Executive Director, Strategic Deals & Partnerships

The Strategic Deals and Partnerships role will have global responsibility for driving strategic partnerships across biopharma accounts and other key organizations, including financial entities supporting clinical trial funding. This position leads cross-functional Deal Teams to design enterprise-level solutions, innovative commercial structures, and pricing strategies that align with Fortrea’s full-service portfolio. The role combines direct client relationship management with internal orchestration to influence pricing and commercial strategies, ensuring competitive positioning and margin optimization. Success will be measured primarily by strategic account penetration, complemented by revenue growth and margin improvement.

Summary of Responsibilities:

• Global Leadership: Serve as a senior executive role with global responsibility for driving strategic partnerships across biopharma accounts and other key organizations, including financial entities supporting clinical trial funding.
• Deal Team Leadership: Lead a virtual team containing Operations, Finance, Contracts, Legal, Account Executives, and others across the business (“Deal Team”) to develop partnership and commercial proposals for proactive client development and client-issued RFPs.
• Commercial Strategy Influence: Integrate with deal team members to gain an understanding of procurement, competitive landscape, firm positioning, likely procurement structure, and overall bid health, influencing pricing and commercial strategies (without direct P&L ownership).
• Solution Development: Responsible for leading the development of:
  • Enterprise solutions across the company establishing client value proposition, engagement model, and operational structure for delivery, working with subject matter experts.
  • Partnership model cost and savings estimates supported by client-provided information, competitive intelligence, pricing model outputs, and data-driven decision support tools.
  • Commercial structures, including accountability and risk-sharing arrangements, cost reduction constructs (e.g., discount/rebate structures), efficiencies, and strategies in rules of engagement, innovation, and model design.
  • Pricing for new partnership models, evaluating client costs, competitive intelligence, and margin expectations.
• Data Analysis: Analyze internal and external data to maximize new business creation while managing to margin targets.
• Executive Coordination: Lead the coordination of Executive Deal Reviews, including training deal teams on review format and content and ensuring proper representation of Executives by closely coordinating with Executive Administrative support.
• RFP Management: Review client RFPs to identify specifications impacting cost and risk, identify discrepancies, and generate questions for operational teams and clients.
• Proposal Strategy: Attend and participate in proposal strategy and core team meetings for assigned engagements; interact with the Proposal Team to ensure consistency between written proposals and desired commercial positioning.
• Client Engagement: Maintain direct client relationship management throughout partnership development and negotiation processes.
• Sales Enablement: Empower sales functions by effectively communicating details of approved commercial offerings and ensuring client needs are met during bidding.
• Post-Award Oversight: On an ad-hoc basis, review and approve post-verbal award commercial requests (e.g., change order concessions, payment schedule/terms, bonus/penalty provisions).
• Department Initiatives: Lead department initiatives and drive progress across the organization.
• MSA Negotiation: Negotiate commercial terms within Master Service Agreements.
• Customer Meetings: Attend customer meetings as applicable.
• Other Duties: Perform other duties as assigned.
• Performance Metrics: Success will be measured primarily by strategic account penetration, complemented by revenue growth and margin improvement.
• All other duties as assigned

Qualifications (Minimum Required):

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in a related field
• Strong analytical skills with ability to interpret complex data and apply insights to commercial strategies.
• Excellent customer service skills, attention to detail, and ability to be persistent while maintaining tact.
• Demonstrated ability to plan, multi-task, and prioritize in a fast-paced environment.
• Exceptional teamwork and collaboration skills with proven ability to influence cross-functional stakeholders.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including text editing and business writing.
• Advanced proficiency in MS Office (Excel, Word, Outlook).
• Ability to work independently and meet deadlines under pressure.
• Positive attitude and sense of urgency.
• Ability to work irregular and/or extended hours as needed to meet client proposal deadlines.
• Proven track record of driving strategic account penetration, revenue growth, and margin improvement in a global biopharma or CRO environment.

Experience (Minimum Required):

• Strong progressive experience in partnership development, strategic account management, or related commercial leadership roles within CRO, pharma, or life sciences.
• Extensive experience leading complex deal structures, including pricing strategy, risk-sharing models, and enterprise-level solutions.
• Demonstrated success in direct client relationship management at senior/executive levels.
• Experience managing virtual, cross-functional teams (Operations, Finance, Legal, Contracts, Sales).
• Familiarity with RFP processes, proposal strategy, and executive deal reviews.
• Exposure to global markets and ability to navigate diverse regulatory and commercial environments.
• Experience negotiating Master Service Agreements and commercial terms.
• History of delivering results against strategic growth objectives and margin targets.

Preferred Qualifications Include:

• Master’s degree in related field

Physical Demands / Work Environment:

• Standard office or home-based environment with frequent virtual collaboration.
• Ability to sit and work at a computer for extended periods; frequent keyboard use.
• Requires flexibility for work outside normal hours to meet client and executive review needs.
• Global travel up to 30–40%, including overnight stays.

#LI-LL1

Learn more about our EEO & Accommodations request here.