Director Technical Business Development - RNA and Cell Tx

Ginkgo Introduction 

Our mission is to make biology easier to engineer. Ginkgo is constructing, editing, and redesigning the living world in order to answer the globe’s growing challenges in health, energy, food, materials, and more. Our bioengineers make use of an in-house automated foundry for designing and building new organisms. 

Job Description

We are seeking a Director/Associate Director of Technical Business Development to join our dynamic, passionate, and collaborative team dedicated to cultivating and executing new business partnerships within Ginkgo’s space. 

You will be a core part of the Technical Business Development Team (“Technical Solutions”) at Ginkgo and embedded in the Pharma team that is pursuing opportunities in a variety of applications across therapeutics, vaccines, and life science tools (e.g. cell and gene therapy, RNA therapeutics, microbiome, biologics, etc.). 

You will be using your strong immunology and therapeutics background and covering a range of topics across our pharma portfolio including RNA Tx, Cell Tx, Gene Editing or biologics, developing partnership opportunities in projects ranging from discovery to improving manufacturing. 

Specific Role Description

In this role, you will work cross-functionally with team members from Business Development, Deal, IP, Legal, and our many technical teams throughout all aspects of the technical pitch, scoping, proposal, negotiations and contract execution. You will take the lead in understanding the technical goals and vision of the partner and in developing the high level approach for each individual project in this area in collaboration with subject matter experts from across the company. 

You will also see the bigger picture: identifying where Ginkgo’s platform could serve to create disruptive solutions in industry in the gene therapy space, coordinating with technical and business teams to develop defined product offerings in those areas.  

#LI-JH1

• Understand and communicate the key value proposition of Ginkgo to potential partners
• Work with external partners to understand their key challenges and needs 
• Identify areas in which the unique Ginkgo capabilities can be leveraged to meet partner needs for individual projects
• Identify and evaluate broader trends in the field where Ginkgo’s platform could serve to create disruptive solutions in the industry 
• Coordinate across technical and business teams to develop new, differentiated offerings to meet the needs in those areas

• A minimum of 4 years of relevant professional experience (title/level dependent upon experience), preferably in a biotech or pharmaceutical company
• Strong technical expertise in nucleic acid therapeutics
• In depth knowledge of the RNA Tx and Cell Therapy space
• An entrepreneurial spirit and proactive nature with a demonstrated ability to work independently
• Excellent communication skills and an ability to work across organizational boundaries
• Proven track record of project ownership and results orientation
• Strong publication record in the field
• Experience working in cross functional scientific teams 

• Ph.D. strongly preferred
• Experience working in animal models
• Experience in business development or product development 

Please note: Located in Boston or willing to relocate to the Boston area preferred. Expected at Boston On-sites quarterly and travel to 3-5 conferences per year.

To learn more about Ginkgo, check out some recent press:

What is it really like to take your company public via a SPAC? One Boston biotech shares its journey (Fortune)

Ginkgo Bioworks resizes the definition of going big in biotech, raising $2.5B in a record SPAC deal that weighs in with a whopping $15B-plus valuation (Endpoints News)

Ginkgo Bioworks Redirects Its Biotech Platform to Coronavirus (Wall Street Journal)

Ginkgo Raises $70 Million to Tackle Covid-19 Testing (Bloomberg)

Ginkgo Bioworks to Build Infrastructure for Rapid Epidemic Response (PR Newswire)

How to Test Every American for COVID-19, Every Day (The Atlantic)

The Life Factory: Synthetic Organisms From This $1.4 Billion Startup Will Revolutionize Manufacturing (Forbes)

The engineering of living organisms could soon start changing everything (The Economist)

Synthetic Bio Pioneer Ginkgo Raises $290 Million in New Funding (Bloomberg)

Ginkgo Bioworks raises $350 million fund for biotech spinouts (Reuters)

Ginkgo Bioworks Is Turning Human Cells into On-Demand Factories (WIRED)

Can This Company Convince You to Love GMOs? (The Atlantic)

We also feel that it’s important to point out the obvious here – there’s a serious lack of diversity in our industry, and that needs to change. Our goal is to help drive that change. Ginkgo is deeply committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in all of its practices, especially when it comes to growing our team. Our culture promotes inclusion and embraces how rewarding it is to work with people from all walks of life.  

We’re developing a powerful biological engineering platform, so we must remain mindful of the many ways our technology can – and will – impact people around the world. We care about how our platform is used, and having a diverse team to build it gives us the best chance that it’s something we’ll be proud of as it continues to grow. Therefore, it’s critical that we incorporate the diverse voices and visions of all those who play a role in the future of biology.

It is the policy of Ginkgo Bioworks to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and employment applicants.

Salary : $3 - $15