BD Project Leader — Roche

Full description

At Roche you can show up as yourself, embraced for the unique qualities you bring. Our culture encourages personal expression, open dialogue, and genuine connections, where you are valued, accepted and respected for who you are, allowing you to thrive both personally and professionally. This is how we aim to prevent, stop and cure diseases and ensure everyone has access to healthcare today and for generations to come. Join Roche, where every voice matters.

The Position As a leader in healthcare, we are dedicated to pioneering groundbreaking science and technology that can transform the lives of patients worldwide. To achieve this mission, we make a greater investment in R&D than any other healthcare company globally, placing external innovation—alongside our extensive internal pipeline—at the very cornerstone of our strategy in a landscape where strong collaborations are more critical than ever before.

The Corporate Business Development organization supports a wide range of global partnerships, including those for R&D, technology, and commercial deals. The Business Development Project Leader (BDPL) position is a key part of this team, responsible for sourcing opportunities, building and leading deal and diligence teams, and evaluating and negotiating agreements to access promising therapeutic candidates and technologies across various therapeutic areas.

The Opportunity In this role, you will drive critical partnerships and external innovation through the following key responsibilities:

• Lead Deal Evaluation & Execution: Drive the evaluation of external innovation and facilitate the execution of deals—including in-licensing, M&A, and other partnerships—aligned with strategic goals to enhance our pipeline.
• Project & Diligence Leadership: Provide project leadership for partnering opportunities, generate BD project plans, lead cross-functional due diligence and deal teams (including generating DD reports), and oversee pre-due diligence conference assessments.
• Opportunity Sourcing & Landscape Analysis: Source new therapeutic opportunities that align with and challenge current strategies, prepare in-depth opportunity landscapes, attend scientific and partnering conferences, and network with biotechs and venture capitalists.
• Internal Governance & Stakeholder Alignment: Partner closely with internal stakeholders to build trust, align recommendations, facilitate internal governance, and present opportunities, deal-related materials, and communications to management.
• Negotiation & Deal Structuring: Develop and recommend deal structures and financial terms, and lead negotiations of term sheets and contracts with potential partners in collaboration with the deal team.
• External Representation & Relationship Management: Represent the organization externally, build and strengthen a broad industry network to promote our company as a partner of choice, and manage external relationships throughout the deal lifecycle.
• Strategic Decision-Making & Mentorship: Synthesize complex data into clear, actionable insights, anticipate risks early with well-reasoned mitigation strategies, move deals through evaluation efficiently, and coach or mentor junior colleagues on managing deal and diligence teams.

Who You Are

We are looking for a dedicated professional who meets the following qualifications and profile:

• Professional & Educational Background: 10 years in pharma/biotech with 3–5 years preferred in BD&L/Corporate Development. An advanced degree in life sciences, medicine, or data science (MD, PhD, PharmD, MBA, or law degree) and a scientific background are preferred. Note: Final level placement will be determined based on skills and experience.
• Industry & Cross-Functional Expertise: Proven ability to build and lead cross-functional teams, with a demonstrated understanding of drug discovery, development, and commercialization processes to collaborate effectively with R&D and commercial leadership.
• Scientific Acumen & Dri