Senior Director of Business Operations (Commercial)

Location: Hybrid Role - based in Princeton, NJ or Frederick, MD

Reports to: Head of Commercial

About Cartesian Therapeutics:

Cartesian Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing mRNA CAR-T therapies for autoimmune diseases. Our mission is to expand the reach of cell therapy to patients living with serious autoimmune conditions through scientific rigor, collaboration, and innovation.

About the Role:

As we look ahead to the upcoming completion of our Ph3 Generalized Myasthenia Gravis trial, along with the continued progression of our trials in Myositis and Juvenile Dermatomyositis, Cartesian is further building-out our Commercial Organization.

Thus, we are seeking a Head of Business Operations, which will report to the Head of Commercial and serve as a key member of the Commercial leadership team. This role will lead the development and execution of integrated business operations infrastructure to enable successful commercialization, ensuring data-driven decision-making, operational excellence, and seamless execution across the commercial and medical organizations. This team's remit covers all aspects of commercial (enabling operations within value, access & trade, marketing, sales, account management, patient support & advocacy) and field medical enablement.

Key Responsibilities:

• Forecasting, Data, & Analytics: Lead development and continuous refinement of commercial forecasts, integrating cross-functional inputs (marketing, market access, medical, finance) to drive accuracy and alignment; establish scalable data and analytics capabilities to generate actionable insights, enable decision-making, and optimize performance
• Market Research & Competitive Intelligence: Partner with marketing to define key business questions and research priorities; lead all market research efforts (may include syndicated, qualitative, and quantitative) and competitive intelligence monitoring (and lead cross-functional CI Council) to generate actionable insights that inform strategy, positioning, and execution
• Field Enablement & Effectiveness: Lead field enablement across Sales, Market Access, Account Management, and Medical, in close partnership with each respective functional leader, ensuring field teams are equipped with right-sized processes, tools, insights, targeting, and training to drive execution, coordination, and performance
• Commercial & Medical Systems / Technology: Define and lead the commercial and medical systems roadmap in partnership with commercial peers, medical, and IT, (including CRM, data infrastructure, analytics platforms, and field tools), and ensure scalable, integrated, and compliant systems are in place when needed, to support launch and future growth
• MLR Operations & Governance: Lead MLR processes & workflow, in partnership with heads of commercial, legal, medical, & regulatory compliance, to ensure efficient, compliant, and timely review & approval of materials
• Marketing Operations: Partner closely with marketing to enable execution & measurement of omnichannel campaigns, content deployment, and promotional effectiveness through strong operational infrastructure, process optimization, and performance tracking
• Market Access & Trade Operations: Partner closely with head of value, access, and trade on all aspects of market access operations, including contracting analytics, access performance reporting, pricing and gross-to-net planning, trade & distribution model & partner performance to ensure efficient product flow, visibility, and alignment with objectives
• Training & Capability Development: Lead development and execution of a scalable training strategy across commercial and medical teams (in collaboration with human resources, commercial peers, and medical affairs), ensuring pre-launch effectiveness, launch readiness, and ongoing capability-building
• Data-Driven Performance & KPI Management: Establish and operationalize KPIs, dashboards, and performance management frameworks to enable a test-and-learn culture for optimized execution that balances speed-to-impact with continuous improvement within a startup biotech's resource-constrained environment
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner closely with commercial leadership, along with medical affairs, finance, IT, regulatory, and legal/compliance to ensure aligned planning, integrated execution, and effective governance across the full portfolio lifecycle
• Team Development & Leadership: Recruit, develop, and lead a high-performing, agile, lean business operations team; foster a collaborative, accountable, and solutions-oriented culture aligned with company values

Qualifications:

• BioPharma Experience: 12-15+ years of progressive BioPharma experience across a mix of commercial operations, forecasting, analytics, market research, and field enablement, with demonstrated success leading commercial operations and launch readiness
• Leadership Profile: Purpose-driven leader that values and role-models innovation, collaboration, integrity, and patient-centric thinking. Proven ''player-coach'' with the agility & humility to operate seamlessly between strategy and execution; known for building and leading high-performing teams and driving impact in resource-constrained, fast-paced, high-science environments
• Operations Expertise: Deep expertise in forecasting, data, analytics, sales and marketing operations, market research, competitive intelligence, access operations, and field enablement, (medical operations experience an additional plus); strong understanding of commercial and medical workflows, processes, and compliance requirements
• Systems & Infrastructure: Experience implementing and optimizing commercialization systems (e.g., CRM, analytics platforms, data infrastructure, field tools) to support launch and scale
• Strategic & Analytical Excellence: Strong ability to synthesize complex data into clear insights and recommendations; experience enabling data-driven decision-making and linking analytics to business performance
• Collaboration & Influence: Exceptional communication, leadership presence, and stakeholder influence skills, with a highly collaborative, cross-functional mindset
• Therapeutic Experience: Experience within cell and/or gene therapy, rare disease, neurology, rheumatology, and/or hematology/oncology strongly preferred
• Education: Bachelor's degree require; Advanced degree (MBA, MPH, PhD, PharmD, or equivalent) preferred; relevant work experience will be considered

Travel Expectations: ~15-35% travel