Director, Corporate Strategy

Shape strategy, partnerships, and investor engagement at a pivotal point in Vesalius's growth and clinical evolution.

About Vesalius Therapeutics

Vesalius Therapeutics has built a unique AI-enabled platform to identify disease-causing biology pairing the world’s largest iPSC collection with state-of-the-art cellular models and rich phenotypic screens. The platform uses genetics as the arbiter of causality to translate human biology into therapeutic hypotheses, and generate rigorous, decision-enabling evidence for drug development programs. Vesalius has formed a strategic collaboration with GSK in Parkinson’s disease and is pursuing multiple other avenues in neurodegeneration and indications outside the CNS. We are also advancing a novel therapeutic program in Alzheimer’s disease.

Position Summary

Vesalius Therapeutics is seeking a highly analytical, execution-oriented Director of Corporate Development to help lead enterprise strategy, external partnering, and investor engagement. This individual will work closely with senior leadership and cross-functional teams to translate scientific, clinical, competitive, and financial information into clear strategic choices, compelling external narratives, and coordinated action.

The Director will help establish an integrated strategy, business development, and investor engagement capability as Vesalius advances its first clinical program and builds a broader pipeline. They will lead structured analyses, identify and evaluate partnership opportunities, coordinate diligence and transaction support, develop Board and investor materials, and support financing and investor engagement.

The ideal candidate combines the structured problem-solving and communication skills of a top-tier strategist with commercial judgment, strong external relationship skills, and a practical understanding of biotechnology. They are comfortable working with imperfect information, can translate complex science for business and investor audiences, and take ownership from recommendation through execution.

Key Responsibilities

Corporate Strategy & Portfolio Planning

• Support development and ongoing refinement of Vesalius's enterprise strategy, strategic priorities, portfolio plan, and long-range plan.
• Lead portfolio and scenario analyses that integrate scientific differentiation, clinical path, probability of success, investment requirements, competitive context, and potential value.
• Create clear decision frameworks for program prioritization, resource allocation, sequencing, partnering, financing, and organizational investment.
• Facilitate cross-functional strategy discussions and translate conclusions into accountable plans, milestones, and decision follow-up.

Strategic Analysis & Executive/Board Support

• Lead market, competitive, pipeline, modality, company, and financing-environment analyses that inform corporate and program strategy.
• Synthesize scientific, clinical, regulatory, commercial, and financial information into concise implications and recommendations for senior leadership and the Board.
• Develop scenario analyses, valuations, and financial models to evaluate strategic alternatives, investment needs, milestones, and value-creation pathways.
• Develop high-quality executive and Board materials, and partner with Finance and functional leaders on annual planning, resource allocation, operating priorities, and milestone tracking.

Business Development & Partnering

• Develop and maintain a business development strategy aligned with Vesalius's enterprise and portfolio priorities.
• Identify, assess, and prioritize licensing, collaboration, partnership, and other external growth opportunities.
• Lead or coordinate partner outreach, scientific and business presentations, cross-functional diligence, and integrated recommendations on strategic fit, value, risk, and execution requirements.
• Develop valuations and transaction scenarios, support deal structuring and negotiations with leadership, Finance, and Legal, and help transition completed transactions into effective alliance governance.

Investor Engagement & External Communications

• Help shape Vesalius's investor engagement strategy, engagement plan, and financing narrative in partnership with the executive team and Finance.
• Develop and maintain investor presentations, corporate messaging, Q&A, diligence materials, and other communications that clearly connect scientific and clinical progress to enterprise value.
• Prepare executives for investor meetings, conferences, financing discussions, and follow-up; coordinate accurate, consistent inputs across scientific, clinical, financial, and legal stakeholders.
• Monitor investor feedback, peer-company positioning, market sentiment, and the financing environment; translate external insights into recommendations for leadership.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of relevant experience in biotechnology or pharmaceutical business development, investor relations, corporate strategy, management consulting, investment banking, or a comparable role.
• Demonstrated experience across at least two of the following areas: business development, investor relations, and corporate or portfolio strategy, with the ability to contribute effectively across all three.
• Strong understanding of biotechnology R&D, clinical development, portfolio strategy, partnering, and the drivers of enterprise value.
• Experience evaluating partnerships or licensing opportunities, including diligence, valuation, financial modeling, and transaction support.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate complex scientific and clinical information into clear investor, partner, executive, and Board materials.
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional work, manage multiple high-priority workstreams, and build external relationships without relying on formal authority.
• Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree in business, science, medicine, engineering, or a related field strongly preferred.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working across strategy, business development, or investor relations in an early-stage or clinical-stage biotechnology company.
• Experience in CNS, neurodegeneration, Alzheimer's disease, or complex disease areas.
• Direct experience supporting licensing transactions, strategic partnerships, private financings, investor meetings, or related external processes.
• Experience developing investor narratives and materials for a venture-backed or publicly traded biotechnology company.
• Familiarity with human genetics, data-driven drug discovery, and platform-based biotechnology models; experience supporting executive teams and Boards through major portfolio, financing, or partnering decisions.

Leadership Profile

• Gets quickly to the essential strategic, partnering, or investor question and distinguishes analysis that changes a decision from analysis that does not.
• Combines intellectual rigor with commercial judgment, pragmatism, speed, and a strong bias toward action.
• Communicates complex science and strategy simply, accurately, and with clear implications for internal and external audiences.
• Builds trust across scientific, clinical, financial, and operational teams and with external partners and investors.
• Challenges assumptions constructively and remains objective when the evidence conflicts with the preferred answer.
• Takes ownership from initial question through recommendation, external engagement, alignment, and execution follow-through.
• Thrives in an environment where priorities evolve and high-quality judgment matters more than process for its own sake.

What Success Looks Like

The successful candidate will build a trusted, high-impact capability across strategy, business development, and investor relations. They will improve the quality and speed of Vesalius's most important decisions, identify and advance high-value partnerships, strengthen the company's investor narrative and engagement, raise the quality of executive and Board materials, and ensure that strategic priorities translate into coordinated action and measurable progress.

We are an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

We recognize that great candidates often bring unique strengths without fulfilling every qualification. If you have some of the experience listed above but not all, please apply anyway. We are dedicated to building diverse and inclusive teams and look forward to learning more about your background and interest in Flagship.

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.

The salary range for this role is $183,000 - $231,000. Compensation for the role will depend on a number of factors, including a candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies, and experience. Vesalius Therapeutics currently offers healthcare coverage, annual incentive program, retirement benefits and a broad range of other benefits. Compensation and benefits information is based on Vesalius Therapeutics's good faith estimate as of the date of publication and may be modified in the future.