About the job

Join the team transforming care for people with immune challenges, rare diseases, cancers, and neurological conditions. In Specialty Care, you’ll help deliver breakthrough treatments that bring hope to patients with some of the highest unmet needs. 

The Strategy Lead, Corporate Development brings GBU-level coherence and rigor to how the Specialty Care GBU identifies, assesses, and prioritizes external growth opportunities across business development, licensing, and mergers & acquisitions (BD/M&A). Within the company, each franchise runs its own new product planning activity and partners with the central BD and M&A teams to scope opportunities for that franchise. Sitting within the Strategy & Operations team, this role connects and elevates that work at the level of the whole GBU.

Reporting to the Global Head of Strategy & Operations, Specialty Care GBU, this is a senior individual leadership role. Rather than owning individual transactions, you will set the GBU-level standard for how external opportunities are assessed, coordinate closely across the franchise new product planning teams, the central BD and M&A teams, and Finance, and make the GBU’s overall approach to BD/M&A and licensing systematic, consistent, and efficient.

Main responsibilities:

Process Standardization & GBU Coherence

• Define and steward a consistent, GBU-level approach to identifying and assessing external opportunities across BD/M&A and licensing, so the franchises work to a common standard.

• Align the methods, criteria, and stage gates used to evaluate opportunities, raising the quality and comparability of assessments across the franchises.

• Bring a single, portfolio-level view of external opportunities together for GBU leadership to support prioritization across the franchises.

Coordination across Franchises and BD/M&A Teams

• Work closely with each franchise’s new product planning team and the central BD and M&A teams to build a systematic, joined-up approach to sourcing and scoping opportunities.

• Connect activity across the franchises so the GBU pursues external growth in a coordinated rather than fragmented way, surfacing synergies and avoiding duplication.

• Act as the GBU-level point of coordination between the franchises, central BD/M&A, and Finance through the opportunity-assessment process.

Opportunity & Asset Assessment

• Provide scientifically grounded assessment of assets and targets, working with franchise and functional experts on mechanism, clinical rationale, and competitive landscape.

• Support valuation and business-case development for priority opportunities, working closely with Finance to connect commercial assumptions to the underlying financial analysis.

• Translate complex scientific, clinical, and commercial inputs into clear analysis that supports investment discussions.

Thought Partnership & Operating Effectiveness

• Serve as a thought partner to the Global Head of Strategy & Operations on the GBU’s BD/M&A and licensing priorities and its pipeline of external opportunities.

• Improve the efficiency of the GBU’s opportunity-assessment process so decisions are well-supported and timely.

• Capture and share good practice across the franchises to raise the overall standard of corporate development work in the GBU.

About you

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree required; scientific or business field is preferred.

• An advanced degree in life sciences (MD, PhD, or PharmD) and/or an MBA is preferred.

Experience:

• Minimum 8 years of progressive experience across corporate development, business development & licensing (BD&L), and/or M&A in biopharma, ideally with exposure to specialty therapeutic areas.

• Strong asset and target evaluation capability that combines genuine scientific literacy with commercial and financial assessment, with the ability to engage credibly on both the science and the deal economics.

• Direct involvement in BD&L and/or M&A activity, such as opportunity assessment, due diligence, valuation, or deal teams, is a strong advantage.

• A track record of coordinating across multiple teams or functions to bring consistency and rigor to a shared process.

• Must be able to travel 20% domestic and international.

Skills & Competencies:

• Financial and deal acumen: a strong grounding in valuation, business-case development, and the economics of BD/M&A and licensing, with the confidence to partner closely with Finance.

• Scientific grounding: able to assess mechanism, clinical rationale, and competitive landscape across the GBU’s therapeutic areas, and to know when to pressure-test with subject-matter experts.

• Process and coordination: brings structure, consistency, and discipline to complex, multi-team activity.

• Influence: strong communication and stakeholder-management skills, with the credibility to align franchise and functional teams without direct authority.

Leadership skills:

• Strategic thinking: connects individual opportunities to the GBU’s broader portfolio strategy and priorities, and keeps the focus on what matters most.

• Relationships and influence: politically astute, builds trust across franchises and functions, and role-models collaboration.

• Result orientation: brings rigor and pace to opportunity assessment, anticipates issues, and takes ownership of outcomes.

• Agility: comfortable with ambiguity and able to adapt quickly in a fast-paced, matrixed global environment.

Languages:

• Fluent in English.

Sanofi US Services and its U.S. affiliates are Equal Opportunity employers committed to a culturally inclusive workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race; color; creed; religion; national origin; age; ancestry; nationality; marital, domestic partnership or civil union status; sex, gender, gender identity or expression; affectional or sexual orientation; disability; veteran or military status or liability for military status; domestic violence victim status; atypical cellular or blood trait; genetic information (including the refusal to submit to genetic testing) or any other characteristic protected by law. 

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Pursue progress, discover extraordinary

Better is out there. Better medications, better outcomes, better science. But progress doesn’t happen without people – people from different backgrounds, in different locations, doing different roles, all united by one thing: a desire to make miracles happen. So, let’s be those people.

At Sanofi, we provide equal opportunities to all regardless of race, colour, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, ability or gender identity.

Watch our ALL IN video and check out our Diversity Equity and Inclusion actions at sanofi.com!

US and Puerto Rico Residents Only

Sanofi Inc. and its U.S. affiliates are Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action employers committed to a culturally inclusive and diverse workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race; color; creed; religion; national origin; age; ancestry; nationality; natural or protective hairstyles; marital, domestic partnership or civil union status; sex, gender, gender identity or expression; affectional or sexual orientation; disability; veteran or military status or liability for military status; domestic violence victim status; atypical cellular or blood trait; genetic information (including the refusal to submit to genetic testing) or any other characteristic protected by law.

North America Applicants Only

The salary range for this position is:

$232,500.00 - $335,833.33

All compensation will be determined commensurate with demonstrated experience. Employees may be eligible to participate in Company employee benefit programs. Additional benefits information can be found through the LINK.