Director Business Development & Strategic Partnerships

Argonaut Manufacturing Services is a contract development and manufacturing organization based in Carlsbad, California, specializing in aseptic drug product fill-finish of injectable therapies. The Director of Business Development & Strategic Partnerships will be responsible for driving business growth by identifying and closing new sales opportunities while managing and growing existing accounts in the life sciences sector.

Responsibilities:

• This role is responsible for (a) building an active and relevant funnel of open opportunities to facilitate continuous business generation and (b) demonstrating the ability to close, maintain and grow strategic customer relationships within the biotech and pharmaceutical industry
• Plans and implements a detailed, cohesive, and actionable sales strategy for acquisition and management of business opportunities from biotech and pharmaceutical companies within assigned territories and business segments
• Researches, identifies, and develops new business prospects, including strategic accounts, from multiple sources including industry contacts, leads generated from organic prospecting efforts, and email and inbound leads from Argonaut's website and Inside Sales team
• Work in close collaboration with Commercial leadership to drive business development efforts based on the overall commercial strategy and growth objectives at Argonaut
• Maintains an active leadership role within the client project team by (a) driving overall account strategy, (b) owning the client business relationship, (c) serving as an escalation pathway when needed, and (d) ensuring internal cross-functional teams are aligned with the client's project needs
• Supports contract negotiations (with support from legal counsel and senior management) related to overall contract structure, terms and conditions, and project pricing. This role is accountable for execution and compliance of the contract terms
• Represents Argonaut by attending trade shows, industry events, and conferences and maintains active membership and participation in industry trade groups and networking events
• Assists in gathering market intelligence on customers, competitors, industry trends, etc
• Support the identification of commercial portfolio opportunities and risks, financing needs, and organizational capabilities to attain new or expanded revenue streams
• Lead and execute business development initiatives including partner identification, outreach, management of the "sell" process, and structuring/negotiation/execution of transactions
• Develop business analyses to support sales pipeline valuation and evaluate impact from changes in customer and competitive landscape
• Develop and maintain strong and effective partnerships with internal stakeholders in Operations, Program Management, and Finance to support commercial opportunities and client relationships at target companies
• Support development of commercial and competitive strategy
• Provide regular presentations on business development opportunities, pipeline, competitive analysis, and other initiatives in various company forums
• Organization, execution, and leadership of a consistent and efficient process for lead management and development within the defined sales territory
• Build brand awareness of Argonaut's service offering, technologies, and customer service excellence through appropriately timed hand-off of qualified opportunities for new and existing customers

Requirements:

• Bachelor's or advanced degree (BS, MS) in Biology, Chemistry, or related scientific/technical field of study
• At least 8 – 10 years of meaningful experience in client-facing commercial, sales, project / product / program management, or business development roles in the CDMO, aseptic fill-finish, or broader life science industry
• Proficient in the use of CRM tools to support the sales process (e.g. Salesforce)
• Ability to organize and present compelling content and summaries for executive-level audiences
• Strong understanding of sales performance metrics and the ability to utilize these to drive strategies and tactics
• Strong interpersonal and organizational skills with the ability to communicate effectively and concisely within all levels of the organization to foster collaboration, drive alignment, and achieve results
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications, including PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, Word, and Teams
• Understanding of new technologies and trends in the biopharmaceutical industry – specifically within sterile injectable / aseptic fill-finish, biologics, oligonucleotides, mRNA/LNP, and vaccine drug products
• Willingness to roll up your sleeves and dive deep into operational issues that may inform strategic thinking, without compromising functional integrity
• Resilient, highly self‐motivated, self‐directed
• Can delegate, hold other functions accountable, can escalate as needed, and without distraction from primary scope of responsibilities
• Excellent organizational and multitasking skills
• A team player with high level of dedication
• Ability to work under strict deadlines
• Ability to take on new tasks to completion with minimal direct guidance
• Strong cross functional team player, interfacing with commercial and operational colleagues to drive new business and growth of existing client portfolios
• Ability to generate strong and trusting client relationships
• Advanced scientific, technical and/or business degree strongly preferred (e.g. MS, MBA)
• Ideally fluent in both the drug development process AND the aseptic fill-finish / sterile injectable manufacturing space, with prior exposure to commercialization of CDMO services
• Ideally fluent in both the life science/ diagnostics markets AND the drug development processes and have prior exposure to commercialization of both in the CMO service market