Director, Business Development

Role

The Director, Business Development is a senior individual contributor responsible for sourcing, advancing, and closing strategic partnerships pharmaceutical companies. This role carries a significant individual bookings target and is accountable for building and converting a high-quality pipeline aligned with Vivodyne’s commercial priorities.

The Director, BD  will operate with a high degree of autonomy and strategic judgment; owning account strategy, shaping deal structures, and leading cross-functional execution across Science, Bio, Legal, and Finance. Success in this role requires balancing hands-on deal execution with thoughtful account planning and market insight.

Responsibilities

Ownership & Deal Execution

• Carry and deliver against an individual quarterly and annual bookings target.

• Source, qualify, and advance new partnership opportunities with mid-sized and large pharma companies and AI/data-centric partners.

• Lead opportunities through the full deal lifecycle: discovery → scoping → proposal → negotiation → close.

• Shape opportunity-specific deal structures including pilot studies, discovery programs, efficacy/tox engagements, and data-enabled collaborations.

• Own follow-through and momentum on active deals to ensure timely progression and closure.

• Run weekly pipeline reviews to reduce slippage, re-qualify deals, and improve forecast accuracy.
  
  

Account Strategy & Pipeline Management

• Develop and execute account-level strategies for a defined set of target and active accounts.

• Build and maintain a robust personal pipeline aligned with revenue goals and priority therapeutic areas.

• Conduct stakeholder mapping to identify scientific, operational, and commercial decision-makers and influencers.

• Expand existing accounts by identifying adjacent research groups, new use cases, or follow-on program opportunities.

• Maintain accurate CRM hygiene, deal staging, and pipeline updates.
  
  

Strategic Contribution 

• Translate Vivodyne’s platform capabilities into tailored value propositions aligned to customer discovery-stage needs.

• Provide structured market and customer feedback to inform leadership, product positioning, and messaging.

• Contribute to the evolution of deal archetypes, pricing approaches, and engagement models based on learnings.

• Collaborate with Marketing and Bio teams to refine scientific narratives and customer-facing materials.

• Deliver structured market and customer intelligence to leadership to refine positioning, pricing/deal archetypes, and therapeutic-area prioritization.

Cross-Functional Deal Leadership

• Quarterback cross-functional deal teams, coordinating inputs from Science, Bio, Legal, and Finance.

• Ensure technical feasibility and resourcing alignment before advancing proposals.

• Partner with Legal and Finance during contracting and commercial negotiations.

• Communicate deal status, risks, and forecast updates clearly to BD and company leadership.

• Lead contracting and commercial negotiations to close efficiently (anticipate pharma procurement/legal patterns, manage redlines/risks, drive velocity through clear negotiation strategy).
  
  

Event  Engagement

• Represent Vivodyne at key industry conferences and scientific meetings.

• Execute targeted meeting strategies and follow-up plans to support personal pipeline goals.

• Participate in seminars, site visits, and customer-facing scientific discussions as needed.

• Capture and operationalize field intel from conferences (themes, objections, competitor claims) into messaging updates and enablement for the broader BD/GTM team.

• Execute rigorous post-event follow-up with clear conversion targets to advance opportunities toward close.

Requirements

Required

• 7–10+ years of business development or alliance experience in biotech or pharma.

• Proven success carrying an individual quota and closing complex, multi-stakeholder deals.

• Experience supporting or working within discovery platforms, preclinical services, or advanced research.

• Strong understanding of drug discovery workflows and customer decision dynamics.

• Ability to translate complex science into clear, customer-aligned value propositions.

• Highly organized, with experience managing end to end sales cycles and a sizable personal pipeline.
  
  

Preferred

• Familiarity with oncology discovery, RNA modalities, and/or preclinical toxicology.

• Exposure to AI/ML-enabled discovery or data-driven collaboration models.

• Experience working with novel or emerging platform technologies.

Vivodyne, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. Vivodyne complies with all laws respecting equal employment opportunity and does not discriminate against applicants with regard to any protected characteristic as defined by federal, state, and local law.