Sr. Manager / Associate Director, Preclinical Strategy and Business Development

Sr. Manager / Associate Director, Preclinical Strategy and Business Development

The Role:

Reporting to the Sr. Director, Preclinical Portfolio & Strategy, the Senior Manager/Associate Director, Preclinical Strategy and Business Development will drive the assessment of discovery and preclinical programs across therapeutic areas from a strategic, scientific, and financial perspective. Working closely with senior leadership across Research and Development, this position will play a key role in establishing the criteria and content from which programs are prioritized across the portfolio and refining the business case for programs as they advance through clinical development as Development Candidates. The role will additionally provide strategic oversight of research-related external disclosures as well as a critical external collaboration with Harvard in an evolving research area.

Reporting through a dotted line to the Head, Business Development & Corporate Strategy, the position will support deal sourcing, due diligence, and negotiation activities of technology and product-focused collaborations and in-licensing opportunities. The role will also lead the development of, and coordinate execution on, integrated growth plans and investment cases for select corporate strategic initiatives related to business development, including long-range planning.

Here's What You'll Do:

Preclinical Portfolio and Strategy:

• Drive development of discovery program Target Product Profiles (TPPs) and prioritize for Therapeutic Area (TA) Steering Committees in close collaboration with TA Head of Research / CSO; including:
  • Establish disease overview, including epidemiology, clinical presentation, progression and standard of care, and competitive landscape through reading scientific literature, interviewing Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs), and utilizing secondary sources
  • Assess platform technology and preclinical development feasibility
  • Interview KOLs and internal experts to develop TPP and assess clinical development and regulatory feasibility
• Refine TPPs and business case, including creation of a revenue forecast, for preclinical programs and Development Candidates as part of program team and in close collaboration with Program Leaders
• Review and approve preclinical scientific publication and conference content to ensure strategic alignment and appropriate disclosure
• Serve as business owner for Harvard ARTEMIS collaboration, accountable for driving scientific advancement of Moderna's systemic immunomodulation research through productive, focused collaboration activities and Sponsored Research Agreements

Business development:

• Support the execute on Moderna's partnership and acquisition strategy, developing investment cases for various in-licensing opportunities, including deal-specific financial analysis, market research and competitive landscape review
• Collaborate with program teams to enable optimal partnership structures
• Run prospective collaboration discussion processes:
  • Develop partnership investment cases consistent with corporate and portfolio strategy
  • Develop and present compelling, audience-specific scientific and business rationales at varying levels of detail
  • Lead drafting and negotiating term sheets and seek buy-in from various corporate functions
  • Present to Moderna's Executive Committee on proposed paths to possible deals
  • Work closely with legal counsel on drafting and negotiation of collaboration agreements
• Actively partner with finance, IP, legal, IR and alliance management
• Develop meaningful relationships with senior management both within Moderna and at potential partner companies
• Drive key corporate development workstreams as part of Moderna's long-range planning process and collaborate with functional heads on developing roadmaps to execute on the key functional strategic imperatives captured in the long-range plan
• Analyze new markets (e.g. new applications of Moderna technology) or new disease area opportunities and provide recommendations on new frontiers for Moderna
• Conduct competitive intelligence analyses and delivering recommendations on areas of potential platform and product differentiation

Here's What You'll Bring to the Table:

• 5+ years of experience working for a pharmaceutical/biotech company in strategy, corporate development, licensing/transactions, or similar experience in a professional services or investment capacity (e.g., management or strategy consulting, investment banking, private equity, or venture capital)
• PhD or Master's degree/MBA with scientific background and extensive experience in industry R&D
• Ability to perform in-depth analyses of technologies, products, therapeutic areas and companies
• Exposure to transactions as a BD/M&A professional or through professional services
• Knowledge of biotech industry intricacies (e.g. development risk, portfolio prioritization, approach to valuing pipeline assets, importance of regulation and intellectual property)
• Experience using databases: IQVIA, Cortellis, FactSet, EvaluatePharma, ThomsonReuters, CapitalIQ, BioCentury
• Professional gravitas necessary to make impactful first impressions
• Advanced verbal and written communication skills to communicate across levels and to various audiences

Here's What We'll Bring to the Table:

• Daily on-site catered lunches
• Company-provided iPhone
• Free parking, monthly subway pass or a subsidized commuter rail pass
• Free annual corporate membership to Bluebikes
• Highly competitive healthcare coverage including: medical offered through BCBS (HMO/PPO), dental, and vision offered through VSP
• Flexible Spending Accounts for medical expenses and dependent care expenses
• 16 weeks of 100% paid parental leave for all new parents
• 16 weeks 100% paid family caregiver leave
• 20 weeks 100% paid medical leave
• Adoption assistance and discounts to local childcare centers, as well as access to care.com
• 401k (traditional and Roth offered) with 50% match on first 6% deferred. Match is vested immediately
• A suite of Moderna paid insurance coverage, including: life insurance, short-term and long-term disability
• Voluntary legal assistance plan
• 15 days' vacation and 7 sick days per year, in addition to a discretionary winter shut down and 11 company paid holidays (includes 2 floating holidays)

Why join Moderna

At Moderna, we believe messenger RNA, or mRNA, is the "software of life." Every cell in the body uses mRNA to provide real-time instructions to make the proteins necessary to drive all aspects of biology, including in human health and disease. Given its essential role, we believe mRNA could be used to create a new category of medicines with significant potential to improve the lives of patients.

Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., Moderna currently has strategic alliances for development programs with AstraZeneca, Plc. and Merck, Inc., as well as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Defense; and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a division of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Moderna has been ranked in the top ten of Science's list of top biopharma industry employers for the past four years. To learn more, visit www.modernatx.com .

Our Mission:
Deliver on the promise of mRNA science to create a new generation of transformative medicines for patients.

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Moderna is a smoke-free, alcohol-free and drug-free work environment.

Moderna is committed to equal employment opportunity and non-discrimination for all employees and qualified applicants without regard to a person's race, color, gender, age, religion, national origin, ancestry, disability, veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation or any characteristic protected under applicable law. Moderna will make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with known disabilities, in accordance with applicable law.