectations from the existing CPES' industry partners, while seeking out and implementing new processes to improve and advance performance of the CPES Industry Partnership Program.

Required Qualifications:
- M.A. or M.S. degree in communications, engineering, arts and sciences, or a combination of training and experience in customer relations management exceeding a master's degree.
- Exceptional planning and organizational skills.
- Advanced computer skills and proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite and Adobe Creative Cloud. Proven experience with a variety of software collaboration platforms.
- Proven ability to sustain the people-centric focus that is at the core of great customer service. Ability to understand the customer needs and ability to relate to how they are feeling in order to help provide the most effective responses.
- Outstanding responsiveness and ability to multi-task, adapt to changing priorities, and meet deadlines; comfort with ambiguity. Ability to resolve situations independently, develop plans of action and follow through with execution.
- Great communication skills, such as the ability to listen actively and the ability to pivot unhelpful conversations to more productive ground.
- Ability to empathize and be people-friendly in all professional relationships, but must be able to detach from situations and to remember that they are usually not personal.
- Proven ability to cultivate positive working relationships, build and maintain a team-based approach, and gain the trust and respect of all levels of internal and external constituencies.
- Demonstrated ability to perform duties with a high level of professionalism, confidentiality, flexibility, discretion, judgment, diplomacy, and tact.

Preferred Qualifications:
- Demonstrated international exposure and experience of collaborating with people and institutions from many countries with different languages and cultures.
- Familiarity with at least one foreign language.
- Proven editing and writing skills.
- Prior experience at Virginia Tech or other higher education environment.
- Prior experience of working in engineering research environment.
- Experience creating and maintaining policy and procedure documentation.



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