Corporate Business Development Director – Human Genetics
Oxford Nanopore Technologies
Location: Oxford (Hybrid Working)
Travel: Monthly international travel required
About Oxford Nanopore Technologies
Oxford Nanopore Technologies is a leading life sciences company headquartered in Oxford, UK, focused on the development and commercialisation of nanopore sequencing technologies. Our platform enables real-time, accessible, and scalable analysis of DNA and RNA, supporting applications across research, clinical, and industrial settings. We are driven by a mission to make genomic analysis widely available and impactful for human health and beyond.
About the Role
We are seeking an experienced Corporate Business Development Director to take responsibility for partnership activities within the Human Genetics segment. This role sits within the Business Development team, which is focused on building a strong ecosystem of strategic partnerships to accelerate the adoption of nanopore sequencing and generate long-term revenue growth.
You will lead the development of partnerships with organisations aiming to commercialise applications of nanopore sequencing across prioritised clinical and industrial markets.
Key Responsibilities
- Act as the business development lead for the Human Genetics segment, shaping and executing partnerships across rare disease, reproductive health, population genomics, and clinical genetics markets
- Identify and prioritise collaborations with clinical laboratories, assay developers, and healthcare stakeholders
- Develop a deep understanding of clinical and industrial applications, including market dynamics, use cases, and key players
- Serve as a key point of contact for designated market segments within the business development team
- Collaborate cross-functionally with Commercial, Marketing, Applications, Product Management, Finance, and Legal teams
- Build and maintain business cases and financial models for new opportunities
- Prepare and present partnership proposals for executive review and approval
- Lead and support negotiations from term sheet through to definitive agreements
- Maintain oversight of partnership pipelines and project tracking
- Promote adherence to internal partnering frameworks and processes
- Mentor and support the development of business development team members
What We’re Looking For
- Extensive experience in business development, strategic partnerships, and deal-making
- Strong background in Human Genetics, Genomics, or broader Life Sciences
- Experience working across start-ups/SMEs and larger organisations
- Demonstrated success in negotiating complex agreements
- Strong analytical, financial modelling, and communication skills
- Solid understanding of contracting principles and deal structures
- Ability to develop and execute partnership strategies while working cross-functionally
- Comfortable operating both independently and collaboratively in a dynamic environment
This role is well suited to someone who thrives in a collaborative, cross-functional environment and is motivated to build impactful partnerships that advance genomic technologies in human health.
Apply now to join Oxford Nanopore Technologies and help shape the future of molecular sensing and genomic innovation.
Please note that no terminology in this advert is intended to discriminate on the grounds of a person's gender, marital status, race, religion, colour, age, disability or sexual orientation. Every candidate will be assessed only in accordance with their merits, qualifications and abilities to perform the duties of the job.
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Oxford Nanopore Technologies: Our goal is to bring the widest benefits to society through enabling the analysis of anything, by anyone, anywhere. The company has developed a new generation of nanopore-based sensing technology for faster, information rich, accessible and affordable molecular analysis. The first application is DNA/RNA sequencing, and the technology is in development for the analysis of other types of molecules including proteins. The technology is used to understand and characterise the biology of humans and diseases such as cancer, plants, animals, bacteria, viruses, and whole environments. With a thriving culture of ambition and strong innovation goals, Oxford Nanopore is a UK headquartered company with global operations and customers in more than 125 countries.
Skills Required
- Extensive experience in business development, strategic partnerships, and deal-making
- Strong background in Human Genetics, Genomics, or broader Life Sciences
- Experience working across start-ups/SMEs and larger organisations
- Demonstrated success in negotiating complex agreements
- Strong analytical, financial modelling, and communication skills
- Solid understanding of contracting principles and deal structures
- Ability to develop and execute partnership strategies while working cross-functionally
- Comfortable operating both independently and collaboratively in a dynamic environment
Oxford Nanopore Technologies Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Oxford Nanopore Technologies and has not been reviewed or approved by Oxford Nanopore Technologies.
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Fair & Transparent Compensation — Pay is considered good to above average across many roles, with employer-provided ranges visible for several U.S. commercial and applications positions and company materials emphasizing market‑competitive base pay. Commercial and some senior technical posts, particularly in the U.S., are positioned as competitive and often paired with strong variable components.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — All‑employee share plans in the UK and a U.S. employee stock purchase plan indicate broad access to equity as part of total reward. Company communications highlight attractive bonus and share plans that add meaningful upside beyond base pay.
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Healthcare Strength — U.S. roles indicate strong health insurance and core protections, while official materials and country overviews reference private medical coverage and wellbeing support. These elements position the health package as a notable strength alongside cash compensation.
Oxford Nanopore Technologies Insights
What We Do
Our goal is to enable the analysis of anything, anywhere, by anyone. We have developed the world’s first and only nanopore DNA and RNA sequencing platform. It’s a new generation of sequencing technology — the only one to offer: scalability to portable or ultra-high throughput formats, real-time data delivery, and the ability to elucidate rich biological data. We are aiming to disrupt the way that biological analyses are currently performed, and open up new applications that have a profound, positive impact on society. Our devices offer real-time analysis, for rapid insights, in fully scalable formats — from pocket to population scale — and the technology is being used in more than 100 countries worldwide. Founded in 2005 as a spin-out from the University of Oxford, the company now employs more than 600 people from multiple disciplines including nanopore science, molecular biology and applications, informatics, engineering, electronics, manufacturing and commercialisation. The management team, led by CEO Dr Gordon Sanghera, has a track record of delivering disruptive technologies to the market.
