Business Development Manager / Director (Biotech CRO)

Business Development Manager / Director – Biotech CRO for AI/ML drug discovery market
Location: San Francisco, CA
Function: Business Development / Strategic Accounts
About the Role
Novoprotein is seeking an experienced and highly motivated Business Development Manager / Director to join our growing North America team in San Francisco.
This role will focus on developing strategic business with large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies as well as AI-driven drug discovery and protein design companies across the West Coast. The successful candidate will build relationships with scientific and business leaders, identify high-value opportunities, and translate customer R&D needs into collaborations leveraging Novoprotein's protein science, antibody discovery, high-throughput screening, mRNA, and biologics development capabilities.
This is a strategic, customer-facing position for someone who understands the rapidly evolving intersection of AI-enabled drug discovery and experimental biology and can engage customers from early discovery through larger-scale development programs.
Fresh MSc, PhD graduates, current postdocs are welcome to apply if you think you got the material for Sales/BD.
Key Responsibilities
Develop and execute a West Coast business development strategy with particular emphasis on: (1) Large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, (2) AI-native drug discovery companies, (3) AI protein and antibody design companies, (4) High-growth biotech companies with substantial outsourced discovery and development needs
Build and manage relationships with key scientific and business stakeholders, including leaders in protein sciences, antibody discovery, biologics discovery, computational biology, AI/ML, translational research, and external innovation.
Identify, develop, and close high-value CRO and strategic collaboration opportunities.
Develop deep relationships within major Bay Area pharmaceutical, biotech, and AI drug discovery organizations and expand individual relationships into broader strategic accounts.
Work with customers to understand scientific objectives and design appropriate project solutions across Novoprotein capabilities, including: (1) Recombinant protein production, (2) High-throughput protein expression and characterization, (3) Antibody discovery and engineering, (4) AI-designed protein experimental validation, (5) mRNA synthesis and LNP-related services (6) Process development and scale-up manufacturing
Serve as a bridge between computational drug discovery teams and Novoprotein's experimental capabilities, helping customers efficiently move from design → build → test → validation.
Develop strategic opportunities involving large-scale or high-throughput experimental validation of AI-generated proteins, antibodies, and other biologics.
Manage the full business development cycle, including prospecting, scientific discussions, proposal development, pricing, negotiation, contracting, and account expansion.
Maintain a disciplined opportunity pipeline and accurate forecasts through CRM.
Collaborate closely with Novoprotein's scientific, project management, marketing, and global business teams to develop competitive solutions for strategic customers.
Represent Novoprotein at scientific conferences, industry events, customer meetings, and networking activities throughout the West Coast.
Monitor developments within the AI drug discovery ecosystem and identify emerging companies, technologies, funding events, and partnership opportunities relevant to Novoprotein.
Qualifications
Go getter personality, hunter style, ability to drive business in any circumstances
Bachelor's degree or higher in biology, biochemistry, molecular biology, biotechnology, pharmaceutical sciences, or a related field. MS or PhD strongly preferred. Practical background in AI/ML antibody and protein design and drug discovery is a plus.
Demonstrated business development experience within biotechnology, pharmaceutical services, CRO/CDMO, life science tools, or biologics discovery.
Experience developing business with pharmaceutical or biotechnology R&D organizations.
Strong understanding of at least several of the following areas: (1) Protein expression and purification (2) Antibody discovery and engineering (3) Protein characterization (4) Biologics discovery (5) High-throughput screening (6) mRNA technologies (7) AI/ML-enabled drug or protein discovery
Strong scientific communication skills and the ability to engage credibly with research scientists, computational scientists, scientific executives, and business leaders.
Demonstrated ability to develop new accounts rather than relying primarily on existing inbound opportunities.
Ability to navigate large organizations, identify multiple stakeholders, and develop complex opportunities involving multiple scientific groups.
Excellent presentation, negotiation, relationship-management, and written communication skills.
Highly independent, entrepreneurial, and comfortable operating in a rapidly growing organization.
Based in the San Francisco Bay Area with the ability to meet customers regularly in person.
Willingness to travel throughout the West Coast and periodically elsewhere in the United States.
Preferred Experience
Candidates with one or more of the following backgrounds will be particularly attractive:
Existing relationships within Bay Area Big Pharma and biotechnology companies
Experience selling CRO or scientific services to discovery research organizations
Experience working with AI drug discovery, AI protein design, computational biology, or TechBio companies
Experience structuring large or multi-project research collaborations
Experience selling high-throughput protein production, antibody discovery, or experimental validation services
A combination of scientific training and demonstrated commercial success
What Success Looks Like
The successful candidate will:
Establish Novoprotein as a trusted experimental partner within leading West Coast pharmaceutical and AI drug discovery organizations.
Build a strong pipeline of strategic accounts and high-value CRO opportunities.
Convert initial projects into broader, recurring customer relationships.
Develop collaborations connecting computational design with rapid experimental validation.
Expand Novoprotein's visibility and relationships within the San Francisco Bay Area biotech and AI drug discovery ecosystem.
About Novoprotein
Novoprotein provides integrated protein and biologics research solutions supporting pharmaceutical, biotechnology, diagnostics, and emerging AI-driven drug discovery companies.
Our capabilities span recombinant protein production, antibody discovery and engineering, high-throughput expression and characterization, mRNA-related technologies, stable cell line development, and scale-up manufacturing.
As AI increasingly accelerates biological design, Novoprotein aims to provide the experimental infrastructure needed to rapidly build, test, and validate computationally designed molecules.

Work arrangement
No