Head of AI Portfolio Strategy and Development

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Head of AI Portfolio Strategy and Development, London

Client:

Barrington James

Location:

London, United Kingdom

Job Category:

Other

EU work permit required:

Yes

Job Views:

1

Posted:

30.03.2025

Expiry Date:

14.05.2025

Job Description:

Head of AI Portfolio Strategy and Development

I am currently working with a very exciting client on a new opportunity for a senior level search reporting into the CSO as the Head of AI Portfolio Strategy and Development. This is one of a handful of opportunities that come up each year where a client is truly looking for the right person to fit their business with the flexibility for the role to be shaped around the value and skillsets they can bring to the organisation.

My client is a ‘bleeding edge’ oncology-focused biotech that has a well-established AI platform for their drug discovery, decision-making, target nomination, and target-pair indication evaluation.

This role is for creative thinkers and proactive contributors. I am looking for Senior Leaders with a strong scientific background, thorough experience of AI-driven drug discovery and portfolio management environments, and a business development skillset that allows them to not only manage the R&D process but also understand and contribute to the strategic roadmap on the pathway to clinic and the commercialization process.

During the briefing call, the CSO highlighted to me that this “could be the single most important role” for organisational development in the whole business. That should not be taken lightly; this is a position of high responsibility, high creativity, and high expectation of value creation and previous outstanding business success!

Whilst you do not have to be an AI expert, you must have tangible experience and a strong understanding of how to leverage, communicate, and lead AI programs, understanding how to interact with various AI tools and manage the people that drive and build them day to day.

About the role:

Your job is to answer the core exam question: How can we drive innovation at the critical intersection of biotechnology and artificial intelligence to empower the team to generate world-changing therapeutics that push the boundaries of what is possible?

As part of this you will have to:

• Lead the design, implementation, and continuous refinement of AI decision-making tools for target nomination.
• Integrate complex scientific, medical, and business insights into data-driven decision-making processes.
• Drive and deliver cross-functional collaboration, project management, and team leadership to incorporate business insights from KOLs, medical experts, data scientists, bioinformaticians, IP experts, commercial/BD teams, and biologists into tangible business insights and data-driven decisions to advance the company’s product portfolio.
• Demonstrate experience in managing moving parts across complex environments, showing both resilience in meeting objectives whilst remaining flexible enough to incorporate new data, changing circumstances, and pivot where necessary to meet internal and external needs.
• Lead the way in critical thinking, applying innovative methodologies and continuous improvement into refining people development and the portfolio development lifecycle.

About you:

You will need to be a proactive decision-maker, confident communicator, leader, and delegator, with a clear strategic mind that knows enough about every part of the process to orchestrate your team and cross-functional collaboration at mission-critical organisational milestones.

• You must have more than 8 years’ experience in a biotech, pharma, or tech-bio environment (consulting, VC, finance, other).
• You must have a minimum of 3 years leadership experience with direct reports and experience working in a cross-functional capacity (this is a new position but you will have two Analyst level direct reports from day one).
• Strong understanding of AI/Machine learning applications in life sciences, data analytics, and their use in drug discovery and development.
• Strong background in preclinical and clinical development processes and their interaction with AI.
• An advanced scientific degree/PhD with a quantitative slant and additional exposure to the commercial/business development aspects of biotechnology.

What does the ‘A-star’ candidate for this job look like?

• You will be an emotionally intelligent, intellectually dynamic strategic leader that loves not just exploring the ‘art of the possible’ in the scientific arena, but is a driven problem solver, passionate about overcoming whatever obstacles are constraining progress at a scientific, technical, people, organisational, financial, or business level.
• You will have demonstrable experience in similar environments and not be afraid to have intellectually robust scientific discussions and spar with senior leadership to discover not just deliver ‘what’ needs to be done, but also articulate ‘why’ it needs to be done.
• You will be unique, ambitious, and a winner who voluntarily wants to work on the hardest problems today, so that the lives of patients who suffer can have an easier tomorrow.

If this is you, I would love to speak to you about this unique and exciting opportunity!

This opportunity is London-based, full-time position with 4 days onsite; salary and compensation package will be competitive based upon experience.

If you believe you are more senior to this position than the current requirements suggest, I want to speak to you, as there is flexible scope for hiring the right skillset regardless of seniority!