Senior Director, Alliance Management

Syndax Pharmaceuticals is looking for a Senior Director, Alliance Management

At Syndax, we are determined to realize a future in which people with cancer live longer and better than ever before. Syndax Pharmaceuticals is a commercial stage biopharmaceutical company developing an innovative pipeline of cancer therapies.

Responsible for managing, coordinating, and optimizing the alliances among Syndax and our strategic partners, contributing to the definition and development of the Alliance Management function at Syndax, and helping to evaluate and advise on key aspects of potential future alliances or partnered programs.

The ideal candidate will be a hands-on professional with strong partnering and alliance management experience who will drive management, execution, and potential extension of Syndax’s partnerships. This is a high-profile position with significant exposure across the organization, directly reporting to the SVP, Business Development, and tasked with developing the strategy and continued management of future partnerships.

• Leading and/or guiding the governance of strategic partnerships, including managing governance committees, identifying key issues, driving solutions ensuring the interests of Syndax are well represented within the partnership, and facilitating decision-making
  • Ensuring the Syndax teams are aware of and involved in decision making across functional teams and budget discussions as defined by the partnership agreements
  • Monitoring implementation of and adherence to agreed-upon research, development and commercialization plans
  • Managing issues and addressing hot topics that require immediate attention while working to minimize potential crisis situations
  • Performing regular audits and health checks among the teams
• Liaising with Legal, Finance, R&D, Program Management, Commercial and others as needed to ensure that key contract milestones, financial transactions, progress reports, etc. are handled appropriately and provide information/updates as needed
• Setting and maintaining appropriate boundaries between internal project teams and partner-focused discussions, where required
• Leading the internal Syndax team to ensure clear positions on key topics that will come up for alliance alignment
• Conducting regular reviews/meetings with senior management and other functions as appropriate to communicate key issues, milestones, etc. and gather feedback
• Participating in new partner contract negotiations as appropriate and providing input into partnership execution terms of the contract, in particular governance structures and processes to ensure that an optimal alliance structure is set up for success, and preparing for alliance kick-off

• Graduate level degree preferred;
  Bachelor’s degree required
• 10 years’ experience in life sciences Alliance Management or related function
• Experience in Alliance Management for clinical and commercial stage programs, preferably within the context of a global development and co-development partnership
• Ability to work closely with Legal team to interpret and guide existing and prospective collaboration agreements and term sheets
• Deep understanding of the research, development, and global commercialization process for therapeutics (oncology a plus)
• Strong collaboration, organization, scientific, and strategic skills, as well as the ability to prepare and present clear communications for senior management
• Demonstrated strong leadership, cross functional experience and self-direction
• Excellent interpersonal skills with ability to lead, interact with, focus, negotiate, influence and resolve conflict
• Demonstrated ability to identify, prioritize and resolve key project and partnership issues
• Demonstrated…