Consumer Health-tech Partnering Lead

The Opportunity:

• In a world transformed by digital technology and the emergence of new scientific domains, we are establishing an external innovation and consumer health-tech department within Opella’s science organization to harness these opportunities and drive breakthrough innovations, closely aligned with evolving consumer needs worldwide. Leveraging Science & Technology, we aim to deliver innovative, reliable, and sustainable healthcare solutions and experiences that will revolutionize consumers’ self-care journeys.

• This role will be responsible for delivering to consumers, through our brands, health-tech solutions (both digital/software and devices/hardware) by partnering with the external ecosystem, including start-ups, world-class experts, and prototyping and manufacturing partners. Your mission will be to provide our consumers with unparalleled self-care experiences through tech solutions and augmented products and services covering areas like diagnostics, beyond-the-pill therapeutics, and predictive & preventive technologies. This includes a strategic shift from offering products to services and solutions while delivering higher business and data value. All initiatives are rooted in science, fueled by consumer insights, developed with agility, and executed at scale.

• You will build Opella’s consumer health-tech strategy and roadmap, and you will identify, evaluate, and foster targets for partnerships and licensing to support the short-, mid-, and long-term strategy of Opella’s portfolio of brands. Your mission includes delivering strategic use cases for our brands at speed and scale based on an agile methodology and ensuring their market rollout. This involves strengthening partnership teams internally and externally for ad hoc expertise in key areas such as UX/UI design, data science, tech, and device engineering.

Your Tasks & Responsibilities:

• You will define the consumer health-tech strategy and roadmap, focusing on strategic needs and priorities for short-, mid-, and long-term goals aligned with our priority brands’ growth and competitiveness strategies.

• Your responsibilities include watching, scouting, and identifying disruptive and emerging tech prospects relevant to Opella priority brands. This includes delivering precise initial assessments, benchmarking, and technical positioning of these prospects.

• You will screen the potential candidates based on strategic fit, brand fit, overall feasibility, and the value creation opportunity with preliminary business cases.

• You will lead cross-functional teams in various stages of opportunity evaluation, including initial non-confidential assessments, in-depth confidential reviews, due diligence, and preparation of negotiation mandates.

• You will prepare and execute digital and tech partnering and licensing initiatives and be responsible for negotiating deal terms with the support of legal and procurement teams.

• You will cross-functionally manage POC and MVP development using internal and external resources with the support of the project management team.

• You will lead the design, development, and rollout of consumer health-tech solutions by:

  Validating technical scope and key functionalities of new solutions fully integrated into a relevant and valuable consumer journey.

  Overseeing solution development with internal teams and external agencies, ensuring best-in-class design, development, and implementation.

  Ensuring solutions capture rich and valuable data effectively.

• You will build, sustain, and leverage a global network of potential tech partners to generate new portfolio opportunities and to support the design, development, and roll-out of consumer health-tech solutions.

Your Qualifications:

We seek a candidate with:

• A deep understanding of the consumer healthcare and/or pharmaceutical industry, with a medical, tech, or engineering background, and a strong business and/or entrepreneurial background.

• A minimum of 10 years of experience in the digital and/or hardware technologies space, with a track record of delivering successful partnering/licensing transactions and market launches, is required.

• Possession of a strong network of innovation and development partners within health-tech.

• Solid project management expertise in tech (digital and devices) and familiarity with agile methodologies, including the use of processes, tools, and rituals for design, development, and market deployment, is essential. Obsessed with product quality and the end-to-end consumer experience.

• Experience in business development, licensing, or partnering activities, including evaluation, due diligence, and negotiation, is a strong advantage.

• Ability to translate brand visions into tech solution definitions and make data-driven decisions. Creative mindset to establish innovative business solutions and concepts.

• Comfortable working with external partners and in global teams and complex multicultural environments, and demonstrating successful leadership of cross-functional teams with the ability to independently manage multiple projects.

• Entrepreneurial mindset coupled with tech and business acumen, and a proactive, hands-on attitude.

• Excellent oral and written communication skills, good presentation skills, and a high level of fluency in written and spoken English.

• Basic understanding of intellectual property, legal, and compliance matters.

Opella, the Consumer Healthcare business unit of Sanofi, is the purest and third-largest player globally in the Over-The-Counter (OTC) & Vitamins, Minerals & Supplements (VMS) market.  

We have an unshakable belief in the power of self-care and the role it can play in creating a healthier society and a healthier planet.

That’s why we want to make self-care as simple as it should be by being consumer-led always, with science at our core. 

Through our unique and balanced portfolio of more than 100 loved brands, including 15 global and local high-growth challengers such as Allegra, Dulcolax and Buscopan, we deliver our mission: helping more than half a billion consumers worldwide take their health in their hands.  

This mission is brought to life by an 11,000-strong team, 13 best-in-class manufacturing sites, and 4 specialized science and innovation development centers. 

We are also proud to be the first major fast-moving consumer healthcare company to achieve B Corp certification. 

Join us on our mission. Health. In your hands.