Corporate Development Lead, Life Sciences
Leads life sciences corporate development strategy, sourcing and executing acquisitions, investments, and partnerships involving AI-native companies. Requires transaction leadership, life sciences and drug-development expertise, AI fluency, and strong financial modeling skills.
About the job
Responsibilities
- Define and execute corporate development strategy in life sciences, including acquihires, acquisitions, minority investments, and strategic partnerships.
- Build a target pipeline across AI-native drug discovery, clinical development, regulatory and medical writing, lab automation, and healthcare data infrastructure companies.
- Lead end-to-end transactions from sourcing and diligence through negotiation, signing, and integration.
- Partner with research, product, engineering, and go-to-market teams to evaluate technical, scientific, and commercial opportunities.
- Conduct scientific, data, regulatory, privacy, quality systems, and intellectual property diligence.
- Assess build, partner, and buy alternatives and competitive dynamics.
- Structure and negotiate complex transactions, including earnouts, milestone-based consideration, and licensing arrangements.
- Build financial models and valuation analyses for life sciences businesses.
- Drive post-transaction integration, including retention of scientific and technical talent and regulated customer commitments.
- Develop relationships with founders, investors, pharmaceutical and biotech corporate development teams, and academic institutions.
- Present strategic recommendations to executive leadership and the board.
- Support partnerships with pharmaceutical companies, CROs, and research organizations.
Requirements
- Experience leading complex M&A, investment, or partnership transactions from sourcing through close.
- Understanding of the drug development lifecycle, from discovery through clinical trials, regulatory submission, and commercialization.
- Strong technical fluency in AI and software.
- Strong analytical and financial modeling skills.
- Ability to engage credibly with scientists, engineers, executives, and regulators.
- Clear written and verbal communication and strong influencing skills.
- Deep interest in AI safety.
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent combination of education, training, and experience.
- 8–12 years of experience across corporate development, investment banking, or investing, with at least 5 years focused on life sciences, biotech, or healthcare technology.
Nice-to-haves
- Advanced degree in life sciences, such as a PhD, MD, or PharmD, or an MBA.
- Experience at a pharmaceutical company, biotech, CRO, or life sciences software company.
- Experience applying AI or machine learning to biology, chemistry, or clinical operations.
- Established network among life sciences founders, healthcare venture capital firms, and pharmaceutical business development leaders.
- Experience diligencing or integrating businesses operating under GxP, HIPAA, or similar regulatory regimes.
- Experience leading post-merger integration or building a new business unit.
- Experience with cross-border transactions in the US, EU, and UK life sciences markets.
Compensation
- Annual salary: $425,000–$600,000 USD.
Skills
Corporate Development, M&A, Financial Modeling, Valuation, Life Sciences, Biotechnology, Drug Development, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Regulatory Compliance, HIPAA, GDPR, Intellectual Property, Post-Merger Integration
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