Kriya is a biopharmaceutical company whose mission is to develop life-changing gene therapies for diseases affecting millions of patients around the world.

We leverage our proprietary computational engine, in-house manufacturing infrastructure, and integrated design platform to engineer technologies and therapeutics with the potential to transform the treatment of a broad universe of diseases of high unmet need, with a focus on metabolic disorders, neurology, and ophthalmology.

We are proud to have been named Triangle Business Journal’s Life Sciences 2024 “Best Private Company to Work For,” recognized by Forbes as one of “America’s Best Startup Employers of 2024,” and honored as one of BioSpace’s “2025 Best Places to Work.”

Responsibilities

The Associate Director, Corporate Strategy & Business Development Contractor is a senior analytical and strategic partner to the CFO / Head of Corporate Strategy, Business Development, Finance, and Communications. Corporate Strategy & Business Development’s role is to build strategic optionality for accessing capital across dilutive equity, non-dilutive business development, and IP or platform monetization pathways. This role brings rigorous scientific and financial analysis, structured but flexible problem solving, and hands-on execution to the workstreams that will enable Kriya to be well-positioned for continued progress and growth.

Key Responsibilities

Support the design and execution of Kriya's multi-path capital access strategy, including comparable company analysis, sell-side analyst mapping, and investor narrative infrastructure tied to Kriya's core value-creation pillars (manufacturing, data, people) that deliver durable medicines.
Build and maintain financing scenario and valuation analyses (rNPV analyses, go/no-go decision gates, capital needs by program) that hold up to sophisticated-investor scrutiny.
Evaluate non-dilutive business development opportunities — outlicensing, partnership, and technical-services / IP-monetization structures — including deal-term benchmarking, structural risk assessment, and comparable-transaction research.
Support other team members in completion of market intelligence and landscape analysis across relevant indications, modalities, mechanisms, and comparable companies, with explicit sourcing and confidence-level tagging for every claim.
Support due diligence, data-room preparation, and management presentations for prospective investors, banking partners, and institutional collaborators (e.g., academic medical center partnerships).
Partner cross-functionally with Finance, BD, Communications, and clinical/program teams to translate scientific and clinical progress into a coherent, evidence-based corporate narrative.
Apply a consistent data-integrity standard: distinguish sourced fact from internal characterization from hypothesis, and flag discrepancies or gaps explicitly rather than smoothing over them.
Operate independently against ambiguous, fast-moving priorities typical of a pre-financing clinical-stage biotech, escalating judgment calls rather than defaulting to consensus.

Skills

Experience & Skills

Advanced science degree required (PhD, MS, MD or equivalent; equivalent roles with directly relevant experience will be considered).
3 to 5 years in management consulting background (top-tier or boutique strategy/life-sciences consulting) or comparable experience in biotech corporate strategy, corporate development, investment banking, or equity research.
Demonstrated ability to structure ambiguous problems into clear analytical frameworks, and to build and defend financial or scientific analysis under scrutiny.
Strong written and verbal communication skills; able to translate complex clinical/scientific material into concise, decision-ready materials for executive and investor audiences.
Comfort working with primary sources (SEC filings, clinical trial data, scientific literature, company disclosures) and citing them explicitly; discomfort with unsourced or confident-sounding-but-unverified claims.
Prior exposure to gene therapy, cell therapy, or a related complex biotech modality is a plus; demonstrated ability to ramp quickly in a new scientific area is required.
Comfortable operating in a lean, resource-constrained, fast-paced environment as a fractional / part-time contributor with the expectation of significant autonomy.
Strong comfort in leveraging and incorporate large data set analytics and intelligent LLM tools such as Claude into workflows and process.

Work Environment

Local to San Francisco Bay Area with presence in Palo Alto office at least once a week.
Standard office physical demands (extended periods of sitting, computer use).

Benefits

Discover True Collaborative Teamwork

We have an ambitious set of goals, but our confidence – and our inspiration – stems from our people. From California to North Carolina, our teammates bring a spirit of Collaboration, Leadership, and Innovation to their work every day.

We’re always looking for teammates with the drive and energy to help us grow. If you want to be a part of a company with an entrepreneurial culture, a bold vision, and a meaningful purpose, join us.