Executive Director, Business Development & Corporate Strategy

WHO WE ARE: 

At Dendreon, we’re transforming the battle against cancer with personalized immunotherapy. Our flagship product, PROVENGE® (sipuleucel-T), was the first FDA-approved immunotherapy for metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer, utilizing a patient’s own immune cells to fight the disease. 

If you’re driven by the opportunity to make a meaningful impact on cancer patients’ lives, we invite you to join our team. With Immunotherapy Manufacturing Facilities in Seal Beach, CA, and Union City, GA, a talented team of scientific, clinical, regulatory, and corporate professionals based in Seal Beach, and a commercial organization operating across the United States, Dendreon continues to advance innovation in personalized cancer treatment.

CORE VALUES:

• Put Patients First: Every day is an opportunity to improve the lives of those living with cancer.
• Act with Integrity: We commit to transparency, honesty, and always doing what’s right.
• Build Trust: Trust is earned through candid, open communication and a collaborative approach.
• Raise the Bar: We embrace continuous improvement and innovation, always striving to elevate our people.
• Drive Results: We are accountable to each other and deliver success together.

Job Summary:

The Executive Director of Business Development & Corporate Strategy is a senior enterprise leader responsible for shaping and executing Dendreon’s external growth strategy (CMS). Partnering directly with the CEO and Senior Leadership Team, this role owns the identification, evaluation, prioritization, negotiation, and execution of strategic transactions, including licensing, acquisitions, investments, strategic alliances, and CDMO partnerships.

The Executive Director will translate corporate objectives into an actionable business development and portfolio strategy, provide decision-quality recommendations to executive and board-level stakeholders, and lead cross-functional teams through high-stakes diligence and deal execution. This role requires a seasoned biotech or pharmaceutical business development executive with demonstrated success independently originating and closing material transactions which may include late-stage and commercial assets, complex therapeutic modalities, and global partners.

Key Responsibilities:

Enterprise Strategy & Portfolio Leadership

• Own and lead the enterprise-wide business development and corporate strategy agenda in alignment with Dendreon’s long-range growth objectives, portfolio priorities, and capital allocation framework.
• Serve as a trusted strategic advisor to the CEO and Senior Leadership Team, bringing forward differentiated external growth opportunities and clear recommendations on strategic fit, value creation, risk, and prioritization.
• Lead portfolio-level assessments and scenario planning across licensing, acquisitions, strategic investments, alliances, and build-versus-buy opportunities.
• Prepare and present strategic recommendations, transaction updates, investment cases, and decision materials to executive leadership, the Board of Directors, and investment committees, as applicable.

Strategic Transactions & External Innovation

• Independently originate, evaluate, prioritize, and advance a global pipeline of high-impact business development opportunities, including first-in-class and differentiated therapeutic modalities.
• Lead the search, evaluation, and acquisition or licensing of clinical- to commercial-stage therapeutic assets, with emphasis on late-stage Phase II/III and commercial opportunities aligned with immunotherapy, urology, oncology, and other strategic growth areas.
• Direct integrated scientific, clinical, regulatory, CMC, intellectual property, commercial, financial, and operational diligence; resolve critical issues and drive teams toward investment and transaction decisions.
• Assess complex modalities, including antibody-drug conjugates, biologics, cell therapies, and other advanced platforms, considering scientific differentiation, development risk, manufacturability, regulatory path, commercial potential, and strategic value.
• Build executive-level relationships with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, investors, venture capital and private equity firms, bankers, advisors, and other external partners to strengthen Dendreon’s access to priority opportunities.

 Deal Structuring, Negotiation & Execution

• Lead complex transactions from initial engagement through valuation, term sheet, negotiation, definitive agreements, governance design, closing, and transition to alliance management or integration.
• Develop and challenge valuation models, forecasts, risk-adjusted scenarios, transaction structures, and investment returns in partnership with Finance and other functional leaders.
• Lead negotiations with senior external counterparties and coordinate internal and external legal, financial, scientific, and operational advisors.
• Ensure clear executive alignment on deal rationale, key risks, economics, governance, decision rights, and post-transaction accountabilities.

 CDMO Strategy & Commercial Growth

• Own the strategic direction and business development plan for positioning Dendreon’s manufacturing capabilities as a differentiated CDMO partner.
• Identify and build relationships with prospective CDMO clients and strategic partners, shape value propositions, and lead the development and negotiation of proposals and commercial agreements.
• Partner with Technical Operations, Quality, Regulatory, Finance, and Legal to evaluate technical feasibility, capacity, economics, operational readiness, risk, and execution requirements.
• Represent Dendreon in senior-level client discussions, industry conferences, partnering forums, and other external engagements.

Organizational Leadership

• Provide leadership, direction, and development to business development and strategy team members and cross-functional deal teams; establish clear priorities, governance, and accountability.
• Build scalable processes for opportunity sourcing, screening, diligence, valuation, decision-making, transaction execution, and post-deal handoff.
• Influence across functions and levels without direct authority, creating alignment among executive leaders and translating complex information into clear business decisions.
• Promote a rigorous, collaborative, and results-oriented culture consistent with Dendreon’s core values.
• Other duties as assigned.

Job Requirements:

Required Experience & Skills

• 12-15+ years of progressive business development, corporate development, corporate strategy, investment, or related experience in the biotechnology or pharmaceutical industry, including significant senior leadership responsibility.
• Demonstrated success independently originating, leading, negotiating, and closing multiple complex licensing, acquisition, strategic investment, alliance, or comparable transactions with meaningful enterprise impact.
• Proven ability to set enterprise-level strategy, prioritize competing opportunities, advise C-suite leaders, and influence board-level or investment committee decisions.
• Advanced degree required: MBA, PhD, MD, or equivalent advanced scientific, business, or financial training.
• Deep understanding of biopharmaceutical development and commercialization, including complex therapeutic modalities such as ADCs, biologics, cell therapies, or other advanced platforms.
• Exceptional financial and transaction acumen, including valuation modeling, risk-adjusted analysis, deal structuring, negotiation, and assessment of strategic and financial returns.
• Executive presence and exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to represent Dendreon credibly with boards, investors, partners, advisors, and senior external counterparties.
• Demonstrated success leading multidisciplinary teams across Clinical, R&D, Technical Operations, Regulatory, Quality, Commercial, Finance, Legal, and Intellectual Property.
• Experience building, leading, and developing teams and establishing effective business development processes and governance.
• Deal sheet required, including the candidate’s role and level of ownership in sourcing, diligence, valuation, negotiation, and closing.
• Willingness to travel up to 50%+, including international travel.

 Preferred Experience

• Board-level exposure and experience presenting transaction recommendations to boards, investment committees, or comparable governance bodies.
• Direct experience developing or leading CDMO strategy, partnerships, or commercial transactions.
• Established network across biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, venture capital, private equity, investment banking, and life sciences advisors.
• Experience in oncology, immunotherapy, urology, cellular immunotherapy, or adjacent therapeutic areas.
• Operating experience in a commercial-stage biotechnology or biopharmaceutical company and experience in high-growth or transformational environments.
• Global transaction experience, including international partnerships and experience with biotechnology or pharmaceutical markets in China.
• Prior experience in venture capital, private equity, investment banking, management consulting, or a comparable strategic advisory environment within life sciences.

Working Conditions and Physical Requirements:

• On-site in Seal Beach, CA. This position is not remote.
• This position operates in a professional office environment and routinely uses standard office equipment, including computers, phones, and multifunction office devices.
• The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met to perform the essential functions of the role.
• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to communicate, stand, walk, use hands to handle objects, and reach with hands and arms.

Beware of Recruitment Scams

Please be aware of the potential for scams from individuals, organizations and internet sites that claim to represent Dendreon Pharmaceuticals in recruitment activities. We strongly recommend that you verify all communications you receive about positions at Dendreon. Any communications from Dendreon would come from an email address that ends in “@dendreon.com”. Dendreon will never ask candidates to provide any type of payment, bank details, photocopies of identification, social security number or other highly sensitive personal information during the recruitment or offer process. Dendreon conducts a formal recruitment process for all authorized positions posted and does not conduct interviews via social media, or other third-party sites or chat services. If you are unsure about a posting or email you receive, please contact us at AskHR@dendreon.com. If you believe you are a victim of fraud, please contact your local law enforcement.