Sales Lead, Business Development

About the role

The ideal candidate will have a life sciences background and familiarity with the pharma and biotech space. This role will report to and work closely with the Sr. Director, Business Development and interact with a broad range of 23andMe teams.

Responsibilities

• Support the development and implementation of a sales strategy for 23andMe’s data business.
• Design, negotiate, and oversee B2B SaaS partnerships with biopharma companies.
• Drive identification of potential customers and competitive landscape assessments across the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors.
• Manage and close a pipeline of deals.
• Work cross-functionally to facilitate robust internal feasibility assessment of potential partnerships.
• Use sound judgement and data to drive internal consensus on prospective deals.
• Support the pitching of collaboration opportunities to prospective clients and partners.
• Provide suggestions for deal terms that follow standard models using available data.
• Collaborate to draft project plans and statements of work, including resource planning.
• Afford opportunity pipeline tracking and analysis to enhance visibility across stakeholder groups and enable process improvement.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to facilitate project start-up and handoff.
• Establish subject matter expertise in the genetic data field.
• Afford assistance with managing project performance and tracking financial projections for awarded projects.
• Attend industry conferences and actively engage in networking to develop and maintain industry contacts.
• Limited travel to support customer meetings or conferences as needed.

Requirements

• A Bachelor’s degree in a life science discipline.
• An advanced degree (Ph.D., MBA, JD) preferred.
• Minimum of 4+ years work experience in a relevant sales role that includes familiarity with the biotech and pharma industry.
• Strong foundational sales skills including prospecting, qualifying leads, and handling objections.
• Experience with consultative selling, especially in complex industries where solutions need to be tailored to client needs.
• Proven success in managing sales cycles and closing contracts.
• Ability to build and nurture long-term customer relationships.
• Strong commitment to delivering exceptional customer service and post-sale support, ensuring satisfaction and repeat business.
• Familiarity with CRM systems (Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.) and sales enablement tools.
• Confident communication skills, including presentation and negotiation. Ability to explain concepts well at a high level and anticipate the needs and knowledge level of an audience.
• Excellent consensus building skills and experience working with cross-functional teams.
• Self-motivated and results-oriented, with a focus on achieving targets and driving growth.
• Comfortable navigating pricing discussions and negotiating terms.
• Ability to represent 23andMe to external parties with limited oversight.
• A foundational understanding of genomics, biotechnology, and drug discovery processes. Motivated to dive in deeply on the subject matter.
• Passionate about science, medicine, and business.