Director / Associate Director Business Development
Achilles Therapeutics, United Kingdom
Job Description
Achilles Therapeutics is a fast growing London based Biotech company developing T cell therapies with a technology platform to deliver these precise personalised therapies for oncology indications. We are focused on bringing our ground-breaking science from initial idea to personalised treatment in order to improve the lives of patients suffering from cancer.
We are at clinical stage, and use DNA sequencing data from each patient, together with our proprietary PELEUS bioinformatics platform, to identify clonal neoantigens specific to that patient and develop personalised T cell therapies.
Originating from pioneering research at UCL, CRUK and the Francis Crick Institute, we are using our ground-breaking immuno-oncology approach to rapidly advance therapies and have two programs in the clinic for the treatment of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer and Melanoma.
At Achilles, you will enjoy a dynamic and fast paced working environment that fosters teamwork and creativity, and provides excellent career opportunities for talented individual You will work with highly experienced leaders in science and business to continue to build an exciting company at the very cutting edge of drug discovery.
Role Summary:
Business development is a critical function that enables the growth of Achilles. Working alongside each function in the business there is significant scope for deals of multiple types and structures to enable and accelerate our strategy. Deals will include licenses for access to complementary technologies, co-development agreements and strategic partnerships. We are actively building relationships with small, medium and large-sized partners on a global basis.
The cell therapy space is expanding rapidly with multiple private and public financings over the last twelve months, including Achilles’ series B round of 100m in October 2019. Strategic partnerships are important and may be with large pharma companies or peer to peer biotech deals. Notable deals in this space in 2020 include GSK’s collaboration with Immatics and the collaboration between Lyell Immunopharma and PACT Pharma. This role will work closely with our Chief Business Officer to position Achilles at the heart of future developments.
Responsibilities:
The Director / Associate Director Business Development would work alongside the Chief Business Officer to source, evaluate, negotiate and manage partnerships. This will include reviewing external landscapes to identify potential partners that meet a business need, proactive outreach to build relationships, and working with internal partners to develop strategy for specific partnerships. The person will support or lead negotiations, depending on experience and deal magnitude. The ability to build relationships with key business leaders and understand business drivers and priorities will be important.
In addition, the business development function ensures that the wider Achilles team is aware of developments in the competitive landscape and provides an external perspective to strategy development. We will be assessing candidates based on both proven experience in our sector and on leadership potential and therefore the level we will hire at will be candidate dependent.
- Providing support for negotiation, which may include landscape analysis, financial and market analysis, and liaison with scientific, medical, legal, IP and finance colleagues
- Leading negotiation for smaller, less complex transactions in the first instance
- Running due diligence processes for partnerships, including building and maintaining data rooms and managing Qamp;A process
- Maintaining a view of and communicating key developments in the competitive intelligence landscape
- Attending industry partnering conferences and academic conferences and meeting with potential partners.
Requirements
Essential Experience:
- Undergraduate degree and ideally PhD in a life sciences or medical subject
- MBA would be advantageous
- 5-10 years’ experience in a pharma or biotech drug discovery / development environment and / or experience in management consulting for pharma/biotech or venture capital
- Demonstrated analytical and problem-solving skills
- Demonstrated ability to find innovative solutions and work through influence
- Deal negotiation experience would be advantageous, as would an understanding of IP and legal aspects.
In addition to the above, the following skills/experiences are desirable:
- Good communicator with an ability to read between the lines and to influence at every level
- Demonstrated creativity combined with pragmatism and real drive to deliver
- Solution focussed individual who is adaptable and comfortable with change and ambiguity
- Proactive, someone who l