Head of Corporate Strategy

Biotechnology is rewriting life as we know it, from the medicines we take, to the crops we grow, the materials we wear, and the household goods that we rely on every day. But moving at the new speed of science requires better technology.

Benchling’s mission is to unlock the power of biotechnology. The world’s most innovative biotech companies use Benchling’s R&D Cloud to power the development of breakthrough products and accelerate time to milestone and market. 

Come help us bring modern software to modern science.

ROLE OVERVIEW

Benchling is hiring a Head of Corporate Strategy for its Strategy team, who will be responsible for a range of strategic planning activities, corporate development, and product partnerships. We are looking for a strategy professional to drive market analysis and sequencing, support long range planning, build an industry research program, and help direct strategic deal (acquisition and partnership) activity. The successful candidate will demonstrate structured thinking, exceptional communication skills, and deep empathy for our customers and partners. The Head of Corporate Strategy will regularly collaborate with executive leadership, the broader strategy team, finance, product, and go-to-market teams to help our organization execute on its mission and operating goals.

The ideal candidate will have experience in or across the following areas: corporate strategy/strategic planning, strategic finance, and/or corporate development. Experience in or exposure to life sciences is highly preferred as the corporate strategy lead acts as a domain expert for cross-functional teams.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead corporate strategy, corporate development, and product partnerships in a “player-coach” capacity while managing a small team of strategy professionals
• Corporate strategy:
• Deliver a strategy agenda that incorporates recurring content for executive leadership and ad hoc support for specific strategic questions
• Conduct primary qualitative and quantitative market research to build an understanding of end markets, including market sizing (TAM), competitive landscape, and value chain/ecosystem
• Build defensible business cases for market prioritization and sequencing, helping the executive leadership team make long-term product and market investment decisions
• Consolidate and maintain multi-year strategic plans across prioritized new markets, folding into the overall long range planning activities
• Conceive and deliver research on relevant trends in our key industry verticals and partner with marketing to bring that messaging to executives
• Work with GTM leadership on segmentation, customer prioritization, and sales planning/territory design
• Review, analyze, and deliver insights into business performance across segments, products, and geographies
• Corporate development:
• Create and refresh roadmaps for high priority markets, encompassing strategic rationale for deals, market landscape, and high priority opportunities
• Own the corporate development pipeline, including identification and meeting potential opportunities in priority markets (sourcing)
• Collaborate with a cross-functional deal team (including Product, Finance, Legal) on pre-deal execution, including recommended deal structure/terms, term sheet drafting, and presentations to target on value of acquisition
• Assist in the execution of acquisitions by performing due diligence and creating financial models
• Build an initial plan to scale or integrate deals (across all functions) based upon structure, including designing success criteria
• Manage the overall deal process and post-close integration, working with business sponsors and cross-functional teams to ensure timely deal close and success post-close
• Regularly present to Benchling leadership across Product, Engineering, Sales, and Finance on the external environment in high priority areas, recommended opportunities, and on the status of in-flight projects
• Establish strong relationships externally with the life sciences community of entrepreneurs and investors
• Product partnerships
• Oversee and grow the Benchling Developer Program
• Execute strategic product and/or technical partnerships as needed within market strategy priorities

QUALIFICATIONS

• 10+ years of combined experience working in/across corporate strategy, product strategy or product management, corporate development, venture capital, and/or management consulting
• Possess a product-centric view of problem solving and an understanding of commercialization/go-to-market in B2B software companies (GTM)
• Deep curiosity about life sciences, our customers, and our markets
• Exp