Director, Strategy, BD & AI Growth

Cytokinetics Incorporated; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 236,000 - 275,000; Full time

Job summary

Cytokinetics Incorporated, a specialty cardiovascular biopharmaceutical company, seeks a hands-on Director of Strategy & Business Development to lead strategic analysis, forecasting, and AI initiatives. The role balances BD forecasting with enterprise planning and board-ready insights.

You will build top-down drug revenue forecasts, develop valuation models, challenge assumptions, and drive AI-enabled decision support for the executive team and Board. On-site in South San Francisco, CA.

Qualifications

• 4–7+ years across strategy consulting, investment banking, corporate strategy, or biotech/pharma BD; MBA, PhD, MD, or equivalent a plus.
• Demonstrated ability to build top-down drug revenue forecasts / commercial models from epidemiology, pricing, and uptake assumptions
• Strong quantitative and financial-modeling skills: rNPV, DCF, comparable transactions, scenario and sensitivity analysis
• Strategic thinker able to structure ambiguous problems into decision-ready recommendations
• AI-capable: fluent with LLM tooling, prompt engineering, and building lightweight automations
• Excellent executive communication; credibility with senior leaders and the Board
• Therapeutic fluency (cardiovascular/rare disease a plus)

Responsibilities

• Own and build first-pass, top-down drug revenue forecasts that translate epidemiology (prevalence/incidence, diagnosis and treatment rates), pricing, and penetration/peak-share assumptions into commercial forecasts that frame an asset's potential quickly and defensibly.
• Own the development and application of valuation models based off forecasts — rNPV, scenario and sensitivity analysis — including out-licensing / deal modeling. Translate valuation models into clear implications, trade-offs, and recommendations for BD and senior leadership.
• Challenge and pressure-test the latest commercial assumptions and iterations to strengthen the quality of forecast and valuation supporting speed, consistency, and quality of BD decision‑making.
• Own and continuously improve the quality of reusable forecast, valuation, comps, and screening templates that improve the speed, consistency, and quality of BD decision‑making
• Support ad-hoc BD analysis and tooling — e.g., an asset‑identification screen across large scientific‑congress datasets (methodology and scoring design).

Skills

Strategy consulting

Investment banking

Corporate strategy

Biotech/pharma BD

MBA/PhD/MD a plus

Financial modeling

rNPV/DCF analysis

AI tooling

Executive communication

Therapeutic fluency

Education

MBA/PhD/MD or equivalent

Tools

LLM tooling

Prompt engineering

Lightweight automations

Job description

Cytokinetics Incorporated, a specialty cardiovascular biopharmaceutical company, seeks a hands-on Director of Strategy & Business Development to lead strategic analysis, forecasting, and AI initiatives. The role balances BD forecasting with enterprise planning and board-ready insights.

You will build top-down drug revenue forecasts, develop valuation models, challenge assumptions, and drive AI-enabled decision support for the executive team and Board. On-site in South San Francisco, CA.