Senior Director of Business Development

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Senior Director - Business Development Commercial Assessments based in United States.

This senior leadership role will shape commercial strategy and investment decisions for licensing, acquisition, and partnership opportunities across new and adjacent therapeutic markets.

• Lead end-to-end commercial assessments for licensing, acquisition, and partnership opportunities, from early landscape evaluation through deal-stage forecasting and due diligence.
• Rapidly develop expertise in unfamiliar therapeutic areas by synthesizing epidemiology, treatment pathways, competitive dynamics, payer environments, clinical data, and market trends.
• Identify and size emerging white-space opportunities before formal business development processes begin, monitoring pipeline developments, regulatory trends, and payer policies.
• Design and lead primary market research programs with physicians, payers, patients, and channel partners, particularly in markets where secondary data is limited.
• Select and manage external research partners, critically evaluate third-party findings, and translate research into actionable commercial recommendations.
• Build and maintain an institutional knowledge base documenting market findings, assumptions, methodologies, and forecasting rationale.
• Develop flexible, reusable commercial forecasting models using modular architectures, shared assumptions, and transparent documentation.
• Apply appropriate forecasting methodologies in data-constrained environments, including analogue modeling, epidemiology-driven patient-flow frameworks, expert elicitation, and scenario analysis.
• Model the complete commercial opportunity, including uptake, competitive erosion, pricing and access, channel dynamics, lifecycle scenarios, and risk-adjusted probability of success.
• Evaluate innovative go-to-market approaches such as outcomes-based agreements, risk-sharing models, and alternative launch sequencing strategies.
• Analyze pharmaceutical channel architecture, including specialty pharmacy, buy-and-bill, direct-to-patient, GPO, and IDN models, and assess their implications for access, revenue, and deal valuation.
• Serve as the commercial analytics partner to business development leadership throughout opportunity screening, due diligence, term-sheet development, and integration planning.
• Present forecasts, assumptions, risks, and recommendations to senior executives, clearly communicating uncertainty while providing a decisive commercial point of view.
• Engage with external counterparties and advisors during diligence, representing the organization's commercial perspective with credibility and authority.
• Contribute to the development of forecasting infrastructure, methodologies, and analytical standards that improve commercial decision-making across the broader business development organization.

• Bachelor’s degree or advanced degree in a scientific field required; a Master’s degree is preferred.
• 10+ years of experience in pharmaceutical or biotechnology commercial strategy, business development analytics, market research, strategic forecasting, or related disciplines.
• Demonstrated ability to develop strong commercial conviction in new, unfamiliar, or ambiguous markets rather than simply maintaining established forecasts.
• Meaningful experience across multiple therapeutic areas and the ability to rapidly understand new disease and treatment landscapes.
• Proven experience designing and leading primary market research, including study design, vendor management, stakeholder engagement, and synthesis of findings into commercial recommendations.
• Strong financial modeling capabilities, including bottoms-up and epidemiology-based revenue forecasting, DCF/rNPV analysis, sensitivity analysis, and scenario modeling.
• Deep understanding of pharmaceutical market dynamics, including treatment paradigms, prescriber behavior, payer decision-making, launch benchmarks, competitive response, and market access.
• Familiarity with innovative commercial and go-to-market models, including value-based agreements, outcomes-based contracting, and digital-first launch strategies.
• Strong understanding of pharmaceutical channel architecture and its impact on patient access, revenue generation, and commercial valuation.
• Exceptional analytical, strategic, and problem-solving capabilities, with the ability to turn complex information into clear business recommendations.
• Excellent executive communication and presentation skills, with the confidence to defend assumptions, explain uncertainty, and stand behind a supported commercial perspective.
• Strong cross-functional influencing skills and the ability to work effectively with senior leaders, external advisors, counterparties, and diverse internal stakeholders.