VP of Commercial Strategy & Partnerships

About the Role

We are seeking a hands-on VP of Commercial Strategy & Partnerships to own how Multiply Labs wins, structures, and grows its relationships with global pharmaceutical customers and technology partners. You will build the commercial strategy for our automated advanced biologics manufacturing platform, close complex enterprise agreements, and scale our commercial footprint with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. This is a player-coach role reporting to the CEO. You will personally lead our most important deals while building the pipeline, processes, and team that let commercial growth scale.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute the commercial strategy for our automated manufacturing portfolio, including target segments and accounts, deal structure, and pricing models aligned with platform and company milestones.
• Own the full pipeline from lead generation through close, partnering with Marketing on demand generation and with the CEO on executive-level relationships.
• Lead and close complex enterprise agreements with global pharmaceutical companies, including pilots, R&D and development agreements, capacity reservations, and commercial supply and deployment contracts.
• Structure deals that balance customer needs with platform standardization, partnering with Product, Engineering, and Finance on scope, acceptance criteria, milestones, and economics.
• Negotiate commercial terms and manage the contract process end to end, partnering with Legal on drafting and review.
• Build and manage strategic partnerships with instrument, technology, and ecosystem partners that expand the reach and capability of our platform.
• Serve as the primary commercial partner to executive leadership at customer accounts, expanding relationships from pilot to multi-site, multi-program partnerships.
• Bring customer and market insight back into the company, partnering with the Head of Product to shape roadmap priorities around real commercial demand.
• Build the commercial operating system: CRM hygiene, forecasting, deal reviews, and the metrics leadership and the board use to track pipeline and revenue.
• Represent Multiply Labs at industry conferences, partner meetings, and customer sites.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of commercial leadership experience in business development, enterprise sales, or strategic account management, with 5+ years in the pharmaceutical, biotech, or life sciences sectors.
• Proven track record closing multi-million-dollar, multi-year enterprise agreements with large pharmaceutical companies, including capital equipment, technology platforms, or manufacturing services.
• Experience structuring complex deals: pilots, development agreements, milestone-based payments, capacity or reservation models, and transitions from pilot to commercial scale.
• Skilled negotiator, comfortable owning commercial terms and working closely with legal counsel through contract execution.
• 3+ years managing, mentoring, or developing high-performing customer-facing teams.
• Technical fluency: Bachelor’s in Bioengineering, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Engineering, or a related discipline.
• Ability to converse fluently with biopharma VP/C-level executives in both technical process development and commercial terms.
• Superb executive communication and relationship-building skills; thrive in a fast-paced, high-accountability startup environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience building a commercial function at an early-commercial, venture-backed company.
• Advanced degree (MS, PhD, or MBA).
• Existing relationships with manufacturing and technical operations leaders at top-20 pharmaceutical companies.
• Ability to lead, mentor, and grow a Strategic Alliance Management team, which runs customer pilots, account management, and customer training through deployment.
• Familiarity with advanced therapy manufacturing (cell and gene, antibody, etc.) and GMP environments.

Nice to Haves

• Experience with technology licensing, co-development, or joint go-to-market partnerships.
• Experience with customer success or post-sale expansion models for capital equipment or platform products.