Business Development Manager - Strategic Accounts, North America Life Sciences

Business Development Manager | Strategic Accounts - North America Life Sciences

Are you the kind of person that is always thinking, sketching, seeking, and adjusting? Who needs to understand how things work and then figure out how they can work better? Are you a passionate, tenacious, solver who loves to work with others who share your drive? Are you positive, constructive, and ingenious?

Are you always solving?

Then we’d like to meet you and bet you’d like to meet us.

Ashland has an exciting opportunity for a Business Development Manager to join our North America Life Sciences business (remote). This is a very visible, significant role within the Company and the Life Sciences function. This position will report to the General Manager of the North America Life Sciences.

The responsibilities of the position include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Drive new business growth by identifying, developing, and converting opportunities across pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, and excipient markets, with a strong understanding of formulation technologies, manufacturing processes, and evolving customer needs.
• Build and manage a high-quality opportunity pipeline using CRM, market intelligence, commercial analytics, industry trends, and competitive insights to prioritize prospects and accelerate opportunities from concept through commercialization.
• Develop new customers, applications, and strategic partnerships by engaging decision-makers and technical stakeholders, understanding unmet needs, and positioning differentiated solutions that create long-term value.
• Translate market insights into growth opportunities by monitoring industry trends, drug development pipelines, technology shifts, competitive activity, and emerging applications to identify where the business can win.
• Lead the commercial development of new opportunities, coordinating with R&D, Marketing, Regulatory, Supply Chain, Operations, and other functions to move opportunities through technical evaluation, qualification, scale-up, and commercialization.
• Bring an entrepreneurial and CEO mindset. Challenge the status quo, pursue whitespace opportunities, test new ideas, and take smart commercial risks to create new sources of sustainable growth.
• Own your business and your pipeline. Establish clear priorities, develop actionable growth plans, maintain strong pipeline discipline, and be accountable for converting opportunities into profitable revenue.
• Build trusted relationships across the industry, from emerging companies to established pharmaceutical and life sciences organizations, creating executive-level connections and positioning the company as a strategic development partner.
• Travel up to 50% to customer sites, industry conferences, partner meetings, and company locations to build relationships, uncover opportunities, advance the pipeline, and accelerate commercial decisions.
• Deliver against growth and organizational goals through strong execution, accountability, collaboration, and a consistent focus on performance and safety.
• Strengthen organizational capabilities by building collaborative relationships, leveraging diverse talent and expertise, and using positive communication and influence to mobilize teams around growth opportunities.

In order to be qualified for this role, you must possess the following:

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Life Sciences, Engineering, Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Sciences, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant industry experience.
• 10+ years of experience in the pharmaceutical, excipient, biotech, CDMO, or broader life sciences industry, with a demonstrated track record of commercial success.
• 5+ years of experience managing strategic accounts, key customer relationships, business development initiatives, or commercial growth programs.
• Strong business acumen, communication, and negotiation skills, with the ability to influence senior decision-makers, navigate complex organizations, and drive profitable growth.
• Valid driver's license and ability to travel up to 50% throughout North America to customer sites, industry events, and Ashland locations.
• Demonstrated responsible and ethical behavior at all times

• The ability to help the company drive greater value through understanding the business, making complex decisions and creating the new and different

The following skill sets are preferred by the business unit :

• Advanced degree preferred, such as an MBA, M.S., or Ph.D. in Business, Life Sciences, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, or a related field.
• Experience with injectable drug products and parenteral formulations, with familiarity with key excipient technologies including sugars, cyclodextrins, PLGA-based chemistries, and other specialty injectable excipients.
• Experience working in a global, matrixed organization, partnering effectively with cross-functional teams across Commercial, R&D, Supply Chain, Operations, Regulatory, and Marketing to develop and advance new business opportunities through commercialization.

In more than 100 countries, the people of Ashland LLC. (NYSE: ASH) provide the specialty chemicals, technologies and insights to help customers create new and improved products for today and sustainable solutions for tomorrow. Our chemistry is at work every day in a wide variety of markets and applications, including architectural coatings, automotive, construction, energy, personal care and pharmaceutical. Visit to see the innovations we offer.


At Ashland our vision is to be a leading, global specialty chemicals company whose inspired and engaged employees add value to all we touch. In fact our people, employees, customers and vendors define who we are. They are the driving force behind everything we do.


Not only do we value our customers but we value our employees, and we work to offer them a dynamic and challenging environment. We hold ourselves to high standards at Ashland, and we value integrity and honesty.


Ashland has a history of attracting the best people and keeping them. The reasons are simple: industry competitive salary and benefits, pay-for-performance incentive plans and a diverse work environment where employees feel challenged and valued. People come to Ashland and stay. As a growing Fortune 500 specialty chemicals company, we offer opportunities for development and advancement throughout our global organization. Our values define who we are and what we care about as a company. If you are looking for a relationship with a company instead of simply a job, this may be a great fit.

Ashland is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer Minorities/Women/Veterans/Disabled/Gender Identity/Sexual Orientation.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability. NOTE: We do not accept resumes from external staffing agencies or independent recruiters for any of our openings unless we have a signed recruiting agreement in place to fill a specific position.