Job Description

CAS uses intuitive technology, unparalleled scientific content, and unmatched human expertise to help companies create groundbreaking innovations that benefit the world. As the scientific information solutions division of the American Chemical Society, CAS manages the largest curated reservoir of scientific knowledge, and for over 117 years, has helped innovators mine, assess, and apply that information to keep businesses thriving. The CAS team is global, diverse, endlessly curious, and strives to make scientific insights accessible to innovators worldwide.

CAS is currently seeking a Senior Director, Strategy & Growth

The pace of product, AI, technology, customer, and market change facing CAS is accelerating. This role provides CAS with dedicated, full-time capacity to translate emerging market, customer, technology, data and AI trends into growth opportunities and a coherent strategic roadmap, and to build the alignment and momentum needed to execute against it.

The Senior Director, Strategy & Growth will lead CAS strategy and growth planning, market and competitive intelligence, opportunity development, growth opportunity and business-model strategy, and strategic partnership development. The role also will identify and develop the strategic rationale for potential inorganic growth opportunities, including acquisitions and other potential transactions.

The Senior Director, Strategy & Growth operates within ACS’s enterprise governance framework. For potential acquisitions, investments, joint ventures, or other material transactions, the role will partner closely with the enterprise ACS Finance team which leads valuation, transaction structuring, financial diligence, transaction process management and negotiation, and enterprise transaction governance.

Reporting Relationship & Scope

• Reports to the CAS President (or a senior executive designated by the President).
• Primary scope is CAS strategy and growth, with the potential to contribute to broader ACS strategic initiatives where those efforts reinforce CAS growth and the shared ACS mission.
• Serves as CAS’ primary strategic partner to enterprise ACS Finance on inorganic growth opportunities.
• Individual contributor role at launch, with potential to build a small team (analysts/associates) as the mandate matures.

Key Responsibilities

1. Market Intelligence & Opportunity Landscape

Build a more formal, analytically rigorous view of CAS’ current and emerging markets including customer needs, competitors, market and technology trends, and white space opportunities, to inform strategic decisions, sharpen solution roadmaps, and surface organic and inorganic growth opportunities with more timeliness and rigor than currently exists.

Translate market intelligence into clearly articulated growth theses and prioritized opportunity areas for CAS.

1. Product, Services, Technology & AI Growth Strategy

Translate market, customer, competitive, and technology insights into implications for CAS’ product and AI strategy. Partner with Product and Technology leadership to inform product and technology priorities, identify capabilities required to deliver CAS’ growth strategy, and accelerate execution of agreed priorities.

1. Growth Opportunity & Business Model Strategy

Assess the market potential, customer needs, business-model options, and strategic rationale for new products and capabilities. Partner with the SVP, Chief Customer Officer and Product leadership to translate prioritized growth opportunities into customer value propositions, pricing, packaging, go-to-market, and commercialization strategies.

1. Strategic Partnerships

Develop a framework for identifying capability gaps and deciding where CAS should build internally versus partner externally; identify and assess potential strategic partners; develop the strategic and commercial rationale for partnerships and weigh the strategic upside of partnerships against execution complexity and risk.

Lead CAS relationship development and partnership strategy, working with Legal, Finance, Product, Technology, and other enterprise functions as appropriate.

For partnerships that involve material capital commitments, investments, joint ventures, acquisitions, or other transaction-like structures, partner with enterprise ACS Finance under established governance.

1. Inorganic Growth Strategy & Opportunity Development

Translate CAS’ inorganic growth strategy into inorganic growth theses; assess build/buy/partner options; develop and maintain a prioritized landscape of potential acquisition, investment, and strategic partnership opportunities aligned to CAS’ growth priorities; and develop the strategic rationale and business case for priority opportunities.

Partner with enterprise ACS Finance to advance potential transactions through valuation, diligence, structuring, negotiation, and enterprise approval processes.

How the Role Operates

• Research & Insight: Conducting desk and primary research (competitive research, customer conversations, and discussions with CAS/ACS stakeholders) to inform strategy, product, pricing, partnership, and inorganic growth priorities.
• Analysis: Working with internal customer, usage, market, and financial data to quantify opportunity upside, costs, trade-offs, and investment priorities.
• Opportunity Development: Translate CAS strategy into actionable organic, partnership, and inorganic opportunities, and develop the strategic rationale and business case for pursuing them.
• Enterprise Partnership: Work closely with enterprise ACS Finance, legal, and other ACS functions so that potential transactions are evaluated and executed using consistent standards, processes, and decision rights.
• Execution: Lead CAS execution of approved strategic growth initiatives while partnering with the appropriate enterprise functions where enterprise capital, risk, or governance is implicated.
• Communication & Stakeholder Alignment: Codifying recommendations clearly for senior CAS and ACS stakeholders, the Board, and operating leaders across functions, turning strategy into faster execution.

Core Competencies

• Strategic analysis — able to structure ambiguous, cross-functional problems into clear frameworks, strategic choices, and actionable recommendations.
• Growth strategy & opportunity development — translates market insights and enterprise capabilities into actionable organic, partnership, and inorganic growth opportunities.
• Build/buy/partner analysis: evaluates alternative pathways for acquiring capabilities and articulates the strategic and economic trade-offs.
• Strategic partnership development — identifies and evaluates partners and develops strategic and commercial partnership models.
• Financial and market modeling — comfort building business cases, market sizing, strategic scenarios, and ROI/investment analyses using internal and external data.
• M&A strategy and assessment: understands target identification, strategic fit assessment, transaction economics and diligence sufficiently to serve as an effective CAS strategic partner to enterprise ACS Finance and corporate development.
• Commercial and pricing acumen — understands packaging, pricing, and go-to-market strategy for information, data, and AI products.
• Executive communication — synthesizes complex analysis into clear, decision-ready materials for C-suite and Board audiences.
• Cross-functional influence — aligns Product, Commercial, Technology, Finance, and other leaders without direct authority over them.
• Program/project leadership — drives multiple concurrent strategic workstreams to decision and execution.

Traits & Drivers

• Intellectually curious — genuinely energized by tracking market, technology, and AI change and translating it into implications for the business. A passion for science and scientific discovery is a plus.
• Comfortable with ambiguity — can create structure and momentum in a newly defined, still-evolving role.
• Bias for action — oriented toward accelerating decisions and execution, not just producing analysis.
• High executive presence — credible and persuasive in front of senior leaders and the Board.
• Collaborative influencer — builds trust and alignment across functions rather than working in isolation.
• Mission-oriented — motivated by CAS/ACS's scientific and public-benefit mission, not purely a transactional deal-maker.
• Rigorous and detail-oriented — holds a high analytical bar while still moving at the pace the business needs.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in strategy consulting, growth strategy, corporate development, investment banking, private equity, or internal strategy/corporate development roles; experience in information services, scientific/technical publishing, SaaS, or data/AI-driven businesses is a plus.
• Demonstrated track record developing and evaluating inorganic growth opportunities, strategic partnerships and/or M&A, including target identification, strategic assessment and business-case development; experience participating in transaction execution is preferred.
• Experience/understanding in information solutions, SaaS, AI and/or services markets.
• Experience building strategic roadmaps and business cases that were adopted and acted upon by senior leadership.
• Bachelor's degree required; MBA or equivalent advanced degree preferred.
• Experience operating in or alongside nonprofit, association, or mission-driven organizations is helpful but not required.