Sourcing Director, China External Innovation

Role Purpose

The Sourcing Director of China External Innovation (EI) is accountable for originating, evaluating, and driving biotech collaboration deals that create pipeline value for Novo Nordisk through biotech partnership and co-development.

Key Accountabilities

• Sourcing, evaluation & deal shaping
• Coordinate structured gap analysis with internal stakeholders, including:
• Therapeutic Areas, Target Discovery, Medicinal Chemistry, Computational Chemistry, and other relevant functions
• Identification of biology, chemistry, capability, or capacity gaps in the internal pipeline
• Translation of those gaps into clear sourcing hypotheses and partnership requirements
• Proactively source and triage biotech opportunities across the China ecosystem based on the gap analysis outcome
• Lead deep scientific evaluation covering:
• Medicinal Chemistry quality and design hypotheses
• CADD/AIDD drug design maturity and real-world impact
• translational relevance and execution risk
• Drive opportunities through EI pipeline-filling processes, including:
• internal alignment and framing
• pre-due diligence and due diligence input
• preparation of decision materials for EI and LoB forums
• Actively shape the scientific and structural aspects of deals, while partnering with alliance management and BD on contracting and execution
• Pipeline integration & value realization
• Ensure collaborations generate outputs that are aligned with global pipeline needs
• Enable smooth handover and absorption of externally generated assets into NN programs

Qualifications

• PhD in Medicinal Chemistry, Computational Chemistry, Life Sciences, or related discipline
• 8+ years experience in:
• small-molecule drug development
• biotech collaborations or external innovation
• Medicinal Chemistry and CADD/AIDD-enabled programs
• Demonstrated experience evaluating and advancing deals involving:
• early biotech pipelines
• platform-based drug development collaborations
• Strong ability to assess chemistry-driven programs and AI-enabled design claims with scientific rigor
• High degree of personal motivation and proactivity, able to influence without authority, and operate comfortably in ambiguity

Working Conditions

• Based in Shanghai
• Up to ~20% travel, primarily within China, as required for partner and project engagement

Company Commitment

We commit to an inclusive recruitment process and equality of opportunity for all our job applicants.