Managing Director - Life Sciences

WittKieffer; United States; On-site; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

WittKieffer, Inc. seeks a Principal Business Development to identify and engage life sciences clients, including PE/VC-backed opportunities, and to connect interim solutions with broader leadership advisory offerings.

The role emphasizes collaboration with market teams and delivering measurable client impact across leadership services. Preference will be given to candidates in the Boston area, reflecting the role’s focus, with ongoing development of best practices and scalable processes to drive

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s preferred.
• 10+ years in consulting or interim talent development with life sciences focus.
• Strong executive presence and high client-service orientation.
• Entrepreneurial, proactive, and ability to influence across teams.

Responsibilities

• Identify, nurture, and deliver impactful solutions to clients in life sciences and healthcare.
• Develop market and account plans to reach revenue targets (e.g., $5M gross revenue).
• Cultivate anchor clients for repeat business and collaborate with senior consultants across WittKieffer.

Skills

Business development

Life sciences

Client relationships

Strategic thinking

Negotiation

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree preferred

Job description

The Principal Business Development will be a strong, trusted advisor to our clients and focus on client identification, development, and engagement activities for Interim Solutions within the life sciences or investor-backed healthcare market. They will also help to connect the dots across search and advisory solutions, as well as leadership advisory, to identify integrated solutions and more expansive client opportunities. In doing so, they will work collaboratively with (1) life sciences market team and search consultants, and (2) members of the Leadership Advisory team. In addition, the BD Principal will contribute to developing and implementing best practices, policies, procedures, and operational processes to support the growth of the Interim Leadership Solutions team as a whole.

While qualified candidates from all locations will be considered, preference will be given to those residing in the Boston area due to the nature and focus of this role.

RESPONSIBILITIES

To identify, nurture, and bring impactful solutions to clients:

• Finds and grows identified target clients/client segments in life sciences. Builds and manages productive client relationships, including with PE and VC investors, that position WittKieffer as a trusted leadership advisor across solutions.
• Independently drives the identification of needs at clients and works with Talent Delivery to serve those needs. Combines deep industry knowledge of the Quality-of-Life Ecosystem and solution expertise in a pragmatic manner to deliver the very best possible results for our clients.
• Collaborates closely within the interim group as well as with other WittKieffer colleagues, bringing a team-oriented approach to business development.

To bring the very best of themselves to colleagues:

• Lives the WittKieffer values in all that they say and do.
• Continually seeks opportunities to develop themselves and others.
• Gives timely, constructive feedback to ensure people feel stronger and more capable as a result.

Business Development:

• Target responsibility of $5M Gross Revenue/$1.6+M Gross Profit; Initial year $1-2M.
• Develops market and account plans to reach the target.
• Develops and maintains "anchor" clients that generate profitable repeat business and close collaboration.
• Identifies potential clients and projects in collaboration with Market-based and solution-based senior consultants.
• Is a trusted advisor to clients and identifies how interim solutions can help solve client challenges.
• Customizes pitches and helps shape proposals that are focused on client needs, appropriately customized, differentiated from others, and strongly positions WittKieffer and our brand.
• Maintains an appropriate mix of repeat and new business.
• Generates and manages project discovery calls; schedules initial follow-ups and prepares for them.
• Works closely with Talent Delivery to address clients' needs; explores frame budgets (weekly rates) to deliver target economics; negotiates other key engagement terms (subject to necessary approvals).
• Ensures MSAs and NDAs (as needed) are put in place.
• Maintains and grows relationships with purchasing and HR in support of all efforts.
• Actively represents WittKieffer at conferences and industry events.

Client Management and Impact:

• Develops a deep understanding of all WittKieffer services, as well as demonstrates expertise in Life Sciences to help bring solutions that deliver measurable client impact.
• Communicates clearly the capabilities of our interim and on-demand leaders and how they add value to clients.
• Participates in teams (and may lead smaller teams) across WittKieffer to listen and truly understand client needs, and to develop the very best solutions that deliver real impact.
• Supports and helps put in place mechanisms to measure the impact of our work on client performance.
• Manages mid-size to large accounts directly; helps expand them.
• Develops profitable business with large and mid-sized clients through effective client relationship building and proactive collaboration with colleagues across WittKieffer. Identifies opportunities for future engagements with clients by understanding pain points across the organization.
• Drives research, analysis, and interpretation on client/sector business issues, to identify other areas for positive impact on our clients’ business.
• Expands the existing portfolio of relationships with chosen sector leaders to understand their needs and, consequently, increase opportunities to further impact the client’s success.
• Ensures client satisfaction by collaborating with Talent Delivery through proactive check-ins, problem-solving, and active engagement; Develops and sustains key talent network relationships and recommends leaders when possible.

MSA and SOW Management:

• Drives putting MSAs in place, working closely with WittKieffer resources.
• Assists TD in contracting, as needed.
• Manages purchasing relationships with TD.

Brand Positioning and Thought Leadership:

• Positions WittKieffer in the marketplace by contributing to offerings/thought leadership and generating market awareness.
• Develops relationships with emerging thought leaders and networks of influence to position WittKieffer as the preeminent leader in the market.
• Develops thought leadership and white papers with the competitive intelligence group; participates in creating and promoting solutions and market-relevant thought leadership within Interim Solutions, building firm/solution/personal brand.
• Posts and engages actively on LinkedIn in support of our brand promise and standards.

Self and Others Development:

• Demonstrates WittKieffer's values.
• Consistently behaves as a positive member of a diverse, equitable, and inclusive place to work.
• Actively seeks opportunities to develop peers or more junior team members.
• Helps to develop and retain a high-performing, diverse, and inclusive team.
• Develops an internal brand and participates as a truly collaborative member of the team.
• Continues to deepen and broaden own business development, advisory skills, client management, selling, account management, sector and business understanding, expertise, and behaviors to enable a more positive impact on clients, colleagues, and all others.

Contributions to the Management of the Firm:

• Identifies opportunities to improve practice and/or firm performance (e.g., developing capability, communications, operations) and raises appropriately, participating in implementation.
• May take on formal leadership of more junior colleagues.

CANDIDATE PROFILE

Qualifications:

• A bachelor’s degree is required; a master’s preferred.
• 10+ years in consulting and/or interim talent acquisition, with a substantial portion of that experience related to life sciences and PE/VC clients.
• Business development experience and ability to persistently originate, build, and sustain client relationships. Demonstrated high achievement.
• Strong executive presence.
• Unabated commitment to quality and consistency in delivery, contributing to exceptional experiences for clients, talent, and team members.
• Entrepreneurial and able to operate independently, but not individually, with a bias to action.
• Comfortable with ambiguity and seeks to contribute insight and structured thinking to define the path forward.
• Demonstrated ability to foster relationships across organizational boundaries and inspire trust; skilled in facilitating collaboration among teams.
• Innovative, operationally disciplined, enterprise-minded.
• Execution-oriented and pragmatic, with a strong sense of urgency.
• Empathetic leadership skills.
• Displays a high degree of resilience.
• High professional client service orientation and positive values.
• Listener and translator of needs into solution opportunities; problem solver.
• Business acumen and sensibility.
• Highly organized, proactive, detail-oriented, and self-motivated.
• Driven, with a clear bias to proactive decision making, delivering results, and excelling.
• Ability to see the