Commercial Counsel

Twist Bioscience; United States; Remote; USD 190,000 - 270,000; Full time

Job summary

Twist Bioscience Corporation is seeking a Counsel to support commercial, biopharma, and related contracts across the organization. You will draft, review, and negotiate agreements, shape playbooks for legal operations, and guide cross-functional teams on contracting best practices.

Ideal candidates have 1–7 years PQE or equivalent in a biotech or life sciences setting, strong English communication, and the ability to manage external counsel and multiple deadlines in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

• JD/LLB or equivalent legal degree.
• 1–7 years of relevant contractual/commercial experience.
• Experience negotiating high-volume commercial and pharma agreements.
• Fluent in English (written and spoken).
• Ability to manage outside counsel and external stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Draft, review, and negotiate commercial, biopharma, and related contracts.
• Develop AI tool playbooks using corporate legal tools.
• Manage intake, review, and approval workflows for contract requests.
• Provide business-facing guidance on contracting risks and compliance.
• Support non-U.S. employment and corporate matters as needed.

Skills

Contract negotiation

Legal advice

Cross-functional collaboration

English fluency

Life sciences contracts

Education

Law degree

Job description

The primary responsibilities of the Counsel will be to support Twist Bioscience Corporation, a leading synthetic biology and genomics company, on a variety of contracting, licensing, product-related and other commercial matters. The Counsel will provide such legal support to Twist’s growing Commercial and Biopharma divisions and will also support where needed non-U.S. employment and corporate matters.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Draft, review and negotiate a variety of standard commercial, biopharma, and other legal documents, including tenders, inbound and outbound supply and services agreements, OEM and distribution agreements, collaboration agreements, government price and subcontractor agreements, and material transfer agreements. This may also include inbound procurement agreements from time to time.
• Draft and improve applicable AI tool playbooks using Twist available legal operations tools (enterprise GC AI, Gemini, Notebook LM and Ironclad).
• Manage processes and workflows governing the intake, review, and approval of commercial and biopharma agreement requests.
• Advise business and cross functional stakeholders on best practices and legal updates affecting contracting.
• Other responsibilities as assigned.

What You’ll Bring to the Team

• Either fully qualified solicitor with at least 1-year PQE, or 4-7 years relevant contractual or commercial experience (ideally with a LLB (or equivalent) but not mandatory) at a major law firm or in-house legal department at a biotech, pharma or other life sciences company.
• Experience drafting, negotiating and managing a high volume of commercial and pharma agreements, including tenders.
• Experience in reviewing, negotiating and closing tenders across the globe.
• Fluent in English (written and spoken)
• The ability to manage outside counsel and assess when consultation with outside counsel is appropriate.
• Strong interpersonal communication and collaboration skills to maintain an effective working relationship with internal and external stakeholders at all levels.
• The ability to prioritize and manage multiple tight deadlines in a fast-paced business environment.
• Excellent judgment in assessing risks and benefits.
• Hands-on and collaborative working style.
• Experience building for scale.
• Experience with domestic and international contracts.

Preferred Qualifications

• Fluent in Mandarin (written and spoken).
• Familiarity with synthetic biology and sequencing products and processes, drug development landscape, antibody therapies, and personalized medicine.
• Basic understanding of employment and/or corporate law.

About Twist Bioscience

Twist Bioscience synthesizes genes from scratch, known as “writing” DNA. Just as children learn to both read and write, the next phase of development for the genomics revolution is the ability to write DNA.

At Twist Bioscience, we work in service of people who are changing the world for the better. In fields such as health care, agriculture, industrial chemicals and data storage, our unique silicon-based DNA Synthesis Platform provides precision at a scale that is otherwise unavailable to our customers.

Twist Bioscience Corporation is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Twist Bioscience Corporation provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, genetic characteristics, or any other category protected by law.