Vice President, Business Development - Life Sciences

VP of Life Sciences Sales – North America

GLG is seeking a tenacious, senior commercial leader to join our Healthcare & Life Sciences team, supporting pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, and diagnostics clients.

The VP of Sales – Life Sciences is a senior, hunter-focused, individual contributor role on GLG’s Corporate Sales team and will play a critical part in GLG’s growth across North America. The role is responsible for originating and developing strategic partnerships across top 30 global pharmaceutical, biotech, medtech and diagnostics companies, as well as high-growth innovators, and for materially increasing GLG’s share of wallet within these accounts.

Based in NY or Boston, this role will initially be a senior individual contributor position with potential to evolve into a player-coach remit (building and leading a small team) as the business scales.

At GLG you will have the opportunity to grow professionally while working in a collaborative, fast-paced environment with high-performing colleagues across North America and globally.

Key Responsibilities

Commercial Leadership & New Business Generation

• Lead GLG’s life sciences new logo and expansion efforts across North America, with a specific focus on top-tier pharma, biotech, medtech, and diagnostic clients.
• Own and execute a proactive hunting strategy: identify, qualify, and close high-value opportunities across priority accounts and whitespace prospects.
• Develop and execute strategic account plans for your book of business, including multi-year growth strategies, revenue targets, and clear action plans by stakeholder, product, and geography.
• Consistently build, manage, and convert a robust pipeline of opportunities, with strong discipline around qualification, forecasting, and deal progression.

Senior Client Engagement & C-Suite Relationship Building

• Build, deepen, and institutionalise senior-level relationships (Director, VP, SVP, C-Suite) across R&D, Medical, Commercial, Market Access, Strategy, Business Development / Licensing, and Insights / Market Research.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to clients, articulating how GLG’s expert network, integrated solutions, and data & insights can address strategic, clinical, commercial, and operational challenges.
• Lead complex, multi-stakeholder sales cycles, including enterprise-level, cross-functional agreements, multi-year commitments, and global / regional frameworks.
• Prepare and deliver compelling, tailored pitches and proposals that clearly demonstrate ROI and differentiation versus alternative information & research providers.

Territory & Account Strategy

• Define and own a focused territory and account strategy for Life Sciences across North America, aligned with GLG’s growth priorities.
• Map key accounts end-to-end (functions, decision-makers, budget owners, influencers), identifying expansion paths across brands, franchises, business units, and geographies.
• Partner closely with regional and global sales leadership to prioritise bets, structure commercial constructs, and align on pricing / negotiation strategy.

Cross-Functional Collaboration & Execution

• Work closely with GLG project and client solutions teams to ensure flawless delivery against client needs, including expert consultations, surveys, and integrated solutions.
• Collaborate with research teams to identify emerging therapeutic areas, modalities, and technology trends where GLG can build differentiated offerings for life sciences clients.
• Coordinate with marketing to shape campaigns, events, and content tailored to priority accounts and segments; actively participate in industry conferences and GLG-hosted events.
• Engage with internal stakeholders (legal, compliance, finance, operations, IT) to structure complex deals, manage risk, and enable scalable growth.

Leadership & Future Team Building (Player-Coach Evolution)

• Act as a senior commercial voice within the North America Healthcare & Life Sciences team, sharing best practices and supporting the development of more junior sales colleagues.
• Help define the future operating model for Life Sciences sales across North America, including input into hiring plans, territory design, and go-to-market approach.
• Over time, take on management responsibility for a small team of hunters / BDMs while maintaining direct ownership of key strategic accounts (“player-coach” model).

Operational Excellence & Governance

• Maintain rigorous CRM hygiene: log activities, opportunities, and account plans; provide accurate, timely pipeline and forecasting updates to senior management.
• Track and report on key sales KPIs (pipeline coverage, win rates, sales cycle length, ACV, expansion, retention), using data to refine strategy and tactics.
• Stay up-to-date on pharmaceutical / biotech regulatory developments, market dynamics, and competitive landscape (including other expert networks and insight providers), and translate these into commercial opportunities.

• Travel regularly to client sites and industry events to build and reinforce long-term client partnerships.

Ideal Candidate Profile

• Bachelor’s degree or above; an advanced degree (e.g. MSc, PhD, MBA) and/or a life sciences-related field (biology, chemistry, pharmacology, biomedical sciences) is strongly preferred.
• 7–10 years of professional experience, with the majority spent in quota-carrying B2B sales / business development roles selling into pharmaceutical / biotech / medtech / diagnostics clients.

• Proven track record of hunting and closing new business with enterprise-scale life sciences organisations within North America

• Experience selling knowledge, data, SaaS, consulting, market research, or analytics solutions to life sciences clients (e.g. expert networks, MR agencies, HEOR, RWE, or clinical / commercial data platforms).
• Demonstrated success managing complex, multi-stakeholder sales cycles and negotiating significant contracts (six-figure plus annual contract values; multi-year agreements a plus).
• Strong understanding of the pharmaceutical and biotech value chain (from discovery and early development through clinical, regulatory, launch and lifecycle management), and how insight / information products support decision-making at each stage.
• Experience with both new logo acquisition and expansion / cross-sell / upsell within existing accounts; comfortable building “land & expand” strategies.
• Previous exposure to subscription, SaaS, or recurring revenue models, including experience with renewals and expansion of annual contracts.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication and presentation skills; able to engage credibly with senior scientific, medical, commercial, and strategy stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to work autonomously in a high-performance environment, take ownership of a revenue number, and consistently meet or exceed targets.
• High integrity, professionalism, and sound commercial judgment; comfortable operating in a highly compliant, regulated environment.
• Proficiency with CRM systems (e.g. Salesforce) and common sales enablement tools; strong command of Microsoft Office (PowerPoint/Excel) for building account plans and client-ready materials.

• Willingness and ability to travel regularly as client and business needs require.

What We Offer: 

Benefits: All U.S. GLGers also have access to benefits such as :

• Comprehensive medical, dental and vision coverage effective on your first day of employment
• Flexible paid time off. No pre-determined limits on vacation time, plus 10 company holidays
• 401(k) and Roth 401(k) plans with an employer match (subject to annual limits & vesting)
• Tuition reimbursement program for eligible courses including language skills courses
• Paid parental leave, adoption and surrogacy reimbursement
• Free wellbeing support with the Calm app, Maven and EAP, and free long-term therapy & counselling assistance through Pathways
• Other work perks and benefits available based on final job location

Compensation:  GLG is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. Actual compensation is based on several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to skill set, depth of experience, certifications, and specific work location. Certain roles may also be eligible for incentive compensation.

The anticipated hiring base salary range for this role is:

$117,000—$160,000 USD

About GLG / Gerson Lehrman Group

GLG is the world’s leading platform for trusted human expertise. We connect global decision-makers—from hedge fund managers and private equity partners to strategy leaders at Fortune 500s—with the specific, authoritative voices required to answer their most critical questions.

At GLG, you are an extension of our clients' core teams. You will work at the intersection of industries and global markets, navigating high-stakes challenges across the full spectrum of their strategic initiatives. Operating within the industry’s most trusted research environment, you’ll help our clients capture the nuanced perspectives that drive smarter, faster business outcomes.

We are a global team of pragmatic problem-solvers who mirror the intensity of the markets we serve. If you are driven by intellectual curiosity and a bias toward action, join us in reinventing the industry we invented.

Gerson Lehrman Group, Inc. (“GLG”) is an equal opportunity employer and will not discriminate against any employee or applicant on the basis of age, race, religion, color, marital status, disability, gender, national origin, sexual orientation, veteran status, or any classification protected by federal, state, or local law.