We are rebuilding biotech for the AI era.

When a breakthrough is delayed, the world waits. Getting a molecule from discovery to patients, or a crop from lab to field, involves thousands of slow, manual, disconnected steps. AI has the potential to change this, compressing decades of R&D work into years. But that only happens when clean, structured scientific data and AI are built into how science gets done.

Benchling is the AI platform for biotech R&D. Scientists use Benchling to design experiments, capture structured data, and run AI agents and models directly in their workflows. Over 200,000 scientists around the world trust Benchling to power their most important work, from academic labs to Sanofi, Moderna, and more than half of the world's top 50 biopharma.

We’re building an AI scientist for our customers. We can’t do that if we haven’t built the muscle ourselves. AI fluency is the foundation we build on; it's core to how we work, and we're committed to helping every new hire integrate it into their day-to-day. As part of our interview process, you'll complete a brief AI-focused exercise or discussion so we can understand how you think about and use AI to drive impact in your role. Feel free to reference any tools, platforms, or workflows you use today.

ROLE OVERVIEW

Benchling is the R&D Cloud for life sciences. Our platform powers scientific work at thousands of academic labs and biopharma companies, and we sit at the intersection of AI and biology as both accelerate. We are looking for an AI Partnerships Lead to own Benchling’s most important AI relationships and drive the commercial partnerships that define our role in the AI ecosystem.

This is a high-ownership, client-facing role. You will lead partnerships with model labs, scientific AI companies, and adjacent infrastructure partners; structure and close deals spanning data licensing, product integrations, and co-development arrangements; and build the playbook for how Benchling engages the AI ecosystem end-to-end. The role spans both directions of the data economy: helping partners access Benchling's scientific data at scale, and sourcing external data and models that power Benchling's own AI products. You will work closely with Product, Legal, Finance, and GTM internally, and represent Benchling to sophisticated external technical stakeholders.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Partner Ownership: Own the end-to-end relationship with Benchling's most important AI partners across frontier model labs, scientific model providers, and infrastructure partners

• Data Licensing: Structure commercial arrangements across the data ecosystem in close partnership with Benchling's technical AI team, sourcing the external data and models they need and licensing Benchling's data and platform capabilities to external partners

• Broader Deal Execution: Structure, negotiate, and close additional commercial deals across product integrations, co-marketing, and co-development. Work across Legal, Finance, Product, and GTM to turn partnership commitments into product and commercial reality

• Playbook Design: Build a repeatable playbook for how Benchling engages the AI ecosystem: pipeline, pricing, deal structures, and success metrics

• Ecosystem Sourcing: Source, diligence, and place clear bets on the next generation of AI/ML companies, from stealth-stage startups to public infrastructure players, and shape which ones become Benchling partners

• Industry Presence: Represent Benchling at events, in the field, and in front of senior executives at every partner you own

QUALIFICATIONS 

• 4+ years combined experience across partnerships, business development, enterprise sales, corporate development, consulting, investment banking, venture capital, life sciences, tech, or startups

• Bias for action and comfort with ambiguity; energized by building the playbook while running live deals

• Track record of managing senior external relationships and engaging credibly at the executive level, including with CEOs, CFOs, and technical leadership

• Strong knowledge of AI/ML and the ability to translate between research and commercial audiences; a technical background is not required, but you should be comfortable in substantive conversations with researchers, engineers, and product teams

• Comfort operating across the full deal lifecycle: sourcing and qualification, discovery, negotiation, contracting alongside Legal, and post-signature delivery

• Strong written communication, with the ability to translate complex and uncertain ideas into clear, concise, and decisive recommendations

• Demonstrated engagement and relationships across the AI ecosystem is a plus

• Deep curiosity about how AI is reshaping R&D; prior work experience in life sciences or a degree in a scientific discipline (biology, chemistry, bioengineering, or similar) is a plus

HOW WE WORK

This is an in-person team in San Francisco built around collaborating in the office in a fast-paced environment. We’re in the office Monday through Friday.

#LI-GP1

Benchling welcomes everyone.

We believe diversity enriches our team so we hire people with a wide range of identities, backgrounds, and experiences.

We are an equal opportunity employer. That means we don’t discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We also consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law, including but not limited to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.

We are rebuilding biotech for the AI era.

When a breakthrough is delayed, the world waits. Getting a molecule from discovery to patients, or a crop from lab to field, involves thousands of slow, manual, disconnected steps. AI has the potential to change this, compressing decades of R&D work into years. But that only happens when clean, structured scientific data and AI are built into how science gets done.

Benchling is the AI platform for biotech R&D. Scientists use Benchling to design experiments, capture structured data, and run AI agents and models directly in their workflows. Over 200,000 scientists around the world trust Benchling to power their most important work, from academic labs to Sanofi, Moderna, and more than half of the world's top 50 biopharma.

We’re building an AI scientist for our customers. We can’t do that if we haven’t built the muscle ourselves. AI fluency is the foundation we build on; it's core to how we work, and we're committed to helping every new hire integrate it into their day-to-day. As part of our interview process, you'll complete a brief AI-focused exercise or discussion so we can understand how you think about and use AI to drive impact in your role. Feel free to reference any tools, platforms, or workflows you use today.

ROLE OVERVIEW

Benchling is building a world-class Professional Services team to drive implementations for our rapidly expanding customer base. Implementation Managers work with our customers, from small Biotech startups to the largest BioPharmas in the world to develop a deep understanding of their R&D Processes, and roll out solutions that transform how their research teams work together.

To be successful in this role, you will leverage your scientific background, project management skills, and product expertise to drive successful implementations of the Benchling platform. You will work hand in hand with the research scientists at our customers, and teams throughout Benchling to implement our solutions, and ensure our customers are successful. Implementation Managers lead all aspects of customer rollouts from requirements analysis and solution design, to configurations, testing, training, and onboarding users onto the system.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Manage initial rollouts for new Benchling customers as well as expansion projects with new teams or for new processes at existing customers.

• Own implementation success from project kickoff to go-live, leveraging strong project management skills, scientific expertise, and deep product knowledge.

• Build and execute detailed project plans, own project activities, work with other team members to execute on project deliverables to ensure on time, on budget, high quality deployments.

• Understand customers' scientific workflows and determine how Benchling can best be leveraged to meet their key business needs.

• Lead requirements and design workshops, perform data modeling & application configuration, develop test plans and guide UAT execution, train and onboard users.

• Act as a trusted advisor for customers, guiding them through the implementation ensuring they leverage and apply Benchling Best Practices.

• Understand and document customer pain points, advocate for them internally to influence product changes.

• Develop and optimize enterprise training programs including written and video collateral.

• Identify and work with sales on opportunities for account expansion post go-live.

QUALIFICATIONS

Requirements

• Degree in Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Immunology, Bioinformatics, Biological Engineering or a related field. Advanced degrees preferred.

• At least 2 years of experience in a lab or research setting. You must be able to empathize with scientists and quickly understand complicated scientific concepts.

• Strong communication skills. You must be able to quickly and effectively connect with a range of stakeholders, including scientists, IT project leads, and executives.

• Self-starter with the ability to be successful in a startup environment.

• Curious, creative, and tenacious. You should be excited to collaborate with customers and other Benchling teammates as a thought partner.

• Ability to travel up to 25% based on customer and project needs.

Bonus if you have:

• Experience using Benchling, especially if you’ve been a Benchling administrator.

• Software Implementation experience, preferably with a SaaS software company.

HOW WE WORK

We offer a flexible hybrid work arrangement that prioritizes in-office collaboration. Employees are expected to be on-site 3 days per week (Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday).

#LI-Hybrid

#BI-Hybrid

Benchling welcomes everyone.

We believe diversity enriches our team so we hire people with a wide range of identities, backgrounds, and experiences.

We are an equal opportunity employer. That means we don’t discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We also consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law, including but not limited to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.