At Element Biosciences, we are passionate about our mission to empower the scientific community with more freedom and flexibility to accelerate our collective impact on humanity. We have built a highly efficient product-driven organization where employees can learn, grow, and thrive in a challenging but encouraging environment. We are committed to scientific integrity, collegiality, honesty, objectivity, and openness.
We are seeking an experienced Director of Business Development to expand our presence in diagnostics and pharma/drug discovery by originating and executing strategic partnerships that accelerate awareness, adoption, and product/workflow pull-through across genomics and multi-omics. This role will own a pipeline of partnering opportunities: early targeting and diligence through negotiation, contracting, and post-signature execution, working closely with R&D, product, legal, regulatory, and commercial teams. This role will report to our SVP, Corporate & Business Development and will be a San Diego based role.
If you possess the following and want to make a meaningful impact, we invite you to explore this role.
Essential Functions and Responsibilities:
- Support the development and execution of business development strategies to expand Element’s presence and market share in genomics and multi-omics, with emphasis on diagnostics and pharma/drug discovery
- Translate strategy with a measurable execution plan
- Identify, structure, and advance partnerships with biotechnology, pharmaceutical, academic, diagnostics, and healthcare organizations to accelerate product development, awareness, and adoption
- Develop business cases including financial modeling; lead negotiation of term sheets and definitive agreements (e.g., strategic collaborations, co-development, licensing, workflow partnerships, commercialization relationships)
- Establish success metrics, governance, and joint operating mechanisms
- Conduct market research and competitive analysis to inform strategy, prioritize segments, and identify emerging trends
- Oversee and manage a pipeline of potential partnerships from early-stage discussions through agreement execution and integration
- Maintain clear stage gating, diligence plans, risk tracking, and internal stakeholder alignment
- Drive new revenue streams through identification and execution of collaborations and partnerships, including platform adoption, workflow expansion, and recurring pull-through
- Work closely with internal teams such as R&D, product, legal, regulatory, and marketing & sales to ensure alignment on BD initiatives, deal structure, and strategic priorities
Education and Experience:
- BS/BA in biological sciences or related field (advanced degree preferred)
- 7+ years in corporate/business development with responsibilities spanning strategy development, business cases/financial modeling, negotiation, and contract execution
- Proven track record (deal sheet or equivalent) of successfully executing BD strategies and agreements
- Strong communication and presentation skills
- Extensive network with key stakeholders in the pharmaceutical industry and diagnostics markets
- Technical experience and market understanding across research, clinical/diagnostics, and biopharma
- Entrepreneurial, extremely driven, proactive, adaptable in a fast-paced environment
- Critical thinking and data-driven; anticipates issues and drives decisions
- Highly collaborative, persistent, committed to quality work product and timely follow-through
Physical Requirements:
- Ability to lift up to 20 pounds
- Must be flexible in working hours as this position may require customer support during non-regular business hours
Location:
- San Diego – on-site
Travel:
- Willingness to travel up to 25% of the time
Job Type:
- Full-time, Exempt
Base Compensation Pay Range:
- $152,000 - $215,000
In addition to base compensation noted above, you will be eligible for stock options, discretionary annual bonus, no cost health insurance plans, 401k with company match, and flexible paid time off.
Please note: Base compensation will depend on multiple factors, including geographic location, qualifications, and experience.
We foster an environment such that all people are afforded the freedom to pursue their passions without regard to race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, gender (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, veteran status or any other characteristics protected by law.
What We Do
Element Biosciences is a multi-disciplinary startup focused on innovating genetic analysis tools for the research and diagnostic markets. We are developing a modular and high-performing DNA sequencing platform that will deliver high-quality data, increase workflow flexibility, and make next-generation sequencing technology more accessible. Our proprietary approach to improving the signal-to-noise ratio allows us to provide groundbreaking innovations in surface chemistry, instrumentation, and biochemistry to drastically decrease run costs and capital costs while delivering high sequencing data quality.
