The Opportunity
Reporting to the Chief Business Officer (CBO) & Chief financial Officer (CFO) the Associate Director of Strategic Alliances creates value through effective leadership and management of NextRNA's strategic partnerships. They will work closely with internal and external stakeholders cross-functionally coordinating activities with internal working groups across R&D, business development, project management, legal and finance functions. The Associate Director of Strategic Alliance will be responsible for shaping and managing obligations and leading specific alliance-related activities to maximize value and deliver results within deadlines. They will ensure agreement on goals, rules of engagement, committee structures, and business processes with the partner and facilitate an engagement model capable of systematically identifying and dealing with any partnership challenges that can arise.
In this role - you will work in a highly cross-disciplinary, fast-moving, and fluid environment, and will be drawing upon extensive experience in the biotech space. You will possess strong interpersonal skills with a strong work ethic and a desire to deliver.
As a critical member of the team, you will be a key voice in the evolution of NextRNA, offering opportunity for growth and impact. NextRNA prides itself as an exceptionally talented team with a broad range of skills. Together with your colleagues, you will help shape the NextRNA culture, strategic direction, and outcomes.
Key Responsibilities
Alliance Management:
- Act as the primary point of contact for partner organizations, facilitating effective communication and collaboration.
- Plans and manages the operational aspects of the alliance, including joint governance committee, appropriate communications, coordination of activities and solving business problems.
- Responsible for all meeting preparation and follow up including meeting minutes and agendas, organization of documents, and tracking of decisions.
- Proactively identifies potential issues and takes the lead to resolve them; gaining internal alignment and taking accountability for resolution with partner.
- Assists in the development of internal tools, systems, processes, and best practices for the smooth operation of the alliance management function.
- Collaborates with external partner's alliance managers and internal key stakeholders to establish a strong working relationship, ensure effective governance, successful execution of our partnered assets, and further establish NextRNA as a preferred strategic partner of choice.
- Maximize the value of NextRNA’s partnering activities by accelerating collaboration goal objectives and conceiving, developing, and championing new alliance opportunities with existing partners in alignment with the Corporate Development and R&D strategy.
Program Management:
- Effectively partner with R&D Scientific Team Leads and Teams to drive projects and programs to successful outcomes.
- Develop and drive project plans and timelines; track and manage milestones within the defined scope, time, and cost constraints; support coordination and communication between teams, ensuring senior leaders are frequently informed on project progress.
- Facilitate project team meetings, including meeting agendas, minutes, action items, and decisions, proactively communicating critical path items to team leads.
- Facilitate team preparation for data-driven recommendations for key decisions, enabling endorsement by senior leadership and other key stakeholders.
- Proactively identify project issues, including those related to timing, resources, and funding, to prevent delays in project milestones. Take active role in issue resolution and risk mitigation plans, developing contingency plans as needed.
- Contributing expertise to the continuing development of the program management function to help further the needs of the business.
- Works closely with the Finance Team to ensure scientific milestones are aligned with and communicated to approved budget.
- Works closely with the legal team to ensure contractual obligations and intellectual property considerations are understood and met.
Strategic Partnership Development:
- Actively identifies opportunities to improve the partnership.
- Participates in BD discussions to support new partnerships.
- Understands the partner's business objectives and how the companies align.
- Builds strong relationships with key stakeholders.
Cross-functional Collaboration:
- Educates team members on contract terms, obligations, milestones and roles and responsibilities.
- Partners closely with Program Team leadership to ensure NextRNA is prepared for alliance interactions and strategic objectives of the alliance are met.
- Collaborates closely with internal stakeholders, including program teams, leadership, business development, legal, and finance teams, to ensure alignment of objectives and smooth execution of partnership goals and activities.
- Facilitates effective knowledge transfer between partner organizations and internal teams, fostering a culture of innovation and shared learning.
- Coordinates joint projects, meetings, and workshops, promoting active collaboration and synergy among cross-functional teams; tracks action items and timelines to complete.
About You
- Bachelor's Degree. Advanced life-science degree is strongly preferred. PMP (Project Management Professional) Certification preferred.
- 7 to 10 years in pharmaceutical/biotechnology industry, including 5+ years in Alliance management in early-stage discovery or similar multi-stakeholder project management role.
- Broad understanding of global pharmaceutical and biotech industries, with a solid understanding of drug discovery and development processes including regulatory, commercial, and legal aspects.
- Strong influencing skills including negotiation, meetings management, and group dynamics, ability to balance concerns of senior leaders with objectives of cross-functional teams.
- Ability to effectively plan, prioritize and coordinate multiple tasks and adjust to changing priorities to deliver results to tight deadlines.
- Ability to rationalize both strategically and tactically and be able to present recommendations to senior leaders and key stakeholders.
- Ability to effectively prioritize work across diverse and dynamic set of deliverables.
- Ability to travel and work some off-business hours.
- Excitement to work in a fast-paced, small company environment with multidisciplinary teams.
- Onsite presence in our Boston office (Brighton, MA) 5 days a week.
