Head Of Business Development

More than one million people in the United States today are fighting blood cancer. While a traditional allogeneic stem cell transplant has been the best hope for many, the transplant itself can prove fatal or lead to serious conditions, such as graft vs. host disease. Orca Bio is a commercial-stage biotechnology company redefining the transplant process by developing next-generation cell therapies with the goal of providing significantly better survival rates with dramatically fewer risks. With our purified, high-precision cell therapies we hope to not only replace patients' blood and immune systems with healthy ones, but also restore their lives.

Position Summary: 

As Head of Business Development (reporting into CFO/Head of Strategy), you will drive the company's strategic partnership and licensing strategy, serving as the lead external interface for business development initiatives that advance Orca Bio's pipeline and commercial objectives. You will identify, evaluate, and negotiate partnerships with industry leaders, academic institutions, and research organizations to access promising therapeutics, expand our pipeline, and create strategic value.

This role combines deal leadership with strategic business planning, requiring both hands-on deal execution and high-level strategic thinking aligned with the board and executive leadership. You will work with an entrepreneurial spirit, while maintaining close collaboration with Scientific, Clinical, Regulatory, Manufacturing, and Commercial teams to ensure partnerships align with scientific merit, regulatory strategy, and business objectives.

You will be responsible for overseeing the full portfolio of potential strategic partnerships, from sourcing and evaluation through negotiation, execution, and ongoing relationship management, serving as a strategic advisor to the C-suite on market opportunities, partnership trends, and business development strategy.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the development and execution of Orca Bio's business development and partnership strategy in close collaboration with the C-Sute, including long-term roadmap development, pipeline expansion targets, and growth initiatives aligned with company milestones and financing objectives.
• Own the full deal lifecycle: identify strategic partnership opportunities consistent with pipeline and therapeutic area focus; develop detailed scientific, technical, and commercial due diligence assessments; lead negotiations with academic partners, biotech/pharma companies, and research institutions; structure and document agreements; and oversee execution and ongoing relationship management.
• Build and maintain a comprehensive network of external contacts across academia, biotech, pharma, venture capital, and non-profit sectors to source and evaluate partnership opportunities in cell therapy, immunology, hematology-oncology, and adjacent therapeutic areas aligned with Orca Bio's scientific platform.