Associate Business Development Director - Oncology Biopharma

Company Description

Guardant Health is a leading precision oncology company focused on guarding wellness and giving every person more time free from cancer. Founded in 2012, Guardant® is transforming patient care and accelerating new cancer therapies by providing critical insights into what drives disease through its advanced blood and tissue tests, real-world data and AI analytics. Guardant tests help improve outcomes across all stages of care, including screening to find cancer early, monitoring for recurrence in early-stage cancer, and treatment selection for patients with advanced cancer. For more information, visit guardanthealth.com and follow the company on LinkedIn, X (Twitter) and Facebook. 

Position Summary 

The Associate Business Development Director - Oncology BioPharma will play a key leadership role within Guardant Health’s BioPharma Business Development team, responsible for expanding and managing strategic biopharma partnerships across the oncology portfolio. This role supports strategy creation and drives larger initiatives spanning multiple internal and external stakeholder groups, with accountability for developing new accounts, growing existing partnerships, advancing commercial opportunities, and delivering an outstanding partner experience. 

The Associate Director will work closely with drug development companies to build partnerships that leverage Guardant Health’s portfolio of tests, data capabilities, clinical trial services, biomarker discovery solutions, and companion diagnostic opportunities. This role requires strong commercial judgment, cross-functional influence, and the ability to develop and translate complex scientific, clinical, and business value propositions into successful partnerships and repeat business. 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities 

• Meet new prospects and existing customers, identify, qualify, and pursue new business opportunities with biopharma, to support revenue growth, translational medicine, companion diagnostics, screening and oncology market access, product visibility, and long-term strategic objectives. 

• Develop business cases to support application expansion and execute account and partnership strategies that expand Guardant Health’s biopharma oncology business, moving opportunities from transactional engagements toward broader, integrated partnerships across Guardant’s suite of capabilities. 

• Lead the management of existing partner relationships and commercial opportunities, including aligning win-win opportunities between Guardant’s capabilities and the client’s portfolio, meeting preparation and execution, proposal development, pricing discussions, contract negotiations, and closing of agreements that align with business goals and strengthen long-term customer relationships, contract negotiations, proposal development, pricing discussions, and closing of agreements that align with business goals and strengthen long-term customer relationships. 

• Guide and educate external partners, including biomarker researchers, translational medicine scientists, clinical development leaders, and global commercial teams, on Guardant’s oncology portfolio, data capabilities, clinical trial services, and companion diagnostic opportunities. 

• Lead cross-functional collaboration with Research Operations, Alliance Management, Bioinformatics, DAP, Quality, Global Scientific Affairs, Clinical Trial Operations, Product, Legal, Finance, Marketing, Regulatory, Translational Sciences R&D, and commercial teams to address customer needs, resolve issues, and deliver a high-quality partner experience. 

• Conduct market and customer analysis to identify oncology market dynamics, competitive trends, customer needs, pricing considerations, and partnership opportunities that inform account planning and commercial strategy. 

• Develop business cases, sales forecasts, account plans, and executive-ready updates that provide insight into pipeline health, revenue opportunities, customer trends, competitive intelligence, and strategic tradeoffs. 

• Partner with BioPharma leadership to  communicate partner needs and priorities, support strategic initiatives, and influence internal decisions needed to advance high-value business development opportunities. 

• Build and maintain relationships with biopharma decision-makers, and industry stakeholders to strengthen Guardant’s visibility, credibility, and adoption across oncology partnerships. 

• Represent Guardant Health at industry conferences, customer meetings, scientific forums, and networking events to promote the oncology portfolio and identify new partnership opportunities. 

• Follow business development processes, tools, training materials, and best practices that improve team effectiveness and enable consistent execution across accounts. 

Qualifications 

• Typically requires a bachelor’s degree in Life Sciences, Business Administration, or related field with 8-10+ years of relevant experience; MBA or advanced degree preferred. 

• 8+ years of experience in business development, sales, consulting, diagnostics, biopharma, CROs, oncology, precision medicine, or related life sciences. 

• Experience developing and closing fee for services, companion diagnostics, commercial agreements, both transaction and complex, including contract negotiation, account growth, and partner management. 

• Strong understanding of oncology, biomarker development, companion diagnostics, clinical trial services, sequencing technologies, precision medicine, and clinical diagnostics market dynamics, including regulatory, reimbursement, and market access considerations. 

• Demonstrated resourcefulness and ability to operate with broad latitude, prioritize complex opportunities, influence cross-functional teams, resolve tradeoffs, and drive decisions in ambiguous or fast-moving situations. 

• Strong analytical, commercial, communication, presentation, and relationship-building skills, including market analysis, forecasting, business case development, pipeline management, executive reporting, and translating complex scientific and business concepts for senior stakeholders. Track record in epigenomics or application development is a plus.

• Independent, proactive self-starter who can regularly hunt while managing multiple opportunities, balance emerging and ongoing relationships, deliver commitments on time, build scalable processes, and support broader team success. 

• Remote, hybrid, or office-based per business needs and Guardant Health policy; up to 75% travel may be required. 

AI & Digital Fluency

• Demonstrate curiosity, sound judgment, and the ability to critically evaluate and responsibly leverage AI-enabled tools in accordance with company policies, ethical standards, and regulatory requirements to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and quality of work.

Hybrid Work Model: This section is applicable to onsite employees who are eligible for hybrid work location as specified by management and related policies.  Guardant has defined days for in-person/onsite collaboration and work-from-home days for individual-focused time. All U.S. employees who live within 50 miles of a Guardant facility will be required to be onsite on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. We have found aligning our scheduled in-office days allows our teams to do the best work and creates the focused thinking time our innovative work requires. At Guardant, our work model has created flexibility for better work-life balance while keeping teams connected to advance our science for our patients.

The annualized base salary ranges for the primary location and any additional locations are listed below. This range does not include benefits or, if applicable, bonus, commission, or equity. Each candidate’s compensation offer will be based on multiple factors including, but not limited to, geography, experience, education, job-related skills, job duties, and business need.

Primary Location: Remote-USA-MD
Primary Location Base Pay Range: $171,810 - $236,250
Other US Location(s) Base Pay Range: $162,265 - $223,125
If the role is performed in Colorado, the pay range for this job is: $171,810 - $236,250