Business Development Manager/Director - Oligo
Business Development Manager / Director, Oligonucleotide CDMO
Boston, Massachusetts | Full-Time | Commercial Strategy
Pay Range: $115,000–$220,000 per year (Manager through Director; final level set at offer)
Since our founding in 1998, Hongene has been at the forefront of nucleic acid chemistry, earning global recognition for delivering high-purity building blocks that powered the early development of RNA therapeutics. Over the years, we have expanded beyond raw materials to become a trusted CDMO partner for oligonucleotide and mRNA medicines. Through sustained investment in infrastructure, talent, and innovation, we continue to scale cutting-edge science — helping our partners advance the next generation of nucleic acid therapeutics from discovery to market.
About the Role
As a Business Development Manager / Director for our oligonucleotide CDMO business, you'll grow Hongene's U.S. customer base — finding and qualifying opportunities, building customer relationships, and moving projects from first discussion through proposal, negotiation, and contract award. Reporting to the VP Technical Operations & Commercial Strategy, you'll sit in our Commercial Strategy team and work closely with scientific and technical colleagues to shape solutions that fit each customer's program.
This is primarily an individual contributor role. At the Manager level, you'll develop and manage opportunities with support from senior commercial and technical colleagues; at the Director level, you'll lead more complex opportunities, develop strategic accounts, and contribute to commercial planning and mentoring. Final title (Manager, Senior Manager, Associate Director, or Director) depends on your experience, commercial results, and scope.
What You'll Do
Business Development and Account Growth
- Identify and develop new U.S. oligonucleotide CDMO opportunities through targeted outreach, referrals, industry events, and follow-up on inbound inquiries.
- Qualify prospects by understanding their development stage, funding status, technical requirements, timelines, decision process, and commercial potential.
- Build relationships with biotech and pharmaceutical customers, develop account plans, and progress qualified opportunities toward agreed pipeline, contract award, and revenue goals.
- Represent Hongene at relevant conferences and customer meetings; track follow-up actions and convert engagement into qualified opportunities.
Technical and Commercial Execution
- Communicate Hongene's oligonucleotide CDMO capabilities, including GMP manufacturing, chemoenzymatic ligation, and integrated raw material supply, with support from technical specialists as needed.
- Coordinate with Sales, CMC, R&D, Project Management, Quality, and manufacturing teams in the U.S. and China to assess project fit and prepare proposals, scopes of work, and quotations aligned with customer development milestones.
- Engage early-stage biotech customers on development plans and CMC milestones; involve technical and regulatory colleagues to define suitable services and realistic project timelines.
- Support or lead commercial negotiations according to experience and assigned authority, coordinating pricing and contract terms with internal stakeholders and obtaining required approvals.
- Coordinate customer technical discussions, site visits, and audits, and support a clear handoff of awarded projects to the execution team.
Market Intelligence and Commercial Collaboration
- Maintain accurate and timely CRM records, including opportunity stage, estimated value, expected timing, next steps, and key risks; provide regular pipeline updates and forecasts.
- Track funding rounds, licensing deals, M&A, clinical and regulatory milestones, product approvals, and relevant patent developments in the oligonucleotide market. Translate findings into target accounts, outreach priorities, and commercial opportunities; share actionable updates to build the organization's market intelligence.
- Work with Marketing and technical colleagues on customer materials, competitor positioning, and industry events. At more senior levels, contribute to commercial planning and mentor colleagues as appropriate.
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in chemistry, biochemistry, molecular biology, chemical engineering, or a related scientific discipline. An advanced degree is a plus but is not required.
- Relevant experience in business development, technical sales, account management, or customer-facing CDMO or life science roles: Manager: 3+ years; Senior Manager: 5+ years; Associate Director: 7+ years; Director: 8+ years. These are expected experience thresholds; final title also depends on the relevance of experience, commercial results, and demonstrated scope of responsibility.
- Manager: ability to develop customer relationships and qualify and advance opportunities with support. Senior Manager: ability to independently manage assigned accounts and opportunities through proposals and negotiations, with demonstrated commercial results.
- Associate Director: demonstrated success winning business and leading complex opportunities across multiple stakeholders. Director: a sustained record of independently winning CDMO business, growing strategic accounts, and delivering commercial results, with the ability to contribute to broader market and account strategy.
- Working knowledge of chemistry, manufacturing, and controls (CMC) and the regulatory milestones relevant to oligonucleotide development, including IND-enabling activities, Investigational New Drug (IND) submissions, clinical development, and New Drug Application (NDA) submissions. Ability to translate these milestones into customer outsourcing needs, project scope, and timelines, working with CMC and regulatory specialists as needed. Depth of knowledge and independence should be appropriate to the level of appointment.
- Strong communication, presentation, relationship-building, and organizational skills; a proactive approach to prospecting and consistent follow-through.
- Ability to collaborate across functions, cultures, and time zones, and proficiency in CRM and cloud-based collaboration tools.
Preferred Qualifications
- Direct experience in oligonucleotide CDMO business development or technical sales, and an established network in the U.S. biotech and pharmaceutical sectors.
- Familiarity with oligonucleotide synthesis and manufacturing, including phosphoramidite chemistry or ligation-based approaches, and relevant CMC, GMP, and scale-up considerations.
- Experience with early-stage biotech customers, development and manufacturing service agreements, or strategic partnerships.
Travel
Ability and willingness to travel up to 25% of working time, primarily for customer visits, relationship development, conferences, and site audits. This includes occasional international travel to China for customer audits and internal coordination. Travel frequency will vary with customer and business needs.
Hongene Biotech Corporation is an Equal Opportunity Employer.