Director of Business Development

Mantell Associates is partnered with a global Life Sciences organisation, who is seeking a Director of Business Development focused on CRO services.

You will be responsible for driving sales growth of the company’s contract research service portfolio within an assigned North American territory. You will identify, engage, and close new business opportunities with pharmaceutical and biotechnology customers, while also supporting academic and government accounts as secondary segments.

This position will collaborate with the broader commercial organization, including product sales teams, field applications, and marketing, to develop integrated account strategies that maximize customer value and revenue growth.

Director of Business Development – Responsibilities:

• Prospect and develop new business within pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, building a qualified pipeline of CRO service opportunities, with an emphasis on bioanalytical endpoints, including both sample testing and custom assay development.
• Own the full sales cycle – from lead generation and qualification through proposal, negotiation, and contract close
• Collaborate closely with regional product sales teams to align service opportunities with instrument and reagent placements, ensuring seamless customer engagement
• Develop strong relationships with key decision-makers and influencers, including scientists, project managers, and procurement professionals
• Understand customer needs and work collaboratively with internal resources to generate strong and competitive SOWs, proposals and quotations for services
• Partner with internal stakeholders (assay development and sample testing, commercial and company leadership) to meet commercial objectives and deliver an outstanding customer experience
• Achieve quarterly and annual sales targets for assigned region, maintaining accurate forecasts, funnels and pipeline reporting through CRM tools
• Represent the company at regional conferences, industry events, and customer meetings to promote capabilities and build market awareness
• Provide market intelligence and competitive insights to inform commercial strategy and new service development

Director of Business Development – Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in life sciences required
• Advanced degree (M.S. or Ph.D.) strongly preferred
• Five to 10 years of experience in sales or business development for a CRO or related life sciences. services organization selling bioanalytical assay method development and testing requiring GLP/GCLP
• Experience with CRM systems (e.g., Salesforce) and structured opportunity management processes
• Proven track record of meeting or exceeding sales targets in a consultative, solutions-based selling environment in the life sciences or contract research industry
• Strong understanding of drug discovery and development workflows and the role of analytical and bioanalytical services
• Strong business acumen, negotiation and mediation skills, as well as a demonstrated attention to detail and a focus on achieving quality outcomes.
• Ability to build/foster relationships
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to organize, present, and articulate ideas both verbally and in writing
• Entrepreneurial and self-directed, with strong accountability for business results
• Scientifically literate and commercially astute, able to connect customer needs to technical service solutions
• Collaborative mindset – works effectively in an overlay structure alongside product sales teams
• A professional presence and strong interpersonal skills for interacting in a courteous, timely, and diplomatic manner with customers
• Driven, persistent, and comfortable navigating complex, multi-stakeholder sales cycles
• Proficiency in MS Office Suite and Salesforce
• Ability to travel extensively that can include overnight stays and working work outside normal business hours as needed.

Physical Demands & Work Environment:

• This position requires the ability to communicate and exchange information, utilize equipment necessary to perform the job, and move about customer sites and travel on a regular basis
• This is a field-based position with an expectation that the successful candidate will spend the majority of their time meeting customers in person – at customer sites, conferences, and related industry events
• This role requires extensive travel (70–85%) within the assigned region

Mantell Associates is a specialist Pharmaceutical and Life Science headhunting firm. For more information on this opportunity, contact us at +44 (0)20 3854 7700.