Assoc. Director of Commercial Operations

The Asahi Kasei Group operates with a commitment of creating for tomorrow. Our business sectors, Material, Homes, and Health Care, contribute to the development of society by anticipating the changing needs of those around the world. We look for candidates that offer a fresh perspective and a variety of skills to help us achieve our commitment.

Bionova is a rapidly growing, biologics CDMO focused on developing and manufacturing recombinant protein products using mammalian cell culture processes. Our business success is built on bringing together top scientific talent, arming them with the best available tools, and setting them loose in an agile, energized culture focused on solving difficult client problems. Because our success depends on our ability to exceed our clients’ expectations, we look for candidates with an innate desire to serve. Adaptability and an interest in transformative action are also common attributes among our team. Bionova became a subsidiary of Asahi Kasei Medical in May 2022, a division of Tokyo-based Asahi Kasei Group. This acquisition has enabled Bionova to greatly accelerate growth of the business, both in capacity of current service offerings and expansion into new service offerings.

Company:

Bionova Scientific LLC

Job Description:

We are seeking a highly organized, scientifically curious, and commercially minded Assoc. Director of Commercial Operations to support the growth of our biologics development and manufacturing business.

This role combines technical proposal development, commercial coordination, lead qualification, and inside sales support. The ideal candidate can translate complex scientific and manufacturing capabilities into clear, compelling client proposals while also engaging prospective customers, identifying program needs, nurturing early-stage opportunities, and helping advance qualified leads through the sales pipeline.

Working closely with Business Development, Proposal Management Director, Process Development, Manufacturing, Quality, Finance, Marketing, and other subject matter experts. This individual will help ensure prospective clients receive accurate, responsive, technically sound, and commercially compelling proposals.

The successful candidate will understand that in a CDMO environment, a proposal is more than a document—it is an important part of the customer experience and the beginning of a long-term partnership.

Key Responsibilities

Proposal Development & Commercial Writing

• Lead the development, writing, coordination, and delivery of client-facing proposals, scopes of work, quotations, and related commercial documents.
• Translate technical input from scientific and manufacturing SMEs into clear, concise, client-focused proposal language.
• Coordinate proposal requirements across Process Development, Manufacturing, Analytical, Quality, Regulatory, Finance, Project Management, and Business Development.
• Ensure proposals clearly communicate project scope, assumptions, deliverables, timelines, manufacturing strategy, responsibilities, and commercial terms.
• Manage proposal timelines and internal reviews to ensure accurate and timely delivery to prospective clients.
• Maintain proposal templates, capability descriptions, technical content libraries, standard language, and reusable commercial content.
• Support responses to RFIs, RFPs, technical questionnaires, and other client requests.
• Partner with SMEs to ensure proposal content accurately reflects current capabilities, capacity, technologies, timelines and service offerings.
• Track proposal revisions and help coordinate responses to client questions following proposal submission.

Inside Sales & Lead Qualification

• Serve as an initial commercial point of contact for selected inbound leads and prospective clients.
• Conduct introductory conversations to understand the prospect's molecule, development stage, technical requirements, timelines, and manufacturing needs.
• Qualify opportunities based on technical fit, program stage, timeline, budget, and commercial potential.
• Nurture early-stage opportunities through thoughtful and timely follow-up.
• Schedule and coordinate introductory and technical discussions between qualified prospects and Business Development or scientific teams.
• Re-engage dormant leads and previously quoted opportunities when appropriate.
• Support outbound prospecting campaigns in partnership with Business Development and Marketing.
• Help move qualified opportunities through the commercial funnel from inquiry → qualification → proposal → negotiation → award.
• Ensure leads and opportunities are accurately documented and updated within the company's CRM.

Business Development Support

• Partner closely with Business Development leaders to prepare for client meetings, opportunity reviews, and proposal discussions.
• Develop client-specific capability summaries, presentations, and supporting commercial materials.
• Track proposal activity, client follow-up, next steps, and outstanding actions.
• Support commercial pipeline reviews by providing visibility into proposal status, aging, conversion, and follow-up activity.
• Identify recurring client questions, objections, and market needs and communicate insights back to Business Development and Marketing.
• Help create a consistent and professional customer experience from initial inquiry through proposal submission and handoff to the project team.

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor's degree in life sciences, biotechnology, biochemistry, biology, chemical engineering, biomedical sciences, business, communications, or a related field.
• 3-5+ years of experience within biotechnology, biopharmaceuticals, life sciences, or a CDMO/CRO environment.
• Demonstrated ability to understand and communicate complex scientific or technical information.
• Strong business and technical writing skills with exceptional attention to detail.
• Excellent project management and organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple proposals and deadlines simultaneously.
• Strong interpersonal skills and confidence communicating with scientists, commercial leaders, and prospective clients.
• Ability to work cross-functionally and gather information from multiple stakeholders.
• Experience with CRM systems such as Salesforce, HubSpot, or similar platforms.
• Strong proficiency with Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and related business tools.
• Travel up to 15%, domestic

Preferred

• Previous experience in proposal development, inside sales, business development, commercial operations, or technical sales within a CDMO.
• Familiarity with biologics development and manufacturing, including cell line development, upstream and downstream process development, analytical development, formulation, scale-up, technology transfer, and GMP manufacturing.
• Experience supporting recombinant proteins, monoclonal antibodies, multispecifics, ADCs, enzymes, plasmid DNA, viral vectors, or cell and gene therapy programs.
• Understanding of the drug development lifecycle from early development through clinical and commercial manufacturing.
• Familiarity with RFP/RFI processes, scopes of work, project pricing, and contract manufacturing terminology.

What Success Looks Like

Success in this role means more than producing high-quality proposals. This individual will help create a faster, more responsive commercial process that allows Business Development and technical teams to focus their time on the highest-value opportunities.

Key measures of success may include proposal turnaround time, proposal accuracy, lead response time, qualified opportunities generated, proposal-to-award conversion, CRM completeness, opportunity follow-up, and overall client experience.

The Ideal Candidate

You may be a great fit if you are someone who can comfortably move between a scientific conversation and a commercial one. You enjoy taking complex information and turning it into a clear story. You are comfortable asking a scientist detailed questions, following up with a prospective client, managing multiple deadlines, and making sure nothing gets lost between "We're interested" and

"Let's start the program."

You are proactive, responsive, organized, collaborative, and comfortable working in a fast-moving biomanufacturing environment where speed matters—but accuracy matters just as much.

If you understand the science, can tell the story, and know how to keep an opportunity moving—we want to hear from you.

The base compensation range for this role is $135,000-$160,000. Base Compensation is influenced by many factors including, but not limited to: time in the role, previous experience, skills, knowledge, performance, work requirements, internal equity, and business / economic conditions.

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As an equal opportunity employer, Asahi Kasei believes a diverse workforce will provide us with the ability to continuously support the changes in the economy, society, and environment.