Director, Global Program Lead, External Innovation & Due Diligence

Please note that this position can be based in San Diego, CA, San Francisco, CAOR Princeton, NJ. Acadia'shybrid model requires this role to work in our office three days per week on average.

The Director, External Innovation will serve as the R&D project/program lead for external opportunity due diligence, with a particular focus on clinical-stage assets and drug development programs. The role will lead cross-functional clinical, scientific, and strategic evaluation of opportunities aligned with Acadia’s corporate strategy and R&D portfolio across neuroscience, psychiatry, neuro-rare, and rare disease.

The Director will support the development of preliminary integrated development scenarios, resource assumptions, and value drivers to inform opportunity evaluation, investment decisions, and governance discussions. As a strategic integrator across Business Development, Clinical and Nonclinical Development, Regulatory, CMC, Commercial, Finance, Legal, and other functions, the Director will synthesize complex scientific, clinical, competitive, and financial information into clear recommendations and executive-ready decision materials to support external asset evaluation, due diligence, and potential transaction execution.

• Serve as the R&D project lead for external opportunity due diligence, coordinating cross-functional input from Clinical and Nonclinical Development, Regulatory, CMC, Commercial, Finance, Legal, and other key stakeholders
• Lead or co-lead the development of diligence workplans, including key questions, timelines, risk assessments, decision frameworks, and preliminary integrated development scenarios, resource assumptions, and value drivers to inform investment decisions
• Build preliminary integrated development scenarios, resource assumptions, and value drivers to inform diligence and investment decisions
• Contribute to the development of integrated opportunity assessments that evaluate scientific rationale, clinical development strategy, unmet need, competitive differentiation, regulatory considerations, development risk, commercial potential, and strategic fit
• Apply clinical development and asset leadership expertise to identify key diligence questions, development risks, opportunities, and assumptions associated with external assets
• Translate complex scientific, clinical, competitive, and financial information into clear recommendations for senior leadership and governance decision-making
• Partner with Business Development to support in-licensing, acquisition, collaboration, and partnership evaluations, including preparation of internal business cases and transaction-related materials
• Provide strategic input into therapeutic area and portfolio prioritization based on external landscape trends, emerging science, competitive activity, and internal capabilities
• Build and maintain strong relationships with internal R&D, Commercial, Finance, Legal, and business stakeholders to ensure alignment throughout evaluation and diligence processes
• Represent Acadia in external scientific, biotech, academic, and industry interactions as appropriate to support opportunity evaluation and external innovation efforts
• Contribute to knowledge management, diligence best practices, evaluation templates, and consistent decision frameworks across external opportunities
• Perform other duties as assigned

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant scientific discipline required; advanced degree (PhD, PharmD, MD, or Master’s) preferred
• 10-12 years of industry experience in the pharma or biotech industry
• Experience in global R&D program management (clinical-stage assets), portfolio strategy or project leadership is required
• Experience with clinical-stage assets…