Research Park Program Manager

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Job description

Abbott is a global healthcare leader that helps people live more fully at all stages of life. Our portfolio of life-changing technologies spans the spectrum of healthcare, with leading businesses and products in diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals, and branded generic medicines. Our 109,000 colleagues serve people in more than 160 countries.

Position Overview:

We seek a highly motivated, self-starter who is looking for a new career challenge based in Champaign, Illinois. This unique opportunity is to enhance Abbott's UIUC on-campus presence leading the Research Park program for all of Abbott. This role will be responsible for working with UIUC academic and administrative leaders as well as with internal Abbott partners including Talent Acquisition to deliver empowering experiences for our student researchers, culminating in opportunities for these students to explore permanent career positions with Abbott. The Program Manager will work on campus full-time to identify phenomenal talent and guide them through challenging research assignments spanning all of Abbott's Businesses and support functions. This role will have responsibility for oversight of all Abbott student researchers onsite as well as management of the Abbott facility space and budget for this program.

Main Purpose of the job:

The University Program Manager will help Abbott build an enduring presence at University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign. This position will direct on site operations for Abbott's UIUC Research Park program following Abbott's key business and financial processes while leading a team of student researchers. This role will be responsible to nurture relationships with University faculty, staff, and professional student organizations, while maintaining positive and productive relationships with Abbott R&D, Operations leaders, Business HR, IT, and University Relations/Talent Acquisition, as well as with all Abbott program assignment managers. The University Program Manager builds the Abbott brand on campus throughout the year and assists with University recruiting activities while mentoring and guiding student researchers through important steps in their career journey. The Program Manager will also be responsible for continuously improving the program and providing strategic direction for the program for the future.

Responsibilities:

• Manages/supervises team of ~25 student researchers per semester
• Plans and manages projects, procurement procedures, schedules and priorities for student researchers and Abbott assignment managers:
  • Procures project proposals from Abbott assignment managers through call for proposals, leads selection of projects, and manages process of matching student researchers to projects
  • Works closely with Abbott assignment managers to ensure roles are challenging, engaging and providing value to Abbott.
  • Procures project charters from assignment managers and coordinates project kick offs
  • Tracks projects and deliverables and quantifies and reports outcomes
  • Checks in with key stakeholders weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or as needed to assess program effectiveness and meet needs of stakeholders
• Plans and executes critical program tasks, including:
  • Works closely with Abbott University Relations/Talent Acquisition and assignment managers, as well as University Career Services to recruit students as key engineering/scientific talent
  • Develops and reports on key program metrics to ensure the program is fulfilling its key objectives
  • Partners with TA and HR on hiring, onsite orientation, onboarding, and offboarding of student researchers
  • Manages personnel transactions in Workday
  • Ensures student researchers comply with Abbott policies and procedures
  • Assists student researchers with travel reservations and reimbursement
  • Maintains and updates tools and systems (e.g. SharePoint site; shared drive)
  • Maintains and reports data on hiring, full-time conversions, project outcomes, etc.
  • Collates monthly accomplishments for report-out to senior leadership
  • Creates materials for internal and external marketing of program activities
  • Prepares annual report to communicate events, projects, and deliverables
• Manages all program operations, including, purchasing, inventory, facilities, and systems:
  • Maintains budget (~ $500,00) and communicates budget status monthly
  • Maintains inventory of office and all necessary supplies
  • Submits maintenance requests and maintains orderliness of office space
  • Primary liaison with the Facility Park Landlord and Abbott Support groups to ensure all facility and IT hardware and network are operational

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree ideally focused in hard science or engineering fields however communications/marketing degrees will be considered.
• 5+ years of relevant experience in technical or in a technical recruiting area
• Minimum 2-3 years of people-management experience preferred
• Experience with Microsoft Office applications, especially with Excel, Power Point, and Word required
• Demonstrated ability to plan, organize and administer processes; aggregate and make sense of data; build reciprocal relationships and focus on customers; manage multiple priorities
• Should find joy being embedded in academic environment and inspiring the next generation of Abbott technical leaders
• Proven interpersonal skills including ability to relate complex topics in simple and accessible language. Ability to pivot from corporate to academic environment will be key to success in this position
• Experience in growing, inspiring and leading others to accomplish outstanding outcomes while building a nurturing, respectful and supportive culture