Associate Director of Strategic Marketing & Partnerships

Job description

We are the people who give possibilities purpose BD is one of the largest global medical technology companies in the world. Advancing the world of health™ is our Purpose, and it’s no small feat. It takes the imagination and passion of all of us—from design and engineering to the manufacturing and marketing of our billions of MedTech products per year—to look at the impossible and find transformative solutions that turn dreams into possibilities. Job DescriptionBD Lab Specimen Management is seeking an Associate Director, Strategic Marketing & Partnerships to lead two connected growth priorities: developing strategic relationships with diagnostic instrument companies and advancing the partner ecosystem required to scale new innovations. This role will translate market, technology, customer, and partner insights into focused strategies, prioritized opportunities, and executable partnership plans. The successful candidate will be comfortable operating at the intersection of marketing, business development, R&D, regulatory, medical affairs, regional commercial teams, and external partners. The individual must be able to move from rigorous analysis to executive recommendation and then to disciplined execution in an evolving, highly matrixed environment. Responsibilities: Instrument Company Partnership StrategyLead the strategy and engagement model for priority diagnostics partners, reference Labs, and IDNs. Define mutually beneficial opportunities spanning technical compatibility, workflow integration, regulatory or clinical collaboration, co-development, co-marketing, and commercial growth. Partner with R&D, Regulatory Affairs, Medical Affairs, Quality, and regional teams to translate external requirements into testing plans, development priorities, evidence needs, and commercialization pathways. Create structured partner account plans, executive engagement agendas, governance models, decision logs, and value-realization metrics. Monitor instrument roadmaps, assay menus, automation trends, low-volume sample requirements, and emerging technologies to inform LSM portfolio and innovation choices. New Innovation Strategic MarketingShape the commercial and ecosystem strategy for new innovations, with emphasis on chronic disease and wellness testing across decentralized and non-traditional collection settings. Map and prioritize the partner ecosystem across collection-device companies, instrument companies, reference laboratories, health systems, DTC and digital-health platforms, kitters, logistics providers, and payers. Lead customer and partner discovery to understand analyte priorities, sample-volume needs, tube and automation requirements, workflow constraints, patient experience, logistics, and commercialization barriers. Develop market segmentation, value propositions, market models, business cases, scenarios, and go-to-market recommendations for new collection and testing offerings. Design pilot and validation concepts with external partners and internal teams, with clear learning objectives, success metrics, decision gates, and scale-up implications. Identify market-shaping needs, including evidence, reimbursement, workflow standardization, partner enablement, and adoption barriers. Strategic Analysis and Executive Decision SupportSynthesize market, competitive, technical, financial, and customer data into clear recommendations for senior leadership. Build robust market-sizing, revenue, margin, investment, risk, and sensitivity analyses to support portfolio and partnership decisions. Develop concise executive narratives, strategy papers, partnership recommendations, and leadership-ready presentations. Establish KPIs that track partnership health, milestone delivery, commercial potential, strategic value, and learning velocity. Maintain a fact-based view of competitive moves and external developments in decentralized diagnostics, capillary sampling, automation, and at-home testing. Cross-Functional Leadership and ExecutionLead through influence across global and regional teams without relying on direct authority. Convert strategy into workplans, owners, milestones, governance, and escalation paths that maintain pace and accountability. Partner with Business Development and Legal on partnership structures, agreements, commercial rights, data and evidence access, and value realization. Represent BD credibly in external executive meetings, technical workshops, industry events, and partner negotiations. Coach and support team members involved in strategic marketing, market research, analytics, and partnership execution. Minimum Requirements: EducationBachelor's degree in business, marketing, science, engineering, healthcare, or a related field required. MBA or other relevant advanced degree preferred. Experience8+ years of progressive experience in strategic marketing, business development, commercial strategy, product management, corporate strategy, or management consulting. Experience in diagnostics, IVD, medical devices, life sciences, laboratory automation, digital health, or adjacent healthcare markets strongly preferred. Demonstrated experience developing or managing external partnerships, ideally with instrument companies, laboratories, health systems, or healthcare technology companies. Experience translating market opportunities into strategies, business cases, partnership models, and execution plans. Experience working with technical, regulatory, clinical, and commercial stakeholders in a global matrixed organization. Knowledge, Skills and AbilitiesStrategic and analytical rigor: able to structure complex questions, assess imperfect data, model scenarios, and identify the few insights that matter most. Partnership orientation: able to identify shared value, understand partner economics and incentives, and build trust across organizations. Diagnostics fluency: working understanding of the preanalytical-to-analytical workflow, including specimen collection, transport, processing, automation, analyzers, assays, laboratory operations, and regulatory considerations. Core laboratory ecosystem knowledge: strong understanding of major IVD companies, instrument platforms, laboratory automation, assay workflows, and the interaction between specimen collection systems and downstream analytical performance. External relationship building: demonstrated ability to establish and expand senior-level relationships across diagnostic companies and translate those relationships into strategic collaboration opportunities. Commercial acumen: strong grasp of market segmentation, value proposition development, pricing, go-to-market design, forecasting, and business-case development. Executive communication: exceptional written, verbal, presentation, and storytelling skills; able to make a clear recommendation and explain the supporting logic. Influence and collaboration: proven ability to align senior stakeholders and multidisciplinary teams across competing priorities. Learning agility: curiosity and willingness to go deep on new technologies, workflows, markets, and partner business models. Execution discipline: strong program management, prioritization, follow-through, and accountability in a fast-moving environment. Comfort with ambiguity: able to create structure, maintain momentum, and make sound recommendations before every variable is known. Global mindset and willingness to travel domestically and internationally up to approximately 20-25%. At BD, we prioritize on-site collaboration because we believe it fosters creativity, innovation, and effective problem-solving, which are essential in the fast-paced healthcare industry. For most roles, we require a minimum of 4 days of in-office presence per week to maintain our culture of excellence and ensure smooth operations, while also recognizing the importance of flexibility and work-life balance. Remote or field-based positions will have different workplace arrangements which will be ind