Company Description
For over 20 years, Abcam has been providing tools the scientific community needs to enable faster breakthroughs in critical areas like cancer, neurological disorders, infectious diseases, and metabolic disorders.
We believe that to continue making progress, we need to work together in new ways. We need your own unique perspective as well as this of our people to make an always greater impact on the world. This community needs people like you: dedicated, agile and above all audacious so we can truly bring progress forward.
Job Description
We have an exciting opportunity for a Director of Custom Product Development to join our R&D team. This is a collaborative role responsible for developing and managing our relationships and scientific approach with commercial clients, working closely with our Sales, Marketing and global R&D teams to deliver high-quality products and customer satisfaction across Abcam’s product offerings.
Combining an understanding of client and business needs you will develop strong partnerships with leading pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies, working hand-in-hand with all internal teams to support Abcam in delivering exceptional products that advance our customer’s research and life science progress globally. You must have experience in antibody discovery and experience in technical leadership of partnerships and managing customer relationships/client services.
- Manage clear and effective cross-organizational processes for custom project evaluation, development and execution
- Support our global Sales teams with customer interactions and relationships, bringing strong scientific credibility and input
- Work closely with our Sales teams to improve our processes and approach to continue to advance our leadership in product development.
- Develop and manage customer relationships and scientific project direction for high-profile, larger clients
- Work closely across our R&D, Project Management, Sales and Marketing teams ensuring technology capabilities and improvements are built in to our offering and market positioning and contribute to development and execution of custom product development strategy
- Ensure that information sharing across teams is well-managed to give a great customer experience and effectively utilize R&D’s expertise
- Ensure resolution of significant issues with our clients through coordination and collaboration of internal resources to identify, propose and carry out an efficient plan to address challenges and get to agreeable solutions
- Ensure that expected service levels are being provided and that required planning and technical information is being exchanged effectively between different teams
- Work with R&D leadership and their teams globally to support custom projects and clients
- Assist in development of annual commercial & development budget as well as annual strategic planning cycle
- Coach and lead members of the team to support all colleagues in managing customer relationships and successful execution of projects
Qualifications
Our ideal candidate will have:
- Strong leadership skills with +5 years leading and managing a team.
- PhD or significant research experience in Life Sciences (10 years+).
- Direct experience in Antibody Discovery is essential. This may come from development of research-use only products or diagnostic and therapeutic discovery and development.
- Technical expertise in:
o B cell biology, hybridoma culturing, immunization strategy, antigen design
o Antibody discovery through naïve or immune library panning as well as engineering, including affinity maturation
o Antibody expression, purification and characterization
o Molecular biology, cell biology, biochemistry, affinity and activity assays
- +5 years of experience in customer and client service or relationship management
- Excellent organizational and interpersonal skills and a skillful communicator, confident at presenting and discussing at a senior level both internally and externally
- The ability to build strong, trusting relationships across the business, influencing effectively to support our customers and contribute to Abcam’s growth
- Able to understand the needs of the business, navigating both technical and commercial considerations to deliver successfully on both sides of a partnership
- An inclusive team player who enjoys collaboration, is a good listener, follows through on commitments and has fantastic people skills
- Scientifically rigorous with the ability to drive improvements across an organization and implement work flow processes that are easily understood and followed
- Somebody who wants to make a difference and advance the work of our customers, contributing to our ambitious mission
Desirable:
- Knowledge in NGS methodologies
- Knowledge in antibody discovery to small molecules and drug compounds
- Experience of biochemical techniques for the characterization of macromolecules such as ELISA, flow-cytometry, surface plasmon resonance or Bio-layer interferometry
- ADC development
Additional Information
We know that when it comes to benefits, no one size fits all. Flexibility and choice matter which is why, in addition to market competitive salaries, we offer you a flexible benefits package which is tailored to your unique needs and support your financial, physical and emotional wellbeing. This includes our award-winning share scheme, 18 weeks fully paid maternity leave, 6 weeks fully paid paternity leave as well as highly flexible working and much more. Besides, your development will be integral to your experience here. You will grow alongside other talented minds, in ways you may often find unexpected.
When people come together, incredible things happen. Here you’ll work in a safe environment where you can be who you truly are. We’ll champion and celebrate your uniqueness throughout your journey with us. This is how we excel at partnering with the scientific community no matter the challenge, ultimately helping solve the world’s most critical diseases. Find out more about Diversity & Inclusion at Abcam.