Vice President, Business Development and Alliance Management

About this role

About Xaira Therapeutics

Xaira is an innovative biotech startup focused on leveraging AI to transform drug discovery and development. The company is leading the development of generative AI models to design protein and antibody therapeutics, enabling the creation of medicines against historically hard-to-drug molecular targets. It is also developing foundation models for biology and disease to enable better target elucidation and patient stratification. Collectively, these technologies aim to continually enable the identification of novel therapies and to improve success in drug development. Xaira is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, and London.

The Role Reporting to the Senior Vice President, Business Development and Operations, the Vice President, Business Development will lead the identification, development, negotiation, and execution of major strategic transactions that expand the reach and value of Xaira’s platform.

This role will focus primarily on originating and executing significant AI platform, technology, and multi-program partnerships. Unlike a traditional biotechnology business development role centered on individual asset licensing, this leader will develop complex partnerships built around Xaira’s differentiated scientific and technical capabilities, with the potential to span multiple platform technologies, programs, disease areas, and stages of research and development.

The Vice President will work closely with the SVP of Business Development and Operations, executive leadership, scientific and technical leaders, and legal and finance partners to shape partnering strategy, identify high-value opportunities, and lead transactions from initial engagement through negotiation, execution, and transition to alliance management.

The ideal candidate combines strong transaction leadership with the ability to understand differentiated science and technology, translate Xaira’s AI and drug development capabilities into strategic and commercial value, and develop creative deal structures with pharmaceutical, biotechnology, technology, and other strategic partners.

Key Responsibilities

Business Development Strategy

• Partner with the SVP of Business Development and Operations to develop and execute Xaira’s business development strategy.

• Identify opportunities for major AI platform, technology, research, and multi-program partnerships.

• Translate Xaira’s scientific and technical capabilities, including its AI-enabled discovery and development capabilities, into clear and compelling partnership opportunities.

• Develop a prioritized pipeline of potential partners and transactions aligned with Xaira’s long-term strategy.

• Assess market trends, competitive activity, partner needs, and emerging business models across TechBio, AI, and biopharma, including the evolving landscape for AI-driven drug discovery partnerships.

• Provide strategic recommendations to senior leadership regarding partnership opportunities, deal structures, and market positioning.

Deal Origination and Partner Engagement

• Proactively originate significant partnership opportunities with pharmaceutical, biotechnology, technology, and other strategic organizations.

• Build and maintain senior-level relationships with decision-makers across the biopharma and technology ecosystem.

• Lead early discussions with potential partners to understand their scientific, technical, and business priorities, including opportunities to apply AI across research and development.

• Develop partnership concepts that connect external needs with Xaira’s platform, expertise, and strategic priorities.

• Build opportunities beyond traditional single-asset licensing, including platform collaborations, multi-program partnerships, technology alliances, AI-focused collaborations, and other strategic transactions.

• Represent Xaira at industry meetings, partnering conferences, and other external forums.

Transaction Leadership

• Lead major transactions from initial concept and partner engagement through diligence, negotiation, internal approval, and execution.

• Develop creative deal structures that may include upfront payments, research funding, milestones, royalties, option rights, co-development arrangements, and other economic components.

• Ensure deal structures appropriately reflect the long-term value of Xaira’s platform, AI capabilities, and intellectual property.

• Lead cross-functional transaction teams involving scientific, technical, legal, finance, operations, and executive stakeholders.

• Develop transaction strategies, valuation frameworks, negotiation positions, and executive recommendations, including approaches for valuing differentiated AI technologies and platform capabilities.

• Prepare materials for executive leadership and Board review.

• Maintain momentum, accountability, and clear decision-making throughout complex deal processes.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Work closely with scientific and technical leaders to define the scope, objectives, deliverables, and resource requirements of potential partnerships, including partnerships involving AI models, technologies, and workflows.

• Partner with finance to assess deal economics, valuation, resource commitments, and financial scenarios.

• Partner with legal to negotiate agreements that protect Xaira’s intellectual property and long-term strategic flexibility, including considerations related to AI-generated insights and outputs.

• Ensure proposed partnership commitments are aligned with internal capabilities and company priorities.

• Build alignment across stakeholders on transaction strategy, economics, risks, and decision points.

• Support the transition of executed partnerships into alliance management and ongoing governance.

Alliance Management

• Lead the transition of executed transactions from deal teams into effective alliance management, ensuring continuity between the original strategic intent and partnership

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