Associate Director, Business Development - Maternity Cover

Job Title:

Associate Director, Business Development – Maternity Cover

London or Edinburgh

Full-time, 12 months rolling contract

Are you passionate about making life science life changing and delivering impact for patients? We want to hear from you.

As Associate Director, Business Development, you will be working as part of the Commercial Team and will be responsible for driving strategic collaborations that deliver patient impact, societal benefit, and sustainable revenue opportunities. Working in collaboration with the preclinical, clinical and ecosystem pillars to implement their strategies, you will lead on the negotiation and execution of deals to contribute to the delivery of Life Arc’s Commercial Strategy.

Reporting into the Director, Business Development, you will bring a commercial mindset to structure deals that meet our charitable objectives and contribute to Life Arc’s financial sustainability wherever possible.

This role will also collaborate with other teams, particularly Intellectual Property and Out‑licensing teams to identify and deliver out‑licensing deal opportunities for Life Arc. This role will also involve line management of BD Manager(s).

• Contribute to the delivery of Life Arc’s revenue generation strategy
• Lead deal‑related projects within Life Arc, business partnering with scientific and corporate functions, to explore and build business cases of opportunities to collaborate, fund, out‑license or use other mechanisms to advance scientific innovation towards benefit for patients
• Lead end‑to‑end deal structuring and negotiation, including cross‑functional due diligence, development of business cases with risk and scenario analysis, and agreement of commercial terms with partners to support strategic objectives.
• Lead negotiation of term sheets for prioritised opportunities and, with Legal, negotiate contracts according to Life Arc needs and requirements, managing all stakeholders and governance processes as appropriate
• Represents Life Arc at conference and events, with speaker slots where possible
• Drives external networking to build awareness of Life Arc’s areas of focus, always acting as an ambassador for Life Arc strategy to external community
• Builds relationships within key organisations to assess potential partnership opportunities
• Provide BD input into internal projects and initiatives, bringing external insight and driving evaluation of new opportunities and key decisions in support of strategy

• Significant experience in business development in pharma or biotech environment preferred
• Experience leading negotiations and contracting
• Experience communicating verbally and in writing to drive senior level decision making
• Experience representing organisation externally, networking and building relationships in support of strategic goals

• PhD or equivalent in life sciences, but relevant business degree will also be considered

Life Arc is a not‑for‑profit life science organisation, leading the way for change in rare diseases in the UK and supporting promising initiatives in global health. We seek out research in areas of unmet need that has great potential, providing support to help it become breakthroughs that change lives.

Focused on finding life changing solutions for underserved patients, our people thrive in an inclusive, and supportive environment that prioritises their health and wellbeing. Our multidisciplinary approach guarantees our people growth opportunities, while our culture of innovation and collaboration drives the impact we make delivering on our purpose of ‘putting patients at the centre of everything we do’.

Life Arc is committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible and developing a culture that values differences. As a Disability Confident Employer, we guarantee an interview to candidates with a disability or long‑term health condition who meet the essential criteria for the role.

Please note that in certain situations, such as high volumes of applications, it may not be practical to interview all eligible candidates. In these…