Head of Strategic Partnerships

Absentia Labs•Boston, MA

6d•Remote

About The Position

Absentia is entering a critical phase: transforming scientific and regulatory momentum into meaningful commercial relationships and market adoption. The challenge is no longer simply building technology. The challenge is ensuring that the right pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology organizations, CROs, regulators, investors, and industry leaders understand where our platform fits, why it matters, and how it can create value within drug development. This role exists to accelerate that process. The Head of Strategic Partnerships will be responsible for building and managing the external relationships that drive adoption, validation, and long-term growth. You will work directly with the founders to expand Absentia's presence across the pharmaceutical and biotechnology ecosystem and help establish the company as a category-defining leader in predictive safety assessment. This is not a traditional sales role. We are seeking a relationship builder, ecosystem strategist, and business development leader capable of creating trust, opening doors, identifying opportunities, and converting scientific interest into meaningful partnerships.

Requirements

Experience in business development, strategic partnerships, alliance management, or commercial strategy.
Experience within pharmaceutical, biotechnology, CRO, life sciences, or healthcare organizations.
Strong understanding of drug development and the pharmaceutical ecosystem.
Demonstrated ability to develop senior-level relationships and navigate complex organizations.
Excellent communication, presentation, and stakeholder-management skills.
High emotional intelligence, strong judgment, and exceptional follow-through.
Comfort operating in a founder-led, fast-moving startup environment.

Responsibilities

Identify, prioritize, and develop relationships with pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies, CROs, academic institutions, industry consortia, and strategic stakeholders.
Develop and execute partnership strategies aligned with company objectives and platform maturity.
Build and maintain a pipeline of high-value partnership opportunities.
Establish trusted relationships with scientific, business, and executive stakeholders across the drug development ecosystem.
Create and manage strategic account plans for priority organizations.
Develop relationships with toxicology, nonclinical safety, translational medicine, pharmacology, and R&D leadership teams.
Identify opportunities for pilot programs, structured evaluations, scientific collaborations, and commercial partnerships.
Facilitate introductions, meetings, workshops, and follow-on engagements.
Help define partnership structures that create value for both parties.
Support conversion of scientific interest into formal engagements.
Identify opportunities to establish strategic relationships with CROs, technology providers, academic institutions, and industry organizations.
Explore channel, referral, co-marketing, validation, and collaboration opportunities.
Help position Absentia within the broader drug development ecosystem.
Build partnerships that accelerate market access and platform adoption.
Maintain a disciplined approach to relationship management, opportunity tracking, and partnership development.
Ensure all interactions, meetings, and opportunities are documented and actively managed.
Develop reporting and dashboards that provide visibility into partnership activity and pipeline health.
Maintain accountability for follow-through and progression of opportunities.
Partner closely with Translational Science leadership to ensure customer needs, scientific priorities, and adoption barriers are understood.
Collaborate with Regulatory Strategy leadership to incorporate regulatory credibility and qualification milestones into partnership discussions.
Work closely with founders to align external engagement with company priorities.
Translate external market feedback into actionable business insights.
Represent Absentia at major industry conferences, partnering events, scientific meetings, and business development forums.
Coordinate strategic outreach before, during, and after industry events.
Develop and maintain relationships established through conferences and networking activities.
Help maximize return on investment from industry engagement activities.
Support development of strategic messaging, partnership materials, presentations, and external communications.
Help establish Absentia as a recognized leader in AI-native safety assessment and predictive toxicology.
Identify opportunities to increase visibility across industry networks and communities.
Contribute to category creation and market education efforts.