Industry Outreach Specialist, STEM

About the role

The Industry Outreach Specialist, STEM is the Career Center’s lead for STEM employer engagement and partnership development. This is primarily an external-facing role focused on business development, employer relations, and creating career opportunities for students, not a primary student advising or counseling position.

Responsibilities

• Identify, cultivate, and manage relationships with local, regional, and national employers to expand paid internships, experiential learning, research collaborations, and full-time hiring opportunities for UC Riverside students.
• Target high-growth and innovation-driven industries—particularly healthcare, logistics, engineering, and technology—to strengthen UCR’s employer network and increase access to quality STEM opportunities.
• Work closely with the Bourns College of Engineering, College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, School of Medicine, and Career Center colleagues to align employer outreach with academic priorities, workforce trends, and student outcomes.
• Develop employer partnerships and recruiting pipelines that create opportunities for students.
• Use data and labor market trends to guide outreach strategy, assess results, and strengthen long-term employer engagement.
• Support the Career Center’s broader goals of increasing paid internships, strengthening post-graduation outcomes, and advancing UCR’s 2030 Strategic Plan through stronger university-industry connections and regional workforce impact.

Requirements

Required Degree: Advanced degree in related area.

Preferred Qualifications: Proficient in persuasive communication and negotiation, especially in converting initial contacts into long-term partnerships; demonstrated skill marketing within an academic environment; demonstrated understanding of STEM industry trends, employer expectations, and workforce needs; knowledge of UC programs, career services, employer, alumni, and faculty needs and expectations, recruiting and staffing methods, and employment trends; knowledge and skill with identifying, and creating strategic partnerships with employers; strong knowledge of career development theories, adult development theory, counseling process, career coaching techniques, career decision making, learning styles, and job search techniques; knowledge of evaluating the role of social media for employer and student engagement; knowledge of Handshake system.

Qualifications

• Ability to work with people from diverse cultures.
• Strong knowledge of analyzing reports, and working with data and assessment tools.
• Thorough knowledge of needs assessment theory, processes, and practice; workshop and program design.
• Ability to serve as Career Center and UCR representative at on and off campus events, professional meetings and conferences.
• Ability to offer services that meet or exceed expectations, utilize persuasive dialog when needed and mediate potential issues before they escalate.
• Creativity and tenacity to drive new business within the employment community.
• Ability to work well under pressure, especially with the constant succession of inquiries from employers and students, with the flexibility to respond to changing priorities and fluctuating workload.
• Promised skills in organizing work, defining tasks, prioritizing assignments and follow through.
• Superb ability to build relationships.

Benefits

The full salary range for the Industry Outreach Specialist, STEM position is $61,000 - $106,800 annually. However, the expected pay scale for this position is up to $76,000 annually. We base salary offers on a variety of considerations, such as education, licensure and certifications, experience, and other business and organizational needs.