Full-Time
Director/Sr. Director
Business Development
Posted on 11/7/2025
BigHat Biosciences
51-200 employees
ML-guided antibody discovery and engineering
No salary listed
San Mateo, CA, USA
In Person
 Business & Strategy (1) |
|---|
- Minimum of 5-10 years of experience in biopharma business development, corporate development, or strategy as operator, consultant, investor or financial services
- Proactive, self-starter, collaborative, ambitious business development professional
- Passionate about engaging both internal and external stakeholders
- Motivated and passionate about leveraging new technologies in drug discovery
- Proven analytical skills and business acumen
- Comfortable with technical details and a science-first approach
- Strong and effective communication skills, both verbal and written
- Ability to synthesize clear and concise materials, superb slide creation and presentation
- Understanding of contracts and negotiation tactics
- Financial and budgetary experience
- Willingness to think creatively about collaboration and licensing opportunities
- Demonstrated success in biotech partnering
- Bachelor of Science degree (engineering/biological sciences or related)
- Execute on business development strategy to achieve exceptional key results aligned with corporate objectives and the mission to design next-generation antibodies for patients
- Assess the AI protein therapeutic, oncology, and discovery and development landscape to continually understand BigHat’s position and opportunities for differentiation
- Develop compelling materials that clearly communicate BigHat’s value proposition and opportunities for platform collaborations and licensing of pipeline assets
- Identify and build relationships with prospective partners leveraging a deep engagement and science-forward approach
- Advance prospective partner discussions to value-generating collaboration and/or licensing agreements
- Increase awareness of the BigHat Milliner platform and pipeline of next-generation antibodies
- Identify new partnering opportunities with rationale for value creation on each side
- Research and attend relevant conferences and events relevant to machine learning for antibody discovery and BigHat’s internal therapeutic pipeline
- Develop and refine all business development presentations
- Assess relative market risk/benefit profiles for new internal or external programs
- Coordinate prospective partnering meetings and create internal and shared materials
- Draft prospective partner collaboration and licensing proposals
- Own operations of partnering activities including managing communications, deliverables, and timelines to internal stakeholders
- Perform analytics for corporate development objectives including funding activities
- Build deep and broad relationships across the biotech and pharma industry
- Provide market/commercial analyses for potential pipeline programs BigHat is evaluating for their internal pipeline or partnering opportunities
- MBA or consulting, PhD, or MD preferred
BigHat Biosciences designs and develops antibody therapies by combining machine learning with synthetic biology. Its Milliner platform integrates a wet-lab workflow with AI to discover, engineer, and fully characterize hundreds of recombinant antibodies each week, enabling rapid development of safer and more effective treatments for hard-to-treat diseases such as certain infections and cancers. Unlike traditional antibody discovery, Milliner provides end-to-end screening, purification, and characterization in a high-throughput, weekly workflow, speeding up the path from concept to candidate. The company differentiates itself through its integrated platform that couples ML-driven design with synthetic biology experimentation, a focus on challenging diseases, and a culture that emphasizes work-life balance. Its goal is to deliver faster, safer antibody therapies to patients by expanding access to rapid discovery and engineering capabilities for healthcare providers and patients alike.
Company Size
51-200
Company Stage
Series B
Total Funding
$99.3M
Headquarters
San Carlos, California
Founded
2019
Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- Synaffix ADC technology license expands pipeline into high-value oncology market segment.
- Series B $124M funding at $180M pre-money valuation enables platform scaling and hiring.
- Big pharma collaborations generate milestone payments and potential royalties on approved therapeutics.
What critics are saying
- CEO Mark DePristo resignation disrupts strategy execution during critical partnership scaling phase.
- Competitors Generate Biomedicines and AbCellera raise larger Series C rounds with superior valuations.
- Big pharma partners may internalize Milliner technology post-collaboration, eliminating licensing revenue streams.
What makes BigHat Biosciences unique
- Milliner platform synthesizes, purifies, and characterizes hundreds of antibodies weekly.
- Integrated wet lab with machine learning accelerates protein engineering versus traditional methods.
- Partnerships with Merck, J&J, AbbVie, and Amgen validate platform across multiple indications.
Help us improve and share your feedback! Did you find this helpful?
Benefits
Professional Development Budget
Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
↓ -2%1 year growth
↑ 2%2 year growth
↑ 4%BigHat Biosciences raised $124 million in Series B funding led by S32 on April 28, 2025, with a pre-money valuation of $180 million. Participants included Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Quadrille Capital, Gaingels, GRIDS Capital, Axial, Quain Investments, Andreessen Horowitz, 8VC, AME Cloud Ventures, and Kevin Moore.
Co-founder Mark DePristo has stepped down as CEO of Bighat Biosciences Inc. and is succeeded by fellow co-founder Peyton Greenside, who was president and CSO.
The Danish company Adcendo and Chinese company Multitude Therapeutics entered into a $1 billion deal to develop ADCs for the treatment of cancer; and in August, the FDA lifted a partial hold on a Phase 1 trial evaluating an ADC candidate developed by MediLink Therapeutics and BioNTech for the treatment of advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer and breast cancer.
BigHat obtains access to Synaffix's site-specific ADC technology platform, and plans to combine Synaffix technology with its advanced ML antibody design platform to develop a new ADC pipeline
Similarly, AbbVie is collaborating with BigHat Biosciences to develop next-generation antibody therapeutics using the Milliner platform, focusing on oncology and neuroscience.