Business Development Director

Job Type

Full-time

Description

About us

Calyxt (Nasdaq: CLXT) is a plant-based synthetic biotechnology company. The Company leverages its proprietary PlantSpring™ technology platform to engineer innovative materials and products for its customers to help them meet their sustainability goals. Calyxt’s diversified offerings are delivered through its proprietary BioFactory™ manufacturing process. For more information, visit www.calyxt.com.

PlantSpring, BioFactory and the Calyxt logo are trademarks of Calyxt, Inc.

In a world seeking to evolve to more sustainable solutions that protect water and soil resources and do not contribute to carbon pollution, plants are uniquely capable of producing compounds that cannot be produced through other means. Our team has more than a decade of experience in engineering plant metabolism with a proven capability to convert concepts into products. We are looking for talented individuals who want to join our work to innovate and lead a positive change across industries using the power of plants.  

Job Summary

The new Business Development Director will be responsible for a portfolio of business development activities from exploring project and product development concepts to qualifying potential partners and structuring commercial agreements for our emerging plant-based bio-production business. The ideal candidate must be a creative thinker passionate about making better products more quickly, less expensively, and more sustainably than traditional extractive or carbon-intensive chemistry by engineering plant genomes to make novel molecules that are key ingredients in those products. This individual will leverage their experiences, networks and understanding of diverse market segments from among the following markets: cosmetics, nutraceuticals or consumer/personal care that utilize molecules and/or active ingredients in order to build the revenue stream for Calyxt. This position will report to Senior VP, Business Development.  

The successful candidate will have a keen sense of spotting market opportunities to monetize novel plant-based bio-manufactured products, strong business acumen, a trusted network, and ability to translate technical concepts into a commercial insight. In return, Calyxt offers a highly dynamic environment involving a cross functional team focused on a mission to bring a disruptive plant-based bio-manufacturing innovation to the market.

Key Responsibilities:

· Build profitable partnerships with active ingredient customers in target markets.

· Use existing network, competitive intelligence and opportunity identification and analysis, to strategize and define targets for joint product development partnerships and initiate contacts and conduct business discovery meetings with prospective customers, partners and collaborators

· Advance potential partners through the deal funnel quickly and effectively

· Work together with an internal R&D team to translate product concepts and technological advancements into bio-manufactured products

· Build strong and trusting relationships with key decision makers in potential customer and partner organizations

· Partner internally with finance to develop financial models and plans for development of new business opportunities

· Lead negotiations and structure agreements with third parties, supported by internal finance and legal teammates

· Actively participate in industry conferences and external events promoting Calyxt’s products, innovation platform and capabilities

· Maintain presence in professional industry networks and represent the company in the industry associations

· Identify new and innovative ways of influencing the direction of the emerging synthetic biology and bio-manufacturing industries

Requirements

Required Qualifications:

· Bachelor’s degree in Business, Economics, Chemistry, Biological Sciences or related discipline; an MBA is preferred

· 7+ years of professional experience in external customer facing roles involving sales, negotiations, business development or demand creation. Experience in fragrance, colorants, nutraceuticals or cosmetic ingredients industry with a strong professional network

· Proven ability to think strategically and creatively

· Demonstrated strong negotiation skills

· Effective verbal and written communication skills to work across all levels of the internal and external organizations

· A focus on execution and “get it done” attitude, with a strong balance of strategic and tactical skills to both craft strategy and implementation in a fast-paced growth company

· Ability to create engagement and connection across functional disciplines and a propensity to create loyalty, trust, and following, energizing people and teams, and making cross-functional solutions happen.

· Ability to travel (post pandemic) 25-50%

Preferred Qualifications:

· Previous experience in product marketing and/or strategic marketing a huge plus

· Previous engagement with biotechnology/ life sciences industry and/or sustainability efforts

· Strong demonstrated ability to adapt to changing priorities and comfort with ambiguity

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