---
title: 'Vice President, Business Development at Flagship Pioneering, Inc.'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/vice-president-business-development-flagship-pioneering-inc-cambridge-5xwr5v9tc319'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-11'
---

# Vice President, Business Development at Flagship Pioneering, Inc.

- **Company:** Flagship Pioneering, Inc.
- **Location:** Cambridge, MA
- **Posted:** 2026-09-01
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-11
- **Apply:** https://boards.greenhouse.io/flagshippioneeringinc/jobs/8526345002?gh_jid=8526345002

## Job description

About the role:

The VP, Business Development is a senior leader that will own the articulation and initial execution of the business development strategy for a subset of companies with the Flagship Pioneering ecosystem with the opportunity to negotiate and conduct transactions. The primary objective of the business development team at Flagship is to drive the closing of valuable business development deals between our platform companies and Pharma.  The VP will be a key member of the of the company teams with a high degree of visibility within the company and within Flagship Pioneering. The successful executive will bring a proven track record in establishing the business development strategy for organizations that aligns to their long-term growth plans, identifying and triaging potential partners, and understanding of what it takes to design meaningful partnership concepts and term sheets.

Responsibilities:

- As an embedded company team member, drive development of the business development strategy for a portion of the Flagship Pioneering portfolio companies to enable consistent deal flow across the ecosystem
- Work as a cross-functional leader of the company, collaborating across multiple areas of the business to become an expert in their platform technology and products. Focus will be on establishing the BD strategy for the company and driving it to deal execution. Deal execution (deal concept or term sheet to final executed agreement) can be performed in partnership with transaction leaders
- Work closely with the CEO, relevant partner group, and members of the senior management team on the development of business development strategy as a contributor to corporate strategy  and long-range planning, including identification of relevant value drivers of impactful deals.
- Enable the communication of the value proposition of the platform technology and portfolio by developing key messages and narratives to pressure test with stakeholders and build out into full partnerable packages and deal concepts
- Frame the BD action plan including working with leadership to define data generation for validation, partnership scopes, research plans and exclusivity constructs
- Define the relevant biotech and pharma stakeholders.
- Lead and execute business development initiatives including outreach to potential pharma partners, diligence, and structuring of a transaction leveraging cross-functional team (e.g., R&D, Strategy, IP, legal, finance).
- Cultivate a strong and effective partnership with the CEO and relevant partners as a united team that pursues buy-in for the strategy across the Company and with the Board.
- Work closely with the R&D team to evaluate the potential of early-stage compounds and to integrate a partnership perspective early in the research and development process.

Qualifications:

- Minimum 12 years’ industry experience with a demonstrated track record of business development and corporate strategy leadership.

A strong track record of meaningful strategy design and execution efforts with examples of impact on sell-side business development deals with pharmaceutical/biotech companies, including identifying, evaluating and successfully structuring significant business transactions.

- An advanced degree (PhD, MD) is strongly preferred. MBA is a plus.
- Previous Senior or Executive Leadership experience required with an enterprise leadership mindset across disciplines, lines, and organizational boundaries a must.
- Ability to understand complex scientific ideas and effectively communicate their value proposition to key internal and external stakeholders.
- Prior experience developing or partnering various types of biotechnology platforms or therapeutic modalities (e.g., small molecule, RNA, protein biologic), especially with discovery and preclinical- stage (Series A and B) companies.
- Excellent presentation and communications skills—the ability to compellingly articulate, influence, and work successfully with varied audiences.

About Flagship:

Flagship Pioneering is a biotechnology company that invents and builds platform companies that change the world. We bring together the greatest scientific minds with entrepreneurial company builders and assemble the capital to allow them to take courageous leaps. Those big leaps in human health and sustainability exponentially accelerate scientific progress in areas ranging from cancer detection and treatment to nature-positive agriculture.

What sets Flagship apart is our ability to advance biotechnology by uniting life science innovation, company creation, and capital investment under one roof in a way that is largely without precedent. Our scientific founders, entrepreneurial leaders, and professional capital managers are each aligned around an institutionalized process that enables us to innovate and transform for the benefit of people and planet.

Many of the companies Flagship has founded have addressed humanity’s most urgent challenges: vaccinating billions of people against COVID-19, curing intractable diseases, improving human health, preempting illness, and feeding the world by improving the resiliency and sustainability of agriculture.

Flagship has been recognized twice on FORTUNE’s “Change the World” list, an annual ranking of companies that have made a positive social and environmental impact through activities that are part of their core business strategies, and has been twice named to Fast Company’s annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies.

Flagship Pioneering and our ecosystem companies are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status.

At Flagship, we recognize there is no perfect candidate. If you have some of the experience listed above but not all, please apply anyway. Experience comes in many forms, skills are transferable, and passion goes a long way. We are dedicated to building diverse and inclusive teams and look forward to learning more about your unique background.

Recruitment & Staffing Agencies:  Flagship Pioneering and its affiliated Flagship Lab companies (collectively, “FSP”) do not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than candidates.  The submission of unsolicited resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to FSP or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by Flagship Pioneering’s internal Talent Acquisition team.   Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the property of FSP, and FSP will not owe any referral or other fees with respect thereto.

## #LI-TD1

The salary range for this role is $280,000 - $330,500. Compensation for the role will depend on a number of factors, including a candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies, and experience. Flagship Pioneering currently offers healthcare coverage, annual incentive program, retirement benefits and a broad range of other benefits. Compensation and benefits information is based on Flagship Pioneering's good faith estimate as of the date of publication and may be modified in the future.

Privacy Notice for Applicants: When you apply for a role at Flagship Pioneering or one of its portfolio companies, we collect and use personal information you provide (such as your name, contact details, work history, and application materials) to evaluate your application, communicate with you, and comply with legal obligations. Your application data is processed through Greenhouse, our applicant tracking system, and may also be reviewed using AI-assisted screening tools. We do not sell your personal information. California residents have rights under the CCPA/CPRA including to know, delete, and opt out of the sharing of their personal information. If you are located in the EU or UK, we process your data under GDPR and you have rights to access, rectify, and erase your data. To exercise your rights or for questions, contact privacy@flagshippioneering.com.

## About Flagship Pioneering, Inc.

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Flagship Pioneering is a life sciences venture creation firm that conceives, creates, and capitalizes breakthrough bioplatform companies in biotechnology, health, and sustainability.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Venture Creation Firm)
- **Headquarters**: Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
- **Founded**: 2000
- **Founders**: Noubar Afeyan (Co-Founder & CEO)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Biotechnology Research, Life Sciences Venture Creation, Company Incubation
- **Target customers**: B2B / B2G – partners with academic institutions, pharma companies, and investors; also acts as an employer for scientists, entrepreneurs, and corporate builders
- **Mission or purpose statement**: “To harness the 21st century's most powerful technological forces for good to deliver a better future for all.”

## Products & Services
Flagship does not sell products directly; its offerings are the companies it creates and the innovation platform it operates.
- **Innovation Platform**: A systematic, institutionalized process to identify “unreasonable” scientific questions, test them rigorously, and spin out independent companies that develop therapeutics, diagnostics, agricultural technologies, and more.
- **Portfolio Companies**: Over 120 companies founded, including Moderna, Generate:Biomedicines, Inari Agriculture, Tessera Therapeutics, Lila Sciences, and others. Each is a separate enterprise with its own products (e.g., mRNA vaccines, gene-editing tools, AI-driven drug discovery).

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed (privately held)
- **Key Metric**: Annual revenue of approximately $800 million (2025/2026 estimate) and 620 employees (+9.7% YoY growth)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Flagship is itself an investor and partner; key collaborations include AWS (to accelerate drug discovery), Harvard Medical School, Broad Institute, and multiple top-tier biopharma companies. Portfolio company Moderna is a publicly traded giant.
- **Growth Signals**: 78 active job postings (+50% quarterly), recent formation of Terion (digital agriculture infrastructure) and Serif Biomedicines (modified DNA platform), and expanded presence in Europe and Asia.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Unique Model**: Combines scientific exploration, company creation, and capital investment under one roof – “a way that is largely without precedent”
- **Deep Talent Pool**: Exceptional network of scientist-entrepreneurs and company builders; top hires from MIT, Harvard, Biogen, Novartis, and Pfizer
- **Track Record**: Over two decades of founding transformational companies (e.g., Moderna’s COVID‑19 vaccine), demonstrating repeatable innovation
- **Process-Driven**: Systematic methodology for turning “what‑if” questions into patentable bioplatforms, reducing risk compared to ad‑hoc startup creation

## Strategic Focus
- **Current priorities**: Expanding AI/machine learning integration across drug discovery and life sciences (highlighted by AWS collaboration); entering preemptive health and medicine; advancing sustainable agriculture and climate solutions; growing international operations (UK, Singapore, Canada, Switzerland, Japan)
- **Direction for growth**: Launching new platform companies at a steady cadence (e.g., Terion, Serif in 2026); deepening expertise in computational protein design, modified DNA, and gene editing

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: “Brave and bold organization of creative-thinkers with insurgent mindsets” – emphasis on fearlessness, mentorship, and teamwork across science and business
- **Work Environment**: Headquarters in Cambridge, MA with 5 US offices; roles span research, strategy, finance, and operations; hybrid/remote flexibility varies by role
- **Notable Perks**: Opportunity to work on world-changing science (e.g., COVID‑19 vaccine, gene editing) alongside top scientists and company builders; strong compensation (salary range example: Sr. Associate ~$68K, ML Engineer ~$122K; overall comp rating 3.7/5)
- **Engineering/Science Culture**: Heavy investment in R&D (15% of workforce in research), cutting-edge tools (Cryo‑EM, AI/ML), and a process that encourages bold leaps

## Sources
1. [flagshippioneering.com](https://www.flagshippioneering.com/)
2. [flagshippioneering.com/about](https://www.flagshippioneering.com/about)
3. [flagshippioneering.com/join](https://www.flagshippioneering.com/join)
4. [flagshippioneering.com/join/roles](https://www.flagshippioneering.com/join/roles)
5. [linkedin.com/company/flagship-pioneering](https://www.linkedin.com/company/flagship-pioneering)

## Other roles at Flagship Pioneering, Inc.

- [Senior UAS Systems Integration Engineer II](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-uas-systems-integration-engineer-ii-flagship-pioneering-inc-boulder-dd2xmqp6d98b) — Boulder, CO
- [Senior Director, Business Development](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-director-business-development-flagship-pioneering-inc-cambridge-3xfgq1hw148d) — Cambridge, MA
- [Senior Director, Business Development](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-director-business-development-flagship-pioneering-inc-cambridge-7byprykxmhya) — Cambridge, MA
- [Pioneering Medicines: Medical Director / Senior Medical Director, Clinical Development Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/pioneering-medicines-medical-director-senior-medical-director-clinical-hc21y95wvzd3) — Cambridge, MA
- [Associate Scientist](https://feeny.ai/job/associate-scientist-flagship-pioneering-inc-cambridge-7pz157j2yvh5) — Cambridge, MA
- [Senior Scientist, Protein Engineering](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-scientist-protein-engineering-flagship-pioneering-inc-cambridge-emxcvtea75rw) — Cambridge, MA
- [Lead Data Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/lead-data-engineer-flagship-pioneering-inc-cambridge-3xtagbhybhfk) — Cambridge, MA
- [Senior Scientist, Immunology](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-scientist-immunology-flagship-pioneering-inc-cambridge-zb0mwy0fw9dx) — Cambridge, MA
- [Director, Clinical Operations](https://feeny.ai/job/director-clinical-operations-flagship-pioneering-inc-cambridge-yqwgt65334cb) — Cambridge, MA
- [Experimental Systems Intern](https://feeny.ai/job/experimental-systems-intern-flagship-pioneering-inc-cambridge-1j3zet7f9csc) — Cambridge, MA