Who We Are:
Technology has transformed almost every single aspect of our lives. Yet in biopharma, it still takes 12 years to develop a drug. Even today, thousands of diseases affecting hundreds of millions of people have no effective treatment. Accelerating the pace of bringing effective, new medicines to patients is one of the greatest opportunities for humanity. Our mission is to develop better drugs, faster using technology. We have built an end-to-end technology-driven drug discovery platform centered around one of the field’s largest human genomics databases in neuroscience. We use machine learning to map the complex causes of disease and turn those insights into promising drug candidates on our internal biology and chemistry platforms. We are developing drugs to treat some of the biggest medical challenges today: ALS, Parkinson’s disease, and dementia. Our first drug entered the clinic in 2022 as a new treatment for ALS and was discovered entirely from our platform. We have raised $180M from top tier investors (e.g. BlackRock, Eli Lilly, Merck, Section 32, Threshold Ventures, Y Combinator, etc.). We are a team of engineers, neuroscientists, and drug developers united around an audacious vision: to build the next Genentech of the digital age.
Who You Are:
As the Vice President of Business Development, you will play a critical role in shaping the growth trajectory of Verge Genomics. Reporting to the Chief Business Officer (CBO), you will be responsible for driving strategic business initiatives, forging and managing partnerships, and identifying new market opportunities within the biotech sector. The ideal candidate will have 10-12 years of experience in business development, ideally within biotech or life sciences, with a deep understanding of industry trends, market dynamics, and regulatory landscapes.
This role requires a dynamic leader with a strong background in deal structuring, strategic planning, and relationship management to drive meaningful growth and long-term value for the company.
You will...
- Identify, evaluate, and execute business development opportunities across all stages of development.
- Define and execute Verge’s BD strategy with a focus on establishing the business case for various in-licensing and out-licensing opportunities.
- Demonstrate an open and creative approach to deal structure and partnership models to optimally achieve Verge’s pipeline and platform objectives.
- Lead robust partnership and licensing processes and discussions, including deep due diligence, drafting and negotiating term sheets, working closely with the legal team on collaboration agreements, and collecting feedback from various internal stakeholders.
- Responsible for formal due diligence output and integration of internal and KOL input, and executive management review and approval.
- Collaborate with internal teams to structure optimal partnership frameworks, including with research, development, clinical, finance, IP, legal, and project management to drive partnerships forward and ensure long term success.
- Work closely with R&D and operations teams to define financial and operational requirements with clearly defined strategic rationale.
- Develop meaningful key relationships with senior management, Board, advisors and potential partner companies.
You have...
- 10-12 years of experience in business development within a Pharma or Biotech setting
- Advanced degree (PhD, MD, and/or MBA), coupled with a significant aptitude—and love for—complex scientific discussions
- Substantial experience dealing with corporate partners, including negotiating and executing agreements across a variety of types, including licensing deals, co-development partnerships, collaborations, M&A, and strategic alliances; significant deal sheet consisting of completed buy-side as well as sell-side transactions for drug/therapeutic assets
- Robust experience in identifying, evaluating, and executing licensing deals in biotech and/or pharma
- Comprehensive understanding of drug discovery and development
- Thorough understanding of biopharmaceutical industry trends and competitive landscape combined with a deep scientific understanding, business acumen
- Ability to generate and/or champion new creative high-value ideas
- Ability to lead and inspire a high performing cross-functional team, with a demonstrated ability to forge relationships, and experience with effective conflict/issue resolution and time-critical project management
- Ability to work collaboratively with a wide variety of internal and external stakeholders, and demonstrated ability to build effective coalitions to move deals forward.
- Ability to perform financial modeling, asset valuation, and deal analyses as part of business cases for deals
- Ability to navigate change and ambiguity all the while driving for clarity and ideal outcomes
- A passion for making an impact on patients
12 Month Performance Metrics...
-
BD strategy: Define, articulate and maintain an active and nimble BD strategy that supports Verge’s pipeline strategy and financing objectives. Deliver net cash value to Verge of >$10m by mid 2025 through BD efforts.
-
Partnering: Secure at least one new partnership for Verge before mid 2025, leveraging the CONVERGE platform and demonstrating platform value to investors.
-
In-licensing: Identify at least one in-licensing opportunity that can achieve a PoC readout before the end of Q4 2026.
-
Due diligence: Lead end to end scientific and corporate diligence on all deals.
Help us revolutionize the way drugs are discovered & developed:
The startup nature of Verge Genomics provides multiple growth opportunities into other areas of the company. As one of the earlier employees at Verge, your work will have a direct impact on the foundation of a groundbreaking new drug development model.
