Vice President, Business Development - Cell & Gene Therapy

Vice President, Business Development - Cell & Gene Therapy

Position Summary:

The Vice President, Business Development (VP BD) is the senior commercial executive responsible for driving profitable growth across Cell, Gene, Plasmids and iPSC. As a core member of the CGT Leadership Team, this role co-owns sales strategy wins, revenue, and gross margin performance with the Vice President- Commercial CGT, serving as the primary architect and executor of the segment’s commercial strategy.

The Vice President, Business Development leads global business development and strategic account management, owns executive level customer relationships, and ensures that commercial commitments are structured, governed, and executed to deliver sustainable growth, margin discipline, and long-term customer value across the full biologic’s lifecycle, from early clinical through commercial supply.

This role operates at the intersection of strategy, sales execution, deal economics, and operational alignment, partnering closely with Operations, Technical, Quality, Finance, Legal, Program Leadership, and Site Leadership to ensure that growth objectives are achieved without compromising delivery, compliance, or profitability.

The Role

• Commercial Strategy & Go to Market Leadership

• Define and execute the global commercial strategy; align to the business strategic plan and P&L objectives.
• Translate market demand, customer pipelines, and competitive dynamics into actionable growth priorities and account strategies.
• Shape and continuously refine the value proposition, emphasizing lifecycle continuity, speed to clinic, reliable tech transfer, scalability, and commercial supply assurance.

• Executive Customer Engagement & Strategic Account Ownership

• Own and grow executive level relationships with priority biotech and pharmaceutical customers, including CEOs, Heads of Technical Operations, CMC, Supply Chain, and Strategic Sourcing.
• Leads and and expands strategies to increase customer share of wallet across development, clinical, and commercial phases.
• Represent the company credibly at industry leadership levels.

• Deal Leadership, Pricing & Commercial Governance

• Lead and close complex, multi-year commercial agreements, including MSAs, SOWs, long term supply agreements, capacity reservations, and customer funded investments.
• Co-own pricing strategy and commercial deal structures with the VP-Commercial CGT and Finance to ensure alignment with growth targets, margin thresholds, and risk tolerance.
• Ensure contracts are appropriately governed to balance competitiveness, operational feasibility, regulatory obligations, and long-term profitability.
• Serve as the senior commercial escalation point for negotiations, deviations, and customer-related commercial risks.

• Pipeline Management, Forecasting & Operating Cadence

• Own global sales pipeline governance, including opportunity qualification standards, stage discipline, CRM rigor, and executive reporting.

• Commercial-to-Delivery Lifecycle Ownership

• Partner with Operations, Technical, Quality, and Program Management leadership to ensure commercial commitments are realizable within capacity, capability, quality, and timeline constraints.
• Provide executive oversight of the commercial to delivery transition for new customers and major expansions, ensuring effective onboarding, governance setup, and early program performance.
• Support resolution of customer escalations by balancing customer satisfaction with protection of delivery performance and financial outcomes.

• Market Intelligence, Portfolio Shaping & Capacity Alignment

• Work in collaboration with Marketing on competitive intelligence and market analysis to inform pricing posture, service differentiation, and pursuit strategy.
• Provide demand and pipeline insights to inform capacity planning, site utilization, and investment prioritization.
• Partner with the VP-Commercial CGT and site Operations leadership to optimize customer and product mix to drive sustainable, high-quality growth.

• Leadership, Talent Development & Culture

• Build, lead, and develop a high performing global business development organization with strong bench strength and succession planning.
• Establish a culture of accountability, collaboration, customer focus, and disciplined execution.
• Standardize commercial processes, tools, and governance to ensure consistent performance across regions.
• Establish and lead a disciplined commercial operating cadence (weekly pipeline reviews, monthly forecast/margin reviews, quarterly growth strategy reviews).
• Ensure high forecast accuracy and early identification of risks and opportunities impacting bookings, revenue, or margin.

The Candidate

• Bachelor’s degree required (scientific or technical discipline); advanced degree (MS/MBA) preferred.
• 15+ years of progressive commercial leadership experience within Cell and Gene Therapy CDMOs, biopharma services, or related life sciences sectors
• Demonstrated success driving profitable growth for Cell and Gene Therapy
• Proven experience closing large, complex, multi year commercial agreements with global biotech and pharmaceutical companies
• Strong understanding of biologics development and manufacturing across early development through commercial supply
• Experience operating in a global, matrixed environment and partnering effectively with Operations, Quality, Finance, and Technical teams
• Track record of executive level customer engagement, strategic negotiation, and commercial judgment

Pay:

The annual pay range for this position in New Jersey is $250,000-300,000

The annual pay range for this position in California is $250,000-300,000

The final salary offered to a successful candidate may vary, and will be dependent on several factors that may include but are not limited to: the type and length of experience within the job, type and length of experience within the industry, skillset, education, business needs, etc. Catalent is a multi-state employer, and this salary range may not reflect positions that work in other states.

Why you should Join Catalent

• Join a high growth and fast paced organization with a people focused culture

• Global exposure, defined career path and annual performance review and feedback process

• Competitive Medical, Dental, Vision and 401K

• 26 days PTO & 8 paid holidays

Catalent offers rewarding opportunities to further your career!  Join the global drug development and delivery leader and help us bring over 7,000 life-saving and life-enhancing products to patients around the world. Catalent is an exciting and growing international company where employees work directly with pharma, biopharma and consumer health companies of all sizes to advance new medicines from early development to clinical trials and to the market. Catalent produces more than 70 billion doses per year, and each one will be used by someone who is counting on us. Join us in making a difference. 

personal initiative. dynamic pace. meaningful work.

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Catalent is an Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability and veterans.

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