Director of Commercial Partnerships

About the Role

We are seeking a Commercial Partnerships Manager to play a key role in structuring and leading strategic collaborations that extend Alden Scientific's science and AI capabilities into new relationships and markets. This is not a transactional sales role. You will work to build partnerships where Alden Scientific and its collaborators genuinely co-invest in shared outcomes—joint discovery programs, novel data-sharing arrangements, and other transformational structures, rather than one-off fee-for-service engagements. Success in this role requires real scientific fluency in advanced biological assays, sound judgment about commercial trade-offs, and the ability to design contracts where both sides win.

Responsibilities

• Deal Structuring & Negotiation: Design and negotiate partnership agreements—including licensing, co-development, data-sharing, and revenue-share structures—that create genuine win-win value for Alden Scientific and its partners.
• Scientific Fluency: Serve as a credible technical counterpart to partner R&D and scientific teams, drawing on direct experience with advanced biological assays such as proteomics and immune diagnostics to assess collaboration fit and scientific merit.
• Trade-off Navigation: Evaluate and clearly communicate the trade-offs across different partnership structures (exclusivity, upfront vs. milestone-based payments, IP ownership, data rights) to internal stakeholders and leadership.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner closely with R&D, bioinformatics/AI, legal, and executive teams to ensure deals are scientifically sound, technically feasible, and commercially attractive.
• Emerging Deal Models: Help pioneer new types of commercial structures suited to AI-driven, multi-omic science, in areas where established partnership playbooks do not yet exist.
• Pipeline & Relationship Management: Build and manage a pipeline of prospective partners, cultivating long-term relationships that can evolve from early conversations into formal, transformational collaborations.

Requirements

• Scientific Background: Direct experience with advanced biological assays such as proteomics and immune diagnostics, or related multi-omic technologies—sufficient fluency to engage credibly with scientific partners and internal R&D teams and understand where and how value is created in biological measurement technology and usage (clinical, biopharma R&D, academic research, public health).
• Partnership & Deal Experience: A demonstrated track record structuring and negotiating strategic collaborations, not just fee-for-service contracts—ideally including co-development, licensing, or data-partnership agreements.
• Contract Acumen: Experience drafting or negotiating contracts built around win-win outcomes, with a clear understanding of how deal terms translate into long-term value for both partner and company.
• Judgment Under Ambiguity: Comfortable evaluating and communicating trade-offs (exclusivity, IP, risk/reward, timing) in situations without an established precedent, and confident proposing new deal structures when existing ones do not fit.
• AI Familiarity: Working knowledge of AI/ML applications in life sciences, sufficient to represent Alden Scientific's capabilities credibly and translate them into partner value.
• Career Trajectory: A career path reflecting an intentional build toward strategic partnerships and business development—for example, experience spanning scientific, commercial, or corporate development roles.
• Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate complex scientific and legal concepts for diverse audiences, from bench scientists to executives.
• Startup Mindset: A "startup soul"—proactive, adaptable, and eager to pivot and learn.

Benefits

• Early Influence: Alden Scientific is ~50 people and growing fast—we've completed two acquisitions and are actively pursuing more. You'll help define our partnership strategy at a formative stage, not inherit one already set.
• Build New Ground: You'll have the opportunity to build entirely new categories of collaboration between advanced AI and the world's most complex biological problems, rather than administer existing deal templates.
• Ownership: For the right candidate, equity participation is on the table. We want the people who help build this company to share in what we're building.