Senior Director / VP of External Partnerships

Location: Toronto preferred; hybrid/remote considered with regular travel to Toronto

Reports to: Co-founder & Chief Scientific Officer

CDC is proud to be retained by a fast-growing, AI-enabled pharmaceutical formulation company operating at the intersection of machine learning, robotics, and deep formulation science - accelerating drug product development in partnership with biopharma and CDMO organisations.

This is a role for someone who has operated in a CDMO or CRO environment and knows what it actually takes to deliver high-quality formulation development programs. This is a rare opportunity to step into a senior leadership role where science, delivery, and strategic client partnership all converge.

Key Responsibilities:

• Serve as the primary relationship owner for multiple external R&D partnerships.
• Manage 3-4 concurrent client R&D projects, or oversee one large strategic agreement.
• Lead all client communications: progress updates, technical readouts, steering discussions, and escalation management.
• Own and identify project execution plans, timelines, milestones, risks and deliverables.
• Understand formulation development workflows well enough to challenge assumptions, identify technical risks, and communicate trade-offs to clients.
• Present data and project outcomes to client teams with clarity, confidence, and credibility.
• Manage and support a team of approximately 3-4 experimentalists and/or robotics operators.
• Coach team members on project execution, communication quality, client readiness, and operational discipline.
• Partner with business development and scientific leadership to expand successful client relationships into larger, longer-term collaborations.
• Identify opportunities for follow-on projects, platform expansions, and strategic agreements.
• Support proposal scoping, project design, and technical input for new partnership opportunities.

Required Experience:

• Significant CDMO experience - essential.
• Strong pharmaceutical science background, ideally in OSD, modified release, biologics, injectables, or other complex formulation areas.
• Experience managing technical R&D programs, client-facing projects, or complex development workstreams.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple concurrent projects with different stakeholders, timelines, and priorities.
• Prior alliance management, program leadership, or strategic account ownership experience.
• Strong client-facing presence, with the technical depth to earn credibility with formulation scientists and development leaders.
• Experience presenting scientific or technical data to external customers or senior internal stakeholders.
• Experience working with both emerging biotechs and large pharmaceutical companies.
• Ability to manage scope, timelines, expectations, and difficult client conversations without damaging relationships.
• Experience leading or coordinating technical teams, ideally including lab-based scientists, experimentalists, or automation/robotics operators.

Bonus:

• Exposure to AI-enabled drug development, automated experimentation, high-throughput screening, robotics, or digital formulation workflows.