Executive Director Business Alliances

Role Summary

Executive Director Business Alliances – Cambridge, US. Lead BioNTech's oncology collaborations with large pharma, biotech, and academic partners. Role can be based in Cambridge, MA or Berkeley Heights, NJ.

Responsibilities

• Managing long-term complex alliances and developing relationships with strategic partners; act as primary contact to enable alliance execution.
• Establish BioNTech as a partner-of-choice through solution-based, relationship-focused alliance management to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes.
• Represent BioNTech’s interests while maintaining collaborative long-term relationships with partners.
• Serve as thought leader for alliance execution and relationship management with BioNTech senior leadership.
• Provide partners an open channel of communication to ensure partner perspectives are heard internally.
• Foster constructive interactions with BioNTech’s R&D, commercial, manufacturing, medical affairs, finance, legal, and project management alliance team members.
• Ensure alliance governance is established and functions efficiently per contract (JSC, JDC, JCC, JMC); manage governance activities to ensure contract compliance.
• Influence alliance teams without formal authority to facilitate timely decision-making through scenario planning and consensus building.
• Lead alliance issue management, proactively identifying risks and conflicts and driving resolution while maintaining collaboration with partners.
• Lead complex negotiations with existing alliance partners; define negotiation perimeter, draft and negotiate term sheets and contracts for expanded activities, licensing and collaboration agreements.

Qualifications

• Required: Bachelor's degree with broad understanding of global pharmaceutical industry and drug discovery, development, and commercialization.
• Required: 10–12 years of direct alliance management experience in the pharmaceutical/biotech industry; strong preference for Oncology alliances.
• Required: Experience with US large-pharma and global strategic co-development and co-commercialization partnerships; experience with co-promotion and co-commercialization plans in US and key ex-US markets.
• Required: Deep understanding of pharmaceutical sales, marketing, market access, and medical affairs.
• Required: Leadership, analytical, risk mitigation, and consensus-building capabilities.
• Required: Strong negotiation experience with global alliances and handovers to functional owners; proven governance management (JSC, JDC, JCC).
• Required: Strong communication skills, including ability to engage C-level stakeholders.
• Required: Experience with Intellectual Property and license terms; financial/business acumen for contract economics.
• Required: Excellent soft skills in stakeholder management, decision facilitation, conflict resolution, and resource mobilization under time constraints. Proficiency with MS Office and ability to present to senior leadership; excellent English.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s or Doctorate in Natural Sciences and/or MBA in pharmaceutical marketing.
• Experience launching Oncology products in the US as part of Global alliances.

Education

• Bachelor's degree is required; advanced degrees preferred (Master’s/PhD or MBA).