Adela’s mission is to deliver innovative and accessible blood tests that harness biology to transform cancer care and improve well-being. The company is developing best-in-class technology to accelerate the diagnosis and improve the management of cancer through blood tests for minimal residual disease (MRD) monitoring and multi-cancer early detection (MCED). Adela’s blood-based, tissue-free product ensures universal accessibility to MRD testing for patients with cancer, eliminating any dependency on tumor tissue availability. Adela’s first product was recently clinically validated for predicting and surveilling for recurrence in patients with head & neck cancer and published in Annals of Oncology.

Adela is seeking a Director/Associate Director of Business Development to join our Commercial team. This role is responsible for building and scaling Adela’s biopharma and business development function by creating the commercial strategy, partnership playbook, and key external relationships required to drive adoption of Adela’s testing platform. The Business Development Director will lead strategic engagement with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies as well as other strategic partners to develop opportunities spanning translational research, clinical trials, commercial strategies, and companion diagnostics – positioning Adela’s technology as a valuable tool in oncology drug development and beyond.

The ideal candidate is a strategic and entrepreneurial business development expert who can translate complex science into compelling partnership opportunities, navigate biopharma organizations, secure volume-based testing contracts tied to clinical trials and research collaborations, and mature Adela’s platform and data strategy.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Strategy and Channel Development

• Build and lead Adela's biopharma business development function, including pipeline development, stakeholder mapping, segmentation, value proposition, pricing/packaging, account prioritization, and pull through
• Develop and refine Adela’s channel strategy —partner identification, direct selling, and evolving the BD playbook — to scale biopharma and Adela’s strategic partnership channel

Business Development & Revenue

• Own and deliver against revenue targets; manage pipeline with disciplined forecasting and accurate reporting
• Source, negotiate, and close strategic partnerships and high value contracts tied to clinical trials, translational research, drug development programs, and other impactful co-development projects
• Identify and secure opportunities to embed Adela's platform into oncology clinical trials, companion diagnostic programs, and biomarker strategies
• Use a strategic enterprise sales approach to identify and engage key influencers, approvers, and decision-makers across the client organization, building alignment and driving timely action.
• Track progress against defined strategic objectives and revenue goals; review progress/setbacks consistently and provide feedback broadly to Adela teams to refine approach and influence the development of the Adela portfolio.

Stakeholder Engagement & Relationship Management

• Build and maintain deep relationships with key industry stakeholders from clinical development, translational medicine, biomarker strategy, and clinical operations
• Navigate complex organizations to align influencers, approvers, and decision-makers and drive timely deal execution

Cross-Functional Leadership & Deal Execution

• Lead cross-functional deal execution with legal, finance, and operations to ensure partnerships align with operational capabilities, business objectives and financial goals
• Collaborate internally with scientific, medical, clinical operations, and laboratory teams to structure partnerships and design study protocols that integrate Adela’s technology and roadmap into evolving clinical development programs.
• Maintain ownership through contract signing/kick off and support seamless handoff into program execution and delivery

Market Intelligence & Internal Alignment for Scale

• • Provide ongoing competitive insights and voice-of-customer feedback to inform product development and commercialization strategy
  • Define and document business development processes, partnership models, pharma budget cycles and contracting strategies to support scaling the biopharma channel
  • Partner with leadership, medical affairs, marketing, and operations to evolve the biopharma GTM strategy and long-term partnership roadmap

Representation & Compliance

• Represent Adela at partner meetings, industry conferences, and scientific events
• Travel up to 40% (domestic and international); maintain compliance with all company policies

Experience & Skill Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree strongly preferred (PhD, MD, MBA, or MS in life sciences, healthcare, or related field)
• Strong scientific background - Oncology, molecular diagnostics, genomics, and/or biomarker development experience is a must.
• Minimum 7+ years of business development, strategic partnerships, or commercial experience in life sciences, diagnostics or biopharma services
• Proven success selling complex diagnostic or biomarker solutions to biopharmaceutical companies
• Track record of negotiating and closing strategic partnerships or service agreements with biopharma organizations
• Demonstrated experience supporting clinical trials, translational research programs, or biomarker strategies within drug development.
• Strong network of relevant contacts in biopharma organizations
• Strong understanding of clinical trial workflows, biomarker integration, and oncology drug development
• Strong strategic thinking combined with hands-on execution
• Experience operating in early-stage or high-growth environments, with comfort navigating ambiguity and building new channel
• Proactive mindset that translates ideas into practical, implementable solutions and effectively mobilizes both internal and external stakeholders to resolve challenges quickly.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to effectively communicate complex scientific concepts to both technical and business audiences
• Strong organizational and pipeline management skills, with experience managing long, complex enterprise sales cycles
• Excellent computer proficiency (MS Office – Word, Excel, Outlook, SharePoint)
• Ability to work independently and drive initiatives to completion in a fast-paced environment

Nice to haves:

• Deep understanding of the oncology biomarker and molecular diagnostics landscape in drug development
• Existing relationships within biopharma clinical development, translational medicine, or biomarker strategy teams
• Experience structuring testing services agreements, strategic collaborations, and/or companion diagnostic development partnerships

The annual base salary range for this position $200,000 to $225,000 USD. This range reflects only the base salary component of compensation and is provided in compliance with applicable pay transparency requirements. Actual base salary will be determined at the Company’s discretion and may vary based on a number of factors, including but not limited to geographic location, relevant experience, skills, qualifications, internal equity, and business needs.

Adela is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace. We provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind, in accordance with applicable laws in the United States and Canada.
Employment decisions are made without regard to any characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, provincial, or local laws, including race, color, religion or creed, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin or ancestry, age, disability, genetic information, marital or family status, or veteran or military status.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations in accordance with applicable laws.