Director, Alliance Management - Drug Discovery Collaborations

Iambic; San Diego (CA); Hybrid; USD 175,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Industry-leading pay

Company-paid healthcare

Flexible spending accounts

Voluntary life insurance

401K matching

Uncapped vacation

Job summary

Iambic Therapeutics, a San Diego–based clinical-stage life-science company, seeks an experienced Director of Alliance Management to lead external partnerships from discovery through preclinical development. You will coordinate cross-functional teams and act as the primary liaison with pharmaceutical and biotechnology collaborators to ensure program success.

The role requires deep program leadership, stakeholder management, and a solid understanding of drug discovery, with the ability to manage

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a scientific field or related discipline; MS/PhD preferred.
• 12+ years in alliance or program management within biotech or pharma.
• Experience managing complex scientific collaborations and partnerships.
• Strong understanding of small molecule drug discovery from target to preclinical.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary alliance manager for drug discovery collaborations.
• Build and maintain relationships with partners across scientific, operational, and executive levels.
• Lead collaboration governance, including Joint Steering Committees (JSCs), scientific working groups, executive reviews, agendas, action tracking, and decision documentation.
• Partner with multiple functions to ensure alignment on collaboration objectives, milestones, and deliverables.
• Develop and maintain integrated collaboration plans with timelines, governance milestones, partner commitments, contractual obligations, budgets, and partnership metrics.
• Coordinate cross-functional execution across partnered programs, identifying risks and tracking dependencies.
• Support execution across the drug discovery lifecycle from target identification to candidate nomination.
• Maintain visibility into discovery timelines and DMTA cycles.
• Work with Legal and Business Development to support agreements and data sharing.
• Prepare executive updates and partnership reports and contribute to launch of new collaborations.
• Help establish and continuously improve alliance management processes and governance standards.

Skills

Alliance management

Program management

Stakeholder management

Cross-functional leadership

Negotiation

Education

Bachelor's degree

MS/PhD preferred

Job description

Job Summary

We are seeking an experienced Director of Alliance Management to support strategic drug discovery collaborations. In this role, you will serve as the primary relationship lead for external partnerships, drive operational execution across collaborations, and work closely with scientific and functional leaders to ensure partnered programs advance scientific, operational, and strategic objectives.

You will coordinate cross-functional teams across medicinal chemistry, biology, DMPK, pharmacology, toxicology, CMC, legal, business development, and project management while serving as a trusted partner to pharmaceutical and biotechnology collaborators. Success in this role requires exceptional program leadership, relationship management, and a strong understanding of the drug discovery process, with the ability to coordinate complex cross-functional programs, anticipate risks, and keep collaborations aligned from early discovery through preclinical development.

We prefer candidates who can work onsite at our San Diego headquarters, but we are open to hybrid working models and remote U.S.-based applicants.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary alliance manager for drug discovery collaborations and strategic external partnerships.
• Build and maintain trusted relationships with pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners across scientific, operational, and executive levels.
• Lead collaboration governance, including Joint Steering Committees (JSCs), scientific working groups, executive reviews, agendas, action tracking, and decision documentation.
• Partner with Biology, Medicinal Chemistry, DMPK, Pharmacology, Toxicology, CMC, Legal, Business Development, and project teams to ensure alignment on collaboration objectives, milestones, and deliverables.
• Develop and maintain integrated collaboration plans, including timelines, governance milestones, partner commitments, contractual obligations, budgets, and partnership metrics.
• Coordinate cross-functional execution across multiple partnered programs by proactively identifying risks, tracking dependencies, facilitating issue resolution, and ensuring operational excellence.
• Support execution across the drug discovery lifecycle by coordinating milestones spanning target identification, hit discovery, lead optimization, DMPK/ADME, pharmacology, toxicology, compound supply, and development candidate nomination.
• Maintain visibility into integrated discovery timelines, including design-make-test-analyze (DMTA) cycles, assay execution, data delivery, partner review cycles, and governance decision points.
• Partner with Legal and Business Development to support collaboration agreements, governance structures, data sharing, publications, and strategic partnership activities.
• Prepare executive updates, partnership reports, and presentations while contributing to evaluation and launch of new strategic collaborations.
• Help establish and continuously improve alliance management processes, governance standards, and best practices.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a scientific discipline, engineering, business, or related field; advanced degree (M.S. or Ph.D.) preferred.
• 12+ years in alliance management, scientific program management, project management, scientific operations, or related functions within biotechnology or pharmaceuticals.
• Experience managing complex scientific collaborations and strategic partnerships.
• Strong understanding of small molecule drug discovery from target identification through preclinical development.
• Ability to influence multidisciplinary teams without direct authority.
• Excellent organizational, communication, and stakeholder management skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting discovery through IND-enabling activities, including DMTA workflows, DMPK/ADME, pharmacology, toxicology, and CMC.
• Experience working with pharmaceutical, biotechnology, academic, or CRO partners.
• Familiarity with collaboration agreements, governance structures, and cross-company research programs.
• Alliance Management (ASAP), PMP, or similar certification.

About Iambic Therapeutics

Iambic is a clinical-stage life-science and technology company developing novel medicines using its AI-driven discovery and development platform. Based in San Diego and founded in 2020, Iambic has assembled a world-class team that unites pioneering AI experts and experienced drug hunters. The Iambic platform has demonstrated delivery of new drug candidates to human clinical trials with unprecedented speed and across multiple target classes and mechanisms of action. Iambic is advancing a pipeline of potential best-in-class and first-in-class clinical assets, both internally and in partnership, to address urgent unmet patient need. Learn more about the Iambic team, platform, pipeline, and partnerships at iambic.ai.

MISSION & CORE VALUES

Our mission is to deliver better medicines through innovations in AI-based discovery technologies. The culture and work at Iambic Therapeutics are profoundly strengthened by the diversity of our people and our differences in background, culture, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, and life experiences. We are committed to building an inclusive environment where a diverse group of talented humans work together to discover therapeutics and create technologies.

Pay And Benefits

We offer industry leading competitive pay, company paid healthcare, flexible spending accounts, voluntary life insurance, 401K matching, and uncapped vacation to our team.

• industry leading competitive pay
• company paid healthcare
• flexible spending accounts
• voluntary life insurance
• 401K matching
• uncapped vacation

We are in a brand-new state-of-the art facility in beautiful San Diego with an onsite gym, dining, and easy access to great places to live and play.

Compensation Range: $175K - $240K