Job Description

Working with Us
Challenging. Meaningful. Life-changing. Those aren’t words that are usually associated with a job. But working at Bristol Myers Squibb is anything but usual. Here, uniquely interesting work happens every day, in every department. From optimizing a production line to the latest breakthroughs in cell therapy, this is work that transforms the lives of patients, and the careers of those who do it. You’ll get the chance to grow and thrive through opportunities uncommon in scale and scope, alongside high-achieving teams. Take your career farther than you thought possible.

The Executive Director, External Insight and Innovation will lead business development and external innovation strategy development and prioritization of external investments across Oncology, Hematology/Cell Therapy, Cardiovascular Disease, Immunology, and Neuroscience for drug development. This role will be responsible for developing data-driven objective frameworks to drive decisions on external investments connected to disease area, therapeutic area and enterprise strategy.

This role is accountable for developing and executing strategies to expand drug development effort into priority markets such as China. Additionally, this role will ensure external and competitive insight is incorporated into all disease strategies. This role drives enterprise portfolio value creation by guiding external investments and implementing cost efficient strategies to accelerate cycle times through external innovation and geographic expansion.

Key Responsibilities:

  • Design, monitoring, analysis, and interpretation of clinical trials. Accountable for clinical components of regulatory filings.
  • Contributes to disease-specific and franchise-wide strategy.
  • Develops clinical strategies beyond launch into lifecycle management.
  • Leads and develop a team, ensuring scientific and technical excellence.
  • Collaborates with global colleagues across functions and build external relationships with thought leaders and advocacy groups.
  • Ensures seamless transition from early to late-stage development. Participate in governance.
  • Lead the development of business development & external innovation strategy for drug development, integrating external insights, competitive intelligence, and disease area strategies to align with enterprise portfolio objectives
  • Design and implement a rigorous, data-driven decision framework to evaluate business development opportunities, ensuring disciplined investment decisions that maximize portfolio value
  • Develop and oversee a consistent, best-in-class approach to due diligence across business development opportunities for drug development, ensuring thorough assessment and risk mitigation
  • Drive alignment and collaboration with key stakeholders including enterprise Business Development, Drug Development Portfolio Strategy, Therapeutic Area Development and Commercial teams (RDC) to integrate external investment strategies with therapeutic area strategies consistent with enterprise goals, and embed decision making frameworks
  • Create and execute a comprehensive China Strategy that identifies external innovation opportunities and optimizes internal development capabilities in China to accelerate timelines and reduce development costs in close partnership with VP, Head of China R&D and SVP, Head of Early Clinical Development
  • Serve as a strategic advisor to senior leadership on external innovation and business development decisions, providing data-driven insights and recommendations

    • Qualifications & Experience

  • Degree in Life Sciences or Business Management, and/or advanced degree in related discipline preferred (e.g., MBA, MS, MD, PhD, Pharm D)​
  • Minimum 10 years of experience in Drug Development, Business development, or Strategic Planning in a global biopharmaceutical environment
  • Proven track record of leading business development strategy and external investment decisions for drug development
  • Strong stakeholder management skills, including strategic cross-functional relationship building, project management, and the ability to influence decisions across all stakeholders including senior leadership and matrix teams
  • In-depth understanding of the pharmaceutical value chain, including R&D, regulatory requirements, knowledge of the competitive landscape, and market dynamics

    • Compensation Overview:

    $297,590 - $360,603

    Benefit offerings are subject to the terms and conditions of the applicable plans in effect at the time and may require enrollment. Our benefits include:

  • Health Coverage: Medical, pharmacy, dental, and vision care.

  • Wellbeing Support: Programs such as BMS Well-Being Account, BMS Living Life Better, and Employee Assistance Programs (EAP).

  • Financial Well-being and Protection: 401(k) plan, short- and long-term disability, life insurance, accident insurance, supplemental health insurance, business travel protection, personal liability protection, identity theft benefit, legal support, and survivor support.

    • ​Work-life benefits include:

    Paid Time Off

  • US Exempt Employees: flexible time off (unlimited, with manager approval, 11 paid national holidays (not applicable to employees in Phoenix, AZ, Puerto Rico or Rayzebio employees)

  • Phoenix, AZ, Puerto Rico and Rayzebio Exempt, Non-Exempt, Hourly Employees: 160 hours annual paid vacation for new hires with manager approval, 11 national holidays, and 3 optional holidays

    • Based on eligibility*, additional time off for employees may include unlimited paid sick time, up to 2 paid volunteer days per year, summer hours flexibility, leaves of absence for medical, personal, parental, caregiver, bereavement, and military needs and an annual Global Shutdown between Christmas and New Years Day.

    All global employees full and part-time who are actively employed at and paid directly by BMS at the end of the calendar year are eligible to take advantage of the Global Shutdown. 

    Uniquely Interesting Work, Life-changing Careers
    With a single vision as inspiring as “Transforming patients’ lives through science™ ”, every BMS employee plays an integral role in work that goes far beyond ordinary. Each of us is empowered to apply our individual talents and unique perspectives in a supportive culture, promoting global participation in clinical trials, while our shared values of passion, innovation, urgency, accountability, inclusion and integrity bring out the highest potential of each of our colleagues.

    On-site Protocol

    BMS has an occupancy structure that determines where an employee is required to conduct their work. This structure includes site-essential, site-by-design, field-based and remote-by-design jobs. The occupancy type that you are assigned is determined by the nature and responsibilities of your role:

    Site-essential roles require 100% of shifts onsite at your assigned facility. Site-by-design roles may be eligible for a hybrid work model with at least 50% onsite at your assigned facility. For these roles, onsite presence is considered an essential job function and is critical to collaboration, innovation, productivity, and a positive Company culture. For field-based and remote-by-design roles the ability to physically travel to visit customers, patients or business partners and to attend meetings on behalf of BMS as directed is an essential job function.

    Supporting People with Disabilities

    BMS is dedicated to ensuring that people with disabilities can excel through a transparent recruitment process, reasonable workplace accommodations/adjustments and ongoing support in their roles. Applicants can request a reasonable workplace accommodation/adjustment prior to accepting a job offer. If you require reasonable accommodations/adjustments in completing this application, or in any part of the recruitment process, direct your inquiries to . Visit to access our complete Equal Employment Opportunity statement.

    Candidate Rights

    BMS will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records, pursuant to applicable laws in your area.

    Data Protection

    Any data processed in connection with role applications will be treated in accordance with applicable data privacy policies and regulations.

    R1598047 : Executive Director, External Insight & Innovation, Drug Development

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