Director, Corporate Development (San Diego/Hybrid)

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Job Description

Position Title: Director, Corporate Development

Location: Hybrid 

Reports To: Senior Vice President of Corporate Development & Strategic Planning (eventually to Vice President, M&A)

Position Summary

This role serves as a strategic leader, leading high‑impact M&A, partnership, and investment initiatives across the deal lifecycle. The Director is accountable for translating enterprise priorities into actionable external opportunity agendas, shaping investment strategy through rigorous analysis, and delivering executive‑level recommendations that inform capital allocation and long‑term growth.

The individual brings a combination of deep scientific and technical insight and strategic investment rigor to independently assess complex external opportunities, develop and defend investment theses, and integrate scientific, commercial, financial, and operational perspectives into clear recommendations. The role involves navigating complex, cross‑functional dynamics to align stakeholders, resolve competing priorities, and advance high‑stakes transaction decisions.

The Director leads cross‑functional deal teams, facilitates governance and decision forums, and ensures disciplined execution from sourcing and thesis development through diligence, negotiation support, integration planning, and value capture tracking. Success requires influence without authority, strong judgment, and the ability to reconcile competing stakeholder priorities to drive outcomes on initiatives with significant enterprise impact.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Lead and coordinate cross-functional workstreams across corporate development and M&A transactions, with accountability for scope, prioritization, and delivery from assessment through diligence and integration planning
• Develop, own, and defend investment theses that integrate scientific, clinical, commercial, and financial insights, translating complex analyses into clear recommendations for senior leadership decision-making
• Lead comprehensive due diligence efforts across scientific, market, and commercial dimensions, ensuring key risks, opportunities, and assumptions are identified, validated, and appropriately factored into investment judgements
• Partner closely with R&D and cross-functional stakeholders to assess scientific differentiation, technical feasibility, and development risk, and incorporate these perspectives into transaction evaluations
• Lead the development of executive-level materials, including investment memos and recommendation decks, synthesizing cross-functional inputs to support governance forums and key investment decisions
• Partner with senior leadership on transaction structuring, negotiation, and execution, providing strategic, analytical, and risk-based input to advance transactions through key decision points
• Lead integration planning and value creation strategy aligned to deal rationale, including defining key value drivers, identifying execution risks, and partnering with functional leaders through early implementation
• Develop and manage the pipeline of potential targets, aligning external activity with enterprise priorities and active portfolio considerations
• Partner with Finance to assess valuation approaches, return profiles, and key financial assumptions, ensuring alignment between investment theses and expected financial outcomes
• Support post-deal performance tracking against investment theses, identifying variances, surfacing insights, and informing learning for future investment decisions
• Drive alignment and execution across a global, highly matrixed organization by facilitating trade-offs, resolving misalignment, and influencing outcomes

Key Competencies:

• Demonstrated leadership in corporate development and transaction execution, including leading key components of M&A and business development activities with structured rigor
• Strong investment judgment and strategic thinking, with the ability to evaluate risk, value creation potential, and strategic fit, and to frame clear recommendations on high-stakes decisions
• Ability to synthesize scientific, market, and financial inputs into clear, actionable insights
• Highly effective executive communication and stakeholder influence, with the ability to influence decisions without direct authority
• Deep scientific and technical acumen in life sciences, including understanding of R&D pipelines and clinical development
• Proven ability to lead across global, highly matrixed organizations, driving alignment and outcomes across functions, geographies, and competing priorities
• Strong results orientation with a focus on value creation, execution quality, and measurable outcomes across the transaction lifecycle

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• Lead cross-functional deal teams and coordinate external advisors
• Provide mentorship and guidance to team members and stakeholders

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree required
• Typically requires a minimum of 18 years of relevant experience OR advanced degree with 8–12+ years of relevant experience, with 10+ years of Management experience. 
• Experience in corporate development, M&A, investment banking, or strategy within life sciences or healthcare
• Strong understanding of life sciences or healthcare markets
• Proven ability to lead complex, cross-functional initiatives in a matrixed environment

Preferred Credentials:

• PhD in life sciences or related field strongly preferred
• Experience at a top-tier consulting firm or investment bank
• Experience supporting life sciences transactions or asset evaluation
• Exposure to integration planning and value capture

Other Requirements:

• Ability to operate effectively in a global, highly matrixed organization
• Demonstrated ability to influence without authority
• Strong executive presence
• Willingness to travel domestically and internationally as needed, approximately 25% of the time.
• This is a full-time role, Monday through Friday, with an expectation of 2- 3 in-office days per week and additional on-site presence as needed. The individual must reside in the San Diego area and be able to commute to our corporate offices.

#LI-HYBRID

The estimated base salary range for the Director, Corporate Development (San Diego/Hybrid) role based in the United States of America is: $187,400 - $281,000. Should the level or location of the role change during the hiring process, the applicable base pay range may be updated accordingly. The range reflects long‑term growth in the role. Most candidates are hired between the minimum and middle of the range. Placement depends on experience, skills, location, and internal equity. Additionally, all employees are eligible for one of our variable cash programs (bonus or commission) and eligible roles may receive equity as part of the compensation package. We offer a wide range of benefits as innovative as our work, including access to genomics sequencing, family planning, health/dental/vision, retirement benefits, and paid time off.

We are a company deeply rooted in belonging, promoting an inclusive environment where employees feel valued and empowered to contribute to our mission. Built on a strong foundation, Illumina has always prioritized openness, collaboration, and seeking alternative perspectives to propel innovation in genomics. We are proud to confirm a zero-net gap in pay, regardless of gender, ethnicity, or race. We also have several Employee Resource Groups (ERG) that deliver career development experiences, increase cultural awareness, and offer opportunities to engage in social responsibility. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer committed to providing employment opportunity regardless of sex, race, creed, color, gender, religion, marital status, domestic partner status, age, national origin or ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, sexual orientation, pregnancy, military or veteran status, citizenship status, and genetic information. Illumina conducts background checks on applicants for whom a conditional offer of employment has been made. Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with applicable local, state, and federal laws. Background check results may potentially result in the withdrawal of a conditional offer of employment. The background check process and any decisions made as a result shall be made in accordance with all applicable local, state, and federal laws. Illumina prohibits the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in the application and interview process. If you require accommodation to complete the application or interview process, please contact [email protected]. To learn more, visit: https://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/eeopost.pdf. The position will be posted until a final candidate is selected or the requisition has a sufficient number of qualified applicants.