Director/Senior Director Alliance Management

Alliance Management      ·       San Francisco      ·    Full time

The Senior Director, Alliance Management is responsible for leading and optimizing the value of Atomwise global alliances, currently in the preclinical stage, which may include joint ventures, out-licensing of products, and multi-product, broad strategic collaborations. Working collaboratively with Legal, Business Development and other internal teams, this position will play a key role in the design and implementation of strategic initiatives to enhance the Alliance Management function. Reporting to our Head Program and Alliance Management, this role will be a key contributor in developing and maintaining strategic alliances at Atomwise while ensuring that all terms of the partnership agreement are adhered to by both parties while the best interests of Atomwise are upheld. This position offers a great opportunity for someone who is hands-on and enjoys a fast-paced, high growth environment.

Atomwise is a technology-enabled pharmaceutical company leveraging the power of AI to revolutionize small molecule drug discovery. The Atomwise team invented the use of deep learning for structure-based drug design; this technology underpins Atomwise’s best-in-class AI discovery engine, which is differentiated by its ability to find and optimize novel chemical matter. Atomwise has extensively validated its discovery engine, delivering success in a wide-variety of protein types and numerous “hard-to-drug” targets. Atomwise is building a wholly owned pipeline of small-molecule drug candidates and has raised over $174 million from leading venture capital firms to advance its mission to make better medicines, faster.  

Key Responsibilities:

• As a key single point of contact, facilitate, and, as appropriate, drive, strategic alliance decision-making through building and fostering constructive relationships with internal and partner stakeholders.
• Represent Atomwise interests while maintaining collaborative, long-term and constructive relationships with our partners; perform regular alliance audits and “health checks.”
• Work to establish solution-based, relationship-focused alliance management aimed at achieving mutually beneficial outcomes.
• Build expertise about Atomwise partners, including partners’ organization/leadership, strategies, financials, priorities, etc.; become Atomwise “internal expert” on its partners.
• Work directly with Atomwise partners’ to set the direction and scope for implementation of partnership agreements; monitor implementation of and adherence to agreed-upon research and development plan key activities, timing and responsibilities on either side, and take appropriate action to ensure execution
• Regularly communicate with partner alliance management counterparts and other key partner stakeholders as needed, including ad hoc communications/events that require cross-functional communication.
• Crisis management – identify and address hot topic issues that require immediate attention while working diligently to minimize crisis management situations.
• Lead and conduct due diligence for partnering opportunities
• Compliance/contract management – liaise with legal, finance, R&D, and other functions to ensure that key contract milestones, financial transactions, progress reports, etc. are handled appropriately and provide information/updates as needed.
• Lead and/or participate in contract renegotiations as appropriate.
• Regularly collect/develop and control quality of forecasts as appropriate to support financial planning activities.
• Conduct regular reviews/meetings with senior management and other functions as appropriate to communicate key issues and milestones and gather feedback.  
• Participate in alliance management group meetings to review progress and issues and share best practices.

Requirements:

• Minimum of a BA/BS is required, with a preference for an advanced degree in Life Sciences, Business, Medicine or Law
• Minimum 15 years of experience in the pharmaceutical, life sciences or related industry of which seven years are in Alliance Management, Business Development, Program Management, R&D Corporate, or other external partner relationship management role with broad technical and/or strategic exposure
• Strong drug development experience, quantitative and analytical skills and attention to detail, with business development, or project leader/project management experience preferred
• Strong business acumen, enterprise thinking, leadership and self-direction with a high learning agility
• Demonstrated Emotional Intelligence with excellent interpersonal skills and ability to lead, interact with, focus, negotiate, and resolve key project and partnership issues
• Ability to develop, manage and lead effective teams and “influence without authority
• Demonstrated contract fluency and negotiation skills
• Demonstrated ability to work with and coordinate demands from multiple customers, effectively managing multiple projects/priorities both internally and with partners. Must be able to handle ambiguity well.
• Excellent communication skills with an ability to efficiently and productively communicate both orally and in writing.
• Proficiency in MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint required, MS Project and Smartsheet is a plus

Compensation & benefits

• Competitive salary, commensurate with experience
• Stock compensation plan – you’ll be an Atomwise co-owner
• Platinum health, dental, and vision benefits
• 401k with 4% match
• Funding for professional development and conference attendance
• Flexible work schedule
• Generous parental leave
• High performance culture
• Great colleagues

Atomwise is an equal opportunity employer and strives to foster an inclusive workplace.  Our mission is to develop better medicines faster, and we know that we need a diverse team to develop medicines that serve diverse populations.  Accordingly, Atomwise does not make any employment decisions (including but not limited to, hiring, compensation, and promotions) on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability status, or any other characteristics protected by applicable federal, state, and local law.

We strongly encourage people of diverse backgrounds and perspectives to apply.

Authorization to work in the US is required.

Please click here to apply.