Executive Director, Business Development

Bristol Myers Squibb • Princeton, NJ

19h • $239,080 - $289,708 • Hybrid

About The Position

The Executive Director, Business Development – Neuroscience GCS is a senior leadership role within the Neuroscience Global Commercial Strategy team, positioned at the intersection of commercial strategy and external innovation. Reporting directly to the VP, GCS Neuroscience, this role serves as the commercial BD lead for the neuroscience therapeutic area and owns the identification, evaluation, and strategic shaping of external partnership, licensing, and acquisition opportunities that advance BMS’s neuroscience ambition across Psychiatry, Neurodegeneration, and Specialty Neurology, including neuromuscular diseases such as MS. This individual will be a trusted strategic partner to GCS Leadership, the NLT, TALT, S&E, and Corporate Business Development, ensuring that BD opportunities are rigorously assessed through a commercial lens and aligned with the TA’s “Where to Play / How to Win” strategy. The ED, BD will play a decisive role in building BMS’s future neuroscience portfolio by identifying the next generation of assets and partnerships that complement and extend the existing pipeline, positioning BMS to achieve its stated goal of leadership in brain health and the Neuroscience TALT’s strategic ambition.

Requirements

• Advanced degree required: MBA, PharmD, MD, or PhD in a relevant scientific or business discipline.
• Dual degree, such as PhD/MBA or MD/MBA, strongly preferred.
• 15+ years of progressive experience in the pharmaceutical or bioscience industry, with at least five years in a commercial strategy, business development, or corporate strategy role.
• Demonstrated experience in commercial due diligence and asset valuation in a BD context, including peak sales forecasting, market sizing, and competitive landscape analysis.
• Deep knowledge of the neuroscience therapeutic landscape, including psychiatry, neurodegenerative diseases, and/or neuromuscular diseases.
• Proven track record of influencing BD decisions and translating commercial insights into tangible deal outcomes at a large pharmaceutical company or leading biotech.
• Experience working in a global, matrixed organization, with demonstrated ability to lead without direct authority and drive cross-functional alignment.
• Prior experience supporting or leading licensing negotiations, term sheet development, or partnership structuring is highly valued.
• Strategic vision: Ability to articulate a clear, evidence-based commercial BD thesis and translate it into actionable priorities.
• Analytical rigor: Expert-level financial and market modeling skills, with the ability to present scenarios to senior leadership under uncertainty.
• Executive presence: Exceptional communication and storytelling ability; able to distill complex commercial analyses into compelling executive narratives.
• Collaborative leadership: Skilled at building trust and influence across scientific, commercial, and financial functions in a matrixed environment.
• External orientation: Proactive in building and maintaining relationships with the external innovation ecosystem; well-networked in neuroscience biotech and academic circles.
• Entrepreneurial mindset: Comfortable operating in ambiguity, with a bias for bold action and creative problem-solving aligned with BMS’s pipeline imperative.
• Digital fluency: Familiarity with AI-driven analytics, competitive intelligence platforms, and digital engagement tools as competitive differentiators.

Responsibilities

• Define and maintain the Neuroscience BD commercial strategy by identifying high-value target indications, mechanisms of action (MOAs), and asset profiles aligned with BMS’s three strategic imperatives in Psychiatry, Neurodegeneration, and Specialty Neurology.
• Develop and continuously refine the Neuroscience Opportunity Framework, mapping unmet commercial needs across the TA to external landscape opportunities, including partnerships, licensing, acquisitions, and RDC collaborations.
• Serve as the GCS commercial authority in BD processes, synthesizing market intelligence, competitive landscape data, and launch readiness insights to prioritize BD opportunities.
• Champion BD as a key lever in delivering on the pipeline strategic imperative: “Drive innovation in development and commercialization across the Neuroscience portfolio through TALT partnership and BD opportunities.”
• Champion novel approaches to advance our BD capabilities, leveraging a tech-forward approach (AI) to drive insight and efficiency.
• Lead commercial due diligence for neuroscience assets under evaluation, assessing epidemiology, market sizing, patient segmentation, competitive dynamics, market value drivers, pricing and reimbursement landscape, and peak sales forecasting in partnership with commercial and cross-functional development teams.
• Build and validate commercial cases for potential transactions, including scenario-based forecasting models that reflect the risk-adjusted commercial opportunity.
• Partner with Corporate BD, Finance, R&D, and Medical to deliver integrated asset valuations; ensure commercial inputs are accurately reflected in transaction models and decision frameworks.
• Assess ex-U.S. business development opportunities on a case-by-case basis, providing the commercial rationale for geographic strategy expansion and prioritization.
• Monitor the external neuroscience innovation landscape, identify disruptive trends across modalities—including small molecules, biologics, gene therapy, and RNA-based therapeutics—and translate these insights into actionable BD intelligence for GCS leadership.
• Cultivate and manage strategic relationships with external partners, including biotech companies, academic institutions, and licensing organizations operating in the neuroscience space.
• Represent BMS Neuroscience GCS at key industry conferences, such as BIO, to identify early-stage partnership opportunities and position BMS as a preferred commercial partner.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with Corporate BD, Alliance Management, and Legal to support term sheets, deal structuring, and partnership governance for neuroscience transactions.
• Partner with CI teams to maintain a dynamic, insight-led view of the competitive neuroscience landscape, including competitor pipeline movements, M&A activity, and emerging scientific trends across Psychiatry, Neurodegeneration, and Specialty Neurology, including neuromuscular diseases such as MS.
• Leverage AI-driven insights, predictive analytics, and Business Insights & Analytics (BI&A) partnerships to generate differentiated commercial intelligence supporting BD evaluations.
• Synthesize intelligence into executive-ready communications for the VP GCS, SVP Neuroscience, TALT, and other senior BMS stakeholders.
• Operate as a fully integrated member of the Neuroscience GCS Leadership Team, actively contributing to the TA’s three strategic imperatives across Performance, Pipeline, and People.
• Partner across the matrix, including Corporate BD, S&E, Global Commercial, Medical Affairs, Market Access, Discovery, and Finance, to ensure BD evaluations reflect the full enterprise perspective.
• Represent the commercial BD function in governance forums as required, including Asset Teams, Portfolio Review Committees, and GCS planning cycles.
• Contribute to a resilient, high-performing GCS team culture rooted in accountability, inclusion, and bold action-taking, consistent with the GCS People imperative.

Benefits

• Medical, pharmacy, dental, and vision care.
• BMS Well-Being Account, BMS Living Life Better, and Employee Assistance Programs (EAP).
• 401(k) plan, short- and long-term disability, life insurance, accident insurance, supplemental health insurance, business travel protection, personal liability protection, identity theft benefit, legal support, and survivor support.
• Paid Time Off
• flexible time off (unlimited, with manager approval, 11 paid national holidays)
• 160 hours annual paid vacation for new hires with manager approval, 11 national holidays, and 3 optional holidays
• unlimited paid sick time, up to 2 paid volunteer days per year, summer hours flexibility, leaves of absence for medical, personal, parental, caregiver, bereavement, and military needs and an annual Global Shutdown between Christmas and New Years Day.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive