Business Development Director

Business Development Director

Natera's Therapeutics & Innovations group is at the forefront of applying AI, genomics, and multimodal data to transform precision medicine. From building genomic foundation models to developing predictive AI platforms, our mission is to accelerate biomarker discovery, improve clinical trial design, and enable novel personalized therapeutics.

We are seeking a Director of Business Development to join our team and help expand our partnerships across biopharma, biotech, and academia. This leader will be responsible for developing and executing strategies that bring Natera's unique data assets, AI platforms, and translational expertise to external collaborators.

Position Summary

The Director of Business Development will evaluate external growth opportunities and represent Natera in negotiations with partners, customers, and suppliers. The person in this role is a natural leader with strategic vision, inspiring energy, and attention to detail. He/she will have deal-making experience from the life sciences industry, with superb analytic and modeling capabilities, creativity in deal structuring, a no-nonsense approach to negotiations, and a passion for delivering results.

Primary Responsibilities

• Partnership Development: Identify, evaluate, and execute strategic partnerships with biopharma, biotech, and academic institutions.
• Deal Execution: Lead negotiations, structure agreements, and drive to closure in collaboration with Legal, Finance, and executive leadership.
• Market Development: Build a pipeline of opportunities by understanding evolving partner needs in biomarkers, clinical development, and precision medicine.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Work closely with R&D, Product, and Medical Affairs to align external opportunities with internal strategy and capabilities.

Qualifications

• Track record of leading and closing strategic collaboration and licensing agreements
• 810+ years of business development, strategic partnerships, or corporate development experience in biopharma, diagnostics, or life sciences.
• Demonstrated track record of structuring and closing deals in therapeutics, biomarkers, or AI/data-driven platforms.
• Strong scientific and commercial understanding of oncology, immunology, or related therapeutic areas.
• Familiarity with AI/ML in life sciences and its application to biomarker discovery, clinical trial optimization, and patient stratification.
• Exceptional relationship-building, negotiation, and communication skills.
• Bachelor's in healthcare, life sciences, pharmacy or related field is required.
• MBA or Ph.D. is preferred Industry background in diagnostics, software, life sciences, or private equity/venture capital 3+ years' experience in BD, sales, investment banking or management consulting

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Strong communication and leadership skills necessary to effectively lead diligence teams and build credibility with the executive leadership of partners and collaborators
• Strong analytical ability, comfort with science and numbers.
• Strong attention to detail.
• Passion for changing medicine and delivering results
• Demonstrated ability to manage client relationships Strong relationship development, communications and negotiations skills

Why Join Us?

This is a rare opportunity to sit at the intersection of AI, genomics, and therapeutic development and to help shape how the next generation of precision medicine partnerships are built. At Natera, you'll join a fast-moving, high-impact team that is pushing the boundaries of what's possible in healthcare innovation.