Head of Life Sciences Partnerships

Amae Health•San Francisco, CA

3d•Onsite

About The Position

Amae Health is hiring its first Head of Life Sciences Partnerships, a senior, hands-on individual contributor who will originate and close the company’s first pharma and biotech partnerships. Reporting to and partnering directly with the founder and CEO, this person will identify where Amae’s clinical, research, measurement, and data capabilities can address meaningful problems for life sciences companies and turn uncertain buyers, offerings, and use cases into commercially viable opportunities. The role will explore potential buyers across medical affairs, HEOR, R&D, commercial, and other functions. The CEO, Chief Medical Officer, CTO, and clinical and research teams will contribute to partnership development, feasibility, scientific scope, and delivery; the role’s immediate priority is closing deals rather than building a team. Amae Health is a Series B, venture-backed Public Benefit Corporation providing psychiatry-led specialty outpatient care for people with complex mental illness through in-person clinics. Its integrated care model combines psychiatry, therapy, primary care, dietitians, and community support. Amae is also developing clinical protocols, measurement approaches, and an AI-driven data platform, supported by longitudinal multimodal patient records and research conducted in its clinics. The position is based in San Francisco and involves travel of up to 30%. First-year success means gaining access to relevant decision-makers, developing a qualified pipeline with clear buyer needs, budget owners, and actionable next steps, and securing Amae’s first signed, revenue-generating pharma or biotech collaborations. Compensation is a base salary of $160,000 to $190,000 per year, plus variable compensation tied to contracted partnership revenue and meaningful equity. Final pay depends on experience.

Requirements

Typically 7 or more years of experience in life sciences business development, partnerships, or related commercial roles, including substantial hands-on experience selling to pharma or biotech.
A demonstrated individual-contributor track record of personally sourcing, developing, and closing pharma or biotech business.
Ability to discuss specific deals, including how access was gained, budgets identified, decisions navigated, and agreements brought to signature.
Experience creating opportunities while the offering, buyer, or use case was still being defined, rather than relying on a mature product and established sales motion.
Ability to gain access to relevant decision-makers, build relationships from scratch, identify budget owners, and navigate complex pharma buying processes.
Commercial judgment to explore medical affairs, HEOR, R&D, commercial, and other functions without presuming where demand will emerge.
Scientific and clinical fluency sufficient to ask informed questions, triage opportunities, and collaborate credibly with psychiatrists, researchers, data scientists, and pharma leaders; independent study scoping is not required.
Strong commercial execution, including meeting preparation, persistent follow-through, proposal development, negotiation, and sustaining momentum through long, multi-stakeholder sales cycles.
Independence and judgment to operate as a senior partner to a founder CEO, challenge ideas constructively, work through ambiguity, and take ownership without a large team or established playbook.

Nice To Haves

An existing network in CNS and psychiatry at pharma or biotech companies.
Familiarity with real-world evidence, HEOR, digital biomarkers, novel endpoints, or the current psychiatry pipeline.

Responsibilities

Build a focused target list with the CEO and secure meetings with relevant pharma and biotech decision-makers, using existing relationships where useful while also opening new accounts.
Lead buyer-discovery conversations across medical affairs, HEOR, R&D, commercial, and other groups to uncover priority problems, identify decision-makers and budget owners, and qualify commercial opportunities.
Own meeting preparation, follow-up, stakeholder mapping, internal coordination, and deal progression from initial meeting through clear next steps and signed agreement.
Turn early interest into qualified opportunities with identifiable champions, budgets, and a path forward.
Translate buyer needs into opportunity briefs for clinical, research, and data teams, and collaborate with those teams on feasibility and scientific scope.
Own commercial proposals, pricing discussions, negotiations, and contracting alongside Legal and Compliance, while keeping clinical independence and patient trust central.
Maintain a disciplined, lightweight pipeline and use market feedback to refine priority use cases and buyer groups.
Deliver first-year outcomes that include relevant decision-maker access, a qualified pipeline, and Amae’s first signed, revenue-generating pharma or biotech collaborations.