Director, Business Development - Discovery (Southern CA, AZ, or NV)

Role Summary

Director of Business Development for Drug Discovery, responsible for driving new business growth and expanding client relationships within Drug Discovery and Pre-Clinical Development services. Manages the full sales cycle from prospecting to contract closure, collaborating with Operations, Proposals, and Marketing to deliver tailored solutions for pharmaceutical and biotech clients. This role is remote in Southern California, Arizona, or Nevada and reports to the SVP, Business Development.

Responsibilities

• Work with the VP of Sales to drive the overall commercial strategy within the territory.
• Establish Evotec as the partner of choice within the territory.
• Maintain high visibility in the territory, spending ~40-50% of time client facing. Focus on new client acquisition, identifying new business opportunities with biotech and pharmaceutical companies.
• Manage the entire sales pipeline, including in-territory prospecting, follow-up, client meetings, proposals, contract negotiation and closure.
• Meet or exceed assigned sales targets and quarterly KPIs.
• Maintain a robust and accurate pipeline within the CRM system.
• Develop long-term relationships with key decision-makers in client organizations.
• Conduct capability presentations, introductory calls/meetings, and needs-assessment meetings.
• Serve as the primary point of contact during the pre-award phase and ensure a seamless hand-off to Project Management post-award.
• Manage selected accounts to encourage repeat business and identify cross-sell or upsell opportunities.
• Maintain awareness of CRO industry trends, competitive landscape, regulatory changes, and client R&D priorities.
• Represent the organization at trade shows, conferences, events, and client site visits.
• Provide market feedback to internal teams to support service/product development, commercial strategy, and pipeline planning.

Skills

• Passion for innovation and collaboration with the ability to establish long-term relationships with partners and drive short-term revenue.
• Thorough understanding of the drug discovery and development paradigm across modalities (including small molecules, mAb, ASO, etc.).
• Self-starter with a track record of identifying, negotiating, and closing deals.
• Demonstrated network, particularly in the West Coast ecosystem, across pharma and biotech.
• Self-motivator and strategic thinker capable of working within a fast-paced, global, multi-national, multi-cultural organization.
• Active listener and strong communicator with the ability to assess partner needs and craft recommendations through effective written and oral presentations.
• Team player with a passion for working with diverse teams to deliver results by collaborating and influencing both internally and with partners.
• Curious problem-solver with a desire to learn and challenge the status quo.

Education

• Minimum BSc, MSc or PhD preferable, in a Life Sciences discipline or other advanced degrees (e.g., MBA).
• Greater than 7-10 years of experience in a pharmaceutical/biotech company and/or management consulting and a minimum of 5-7 years proven business development experience with a proven ability to identify, lead, evaluate, and close complex negotiations and collaborations.
• Experience achieving results with and leading cross-functional teams to drive creative solutions.
• Analytical skills; ability to read, analyze, and interpret data and produce reports and documents to support closing arguments.