Sr. Director / VP, Business Development and US Lead, (AI Drug Discovery)

Company Overview

Our client is a globally recognized leader in medical devices and life sciences innovation, advancing a diverse pipeline across five key therapeutic and modality areas. Powered by their AI discovery platform, they currently have 15 active development programs and two assets in clinical trials. The organization is rapidly emerging as a world-class competitor in next-generation drug discovery and is building a best-in-class, globally competitive AI platform that delivers a “prompt-to-cure” capability—allowing users to design drugs by simply inputting a disease or modality.

Job Description

They are seeking a dynamic and strategic Business Development leader to shape and scale its U.S. presence. This individual will serve as a founding member of the U.S. team, reporting directly to the Parent company leadership, working closely to drive market development, AI platform positioning, and strategic partnerships.

This role will spearhead business development for in-licensing, out-licensing, and platform commercialization, while helping refine the company’s AI drug discovery technology to align with pharma and biotech needs. The position is U.S.-based with periodic travel to India.

Responsibilities

• Lead customer discovery activities and collect feedback from pharmaceutical and biotechnology stakeholders.
• Conduct market scanning to identify high-value therapeutic opportunities, successful indications, and emerging modalities.
• Support enhancement and validation of the AI drug discovery platform, contributing insights toward achieving near-perfect predictive accuracy.
• Drive in-licensing and out-licensing business development strategy and execution.
• Conduct competitive intelligence analyses to assess platform differentiation and model positioning versus global peers.
• Prepare detailed market intelligence reports, strategic recommendations, and executive-level briefings.
• Engage Big Pharma and biotech partners to validate platform readiness and expand commercial adoption.
• Contribute to the positioning, launch, and commercialization of a platform currently in use across the company’s 15 active programs.

Qualifications

• 6–12+ years in pharma/biotech BD or alliances, with experience selling AI/ML or computational drug discovery services/platforms
• Deep understanding of AI-driven drug discovery, computational biology platforms, or advanced modality-based R&D (gene editing, gene therapy, RNA, biologics, ADCs, or small molecules).
• Demonstrated experience in biopharma business development, including in-licensing, out-licensing, or strategic partnering.
• Proven ability to engage and influence Big Pharma and mid-sized biotech stakeholders.
• Strong analytical skills with experience in market intelligence, competitive analysis, and product positioning.
• Strategic thinker with the ability to translate scientific capability into commercial value.
• Personality traits: humble, collaborative, and mission-oriented, combined with the aggressiveness needed to drive market penetration and partnership growth.
• Ability to work effectively in a cross-cultural, global environment, including collaboration with India-based leadership and teams.
• Proven record of negotiating $1M–$10M+ deals
• Ability to work independently in a remote setup.

Education

• A bachelor’s degree in a scientific discipline is required.
• An advanced degree (MS, MBA, PhD, MD, or related field) is strongly preferred, especially in life sciences, bioengineering, chemical engineering, or computational biology.