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About the Company:
Our client is a renewable oils Company, building a business in the rapidly expanding biofuel feedstock crop segment of the global agricultural seeds market. The Company is commercializing dedicated, non-food oilseed crops that provide renewable biofeedstock oils for the transportation sector, utilizing an advanced crop engineering system to produce crops that provide outstanding yields of optimized biofeedstock oils in a cost effective and sustainable manner with a feedstock quality that exceeds current standards for bio-based diesel and aviation fuels.
Scope of Position:
As the company continues to grow and advance its product pipeline into commercialization, it seeks an experienced executive to serve as Vice President Business and Product Development. Reporting to the CEO, this is a critical lead role to ensure the company achieves its business goals and captures significant market share. The VP Business and Product Development will play a long-term role as a key member of the executive team that will collectively build and manage a sustainable, profitable, independent company with a reputation for superb products in an exciting, novel, high-growth sector. This position is a leadership position in the company.
Key Responsibilities:
• Business development: Identify, investigate, evaluate and negotiate the terms of strategic business and collaborative initiatives that will carry the business forward in a proactive, disciplined way and bring significant value to the company. Manage these initiatives to completion, drawing on the right capabilities across the business and externally.
• Market/product development: Manage the end-to-end product development cycle from concept to launch, ensuring that new products are delivered to scope, schedule and budget. This includes direct supervision of the functions involved in commercializing new or improved products or processes: Market & Customer Development, Product Development, Regulatory Affairs.
• Business planning: Lead the business planning and review process by:
Maintaining the competitive intelligence process to identify business/market/product development opportunities.
Facilitating the preparation of the corporate annual business plan working with regional and function leaders across the company; facilitating a quarterly performance review process across the business to check progress towards business goals and identify any course corrections needed.
• Business/product valuation: Ownership of the business valuation framework utilizing the appropriate risk adjusted valuation methodologies to ensure the right key business and product decisions are made.
Other Position Parameters:
• The position reports directly to the CEO and is a key member of the executive team.
• Responsibilities will be across North America and globally as required
• Travel will vary from moderate to frequent, depending on nature of business development initiatives underway.
Candidate Qualifications:
The successful candidate will have a track record of success in business leadership roles. Ideally, individuals will have all of the following:
• Minimum 10 years experience and progressive leadership responsibility with a growth-oriented commercial biotechnology organization(s), in a mix of business development and/or consulting roles
• Proven track record of business development success; has developed value-creating business/market development initiatives that were successfully implemented
• Direct M&A experience that includes success in structuring, negotiating and executing new ventures, licensing agreements, and business alliances. Expertise in business and product valuation is required
• Analytical and disciplined thinker; leads organization in developing and using analytical frameworks for collecting, analyzing and sharing information
• Familiarity with the agricultural and renewable fuels industry, its products and markets is a plus
• Strategic marketing ability and a track record of using marketing information in new value propositions for customers a plus
• Thorough understanding of and commitment to the company’s “biotech business” model
• Demonstrated leadership ability and people skills: build positive relationships, have impact and influence at all levels, manage and develop people for performance
• Strong team leadership skills; expects/promotes collaborative approach in others
• Strong business background including an MBA or equivalent business qualification
Compensation:
Competitive compensation package consisting of base salary, targeted bonus opportunity and corporate benefits