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Origin Verified
Chemicals, Materials Science, Cleantech

Head of Data Partnerships

San Francisco, CAOnsiteFull TimeManager / Head$150,000–$180,000 /yrPosted 21 days agoVisa sponsorship availableHidden Gem · YC Startup

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Required skills

  • Data Partnerships
  • Biomedical Data Licensing
  • Oncology Data
  • Spatial Biology
  • Histopathology Images
  • Clinical Datasets
  • Pharma
  • Biotech
  • AI Labs
  • Contract Negotiation

Nice to have

  • Tempus
  • Caris
  • Flatiron
  • Foundation Medicine
  • Illumina BioInsight
  • nference

Role summary

Origin is seeking a Head of Data Partnerships, their first commercial lead, to drive the licensing of their spatial molecular data, histopathology images, and clinical datasets to pharmaceutical companies, biotech, and AI labs. This role involves managing the full deal cycle from initial contact to contract signing, with a focus on oncology data. The ideal candidate will have experience in biomedical data licensing, strong negotiation skills, a deep understanding of how large pharma and AI labs purchase data, and an established network in the industry. Responsibilities include packaging data for buyers, acting as the external voice of the company, and contributing to the commercial strategy.

**About the role**

Origin produces matched spatial molecular data, histopathology images and clinical datasets from patient tumour samples. Cancer is well suited to deep learning but lacks data at scale. As R&D comes to depend more on AI systems, the companies building them need data that captures how tumours actually behave in tissue. We start with spatial biology because it captures context that bulk and single-cell data miss: where molecules sit, how cells signal to each other, and how pathways differ across regions of a tumour.

This hire will be our first commercial lead. They will own how Origin’s data reaches pharmaceutical companies, biotech and AI labs, from first conversation to signed licence.

**What you’ll work on**

* Close Origin’s first data licensing deals with pharma, biotech and AI labs, and turn them into a repeatable pipeline.
* Find the teams inside large pharma and AI labs who own budget and decisions for oncology data, such as translational science, computational biology, AI/ML and external innovation. Build relationships with them.
* Run the full deal process: NDA, data evaluation agreement and license agreement. Structure contracts of $100K and up, including pricing, exclusivity, early access and multi-year terms.
* Package our data for buyers: cohort specs, sample datasets, a data room and the “why this data” story. Work with our computational team so every claim is backed by real results.
* Feed what buyers need (indications, clinical labels, modalities, cohort sizes) back into what we produce next.
* Be the external voice of Origin’s data: at conferences, on LinkedIn and in partner meetings. Keep explaining why oncology R&D needs better data, and show the results our data makes possible.
* Help sell our AI evaluation benchmarks and RL environments (training environments for AI models) to AI labs alongside the data.

**Helpful past experience**

* Has personally worked on and closed biomedical data licensing deals, ideally in oncology.
* A senior role (Director or similar) in data partnerships, strategic data BD or clinical data solutions at a company like Tempus, Caris, Flatiron, Foundation Medicine, Illumina BioInsight, nference, Truveta or Vi.
* Or: healthcare and life sciences partnerships at an AI data company (Mercor, Scale, Surge, Handshake), or BD at a computational pathology company (PathAI, Aignostics, Paige).
* Knows how large pharma and AI labs buy data, who signs and how long it takes.
* Ability to maximise revenue potential by understanding nuances of the application of interest; then, being able to structure the commercial accordingly. e.g., if application of interest is target id, how does Origin maximise its earning potential if anything of interest comes from the data.
* Was early at a company and helped build its commercial function, or spent many years at one company and now wants a founding role at an earlier-stage company with a clear moat.
* An established network across pharma, biotech and AI, built through deals and conferences.
* Degree in molecular biology or a related field. An advanced degree (MS, PhD or MBA, especially from a program with strong biomedical ties) is a plus.
* Technical enough to talk through spatial transcriptomics, H&E and clinical data with a scientific buyer.

**Compensation**\
$150K–$180K base, 1–2% equity (4-year vest, 1-year cliff), plus a commission on every data licence you close: 5% of first-year contract value, paid on signature. The deal-based upside is uncapped.
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