Business Development Leader - AI for Life Sciences (PhD)

Avatar Cognition; Barcelona; Hybrid; EUR 50,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

Avatar Cognition, Barcelona, seeks a Business Development Leader AI for Life Sciences (PhD) to translate disruptive AI into medicine breakthroughs. You will bridge the gap between our technology and market, leading partnerships with biotech, pharma, and research sectors.

Reporting to the CEO, you will define go-to-market strategies, build a sales roadmap, and create a new BD team aligned with product development.

Qualifications

• Proven commercial or business development skills in biotech or AI-driven life sciences.
• Experience bridging technical teams and markets to drive partnerships.
• Ability to manage early-stage collaborations or pilots.

Responsibilities

• Define the company’s business strategy with go-to-market plans.
• Lead sales plan and grow client portfolio with research groups, CROs, biotech and pharma partners.
• Build a new business development team and define product roadmap with tech team.
• Structure and communicate life sciences products, case studies, and success stories.

Skills

Commercial mindset

Relationship building

Public speaking

Strategic thinking

Entrepreneurial mindset

Education

PhD in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Biotechnology

Tools

R

Python

Job description

Business Development Leader AI for Life Sciences (PhD)

Turn Disruptive AI into Medicine Breakthroughs.

Location: Barcelona Type: Full-time (Flexibility + Friday remote) Initial Salary: €50,000 - €75,000 OTE EU working permit PhD will be highly valued

About Avatar Cognition

We are a frontier AI company that has invented and patented a novel computational model for a new breed of intelligent systems. Unlike traditional deep learning and other neural networks-based technologies, Synthetic Cognition —our technology— learns directly from reasonable amounts of diverse data to generalize predictions "off-the-shelf".

We are licensing this technology to revolutionize Translational Medicine. Synthetic Cognition can integrate heterogeneous multi-omic sources, learn from minimal data, and produce state-of-the‑art, fully explainable biomarker discoveries without requiring per-use-case engineering.

Leveraging this unique general-purpose capability, we are expanding our "one-for-all and zero ad-hoc engineering" paradigm to new use cases, aiming to become a new foundational AI technology for the Life Sciences value chain.

About the Position

We’re seeking a Business Development Leader with a strong understanding of translational medicine use cases, cohorts and datasets, and an entrepreneurial mindset to lead our product and sales for the lifescience market.

You will act as the bridge between our technological team and the market , and lead the communication of the value of our AI technology to partners and clients in the biotech, pharma, and research sectors.

You will define and push, partnering with market players, a roadmap of commercially relevant state-of-the‑art use cases , to reinforce our value positioning and expand the applicability of our general‑purpose AI technology.

You will report to the CEO of the company.

Experience & Background

Proven commercial or business development skills, ideally gained in the biotech, bioinformatics, or AI-driven life sciences sector.

Either: experience working in a biotech, spin‑off, or tech‑based company, where scientific products or services are commercialized.

Or: a strong academic or technical background in Biology, Biochemistry, Biotechnology, or related fields, combined with a clear commercial mindset and ability to engage with life sciences clients.

Demonstrated ability to build relationships with clients and partners, identify opportunities, and manage early‑stage collaborations or pilot projects.

Skills

Strong communication and presentation skills, capable of translating technical concepts into clear value propositions.

Result‑oriented, proactive, and comfortable working autonomously in a dynamic environment.

Nice-to-Have Qualifications

PhD in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Biotechnology, or related fields.

Hands‑on understanding of multi‑omics datasets and analysis (e.g., transcriptomics, methylation, proteomics).

Familiarity with bioinformatics tools and data analysis workflows (R, Python, pipelines).

Experience in technology transfer, academic‑industry collaborations, or scientific business development.

Knowledge of the biomedicine innovation landscape and validation processes.

What You’ll Do

Together with the CEO and the board, define the company’s business strategy, including go-to-market strategies, high‑value opportunities, and partnerships.

Lead the company’s sales plan and the growth of our client portfolio, engaging with research groups, CROs, biotech companies, and pharma partners.

Lead the creation of a new business development team, including sales and product.

Together with the technical team, define a company’s product roadmap aligned with our business development strategy and goals.

Structure and communicate our life sciences product, case studies and success stories, including materials for presentations, web content, and outreach.

Why Join Us?

Impact: Be at the spearhead of AI innovation, applying valid technology to real clinical challenges.

Growth: Shape the commercial strategy of a unique, explainable AI platform from the ground up.

Learning: Work in a multidisciplinary team combining AI, data science, biology, and innovation.

Culture: Flexible, employee-centric, and intellectually stimulating environment with significant growth opportunities.