Jacin Hayes, newly promoted Associate Director of Manufacturing Outsourcing at MacroGenics, shares her journey from aspiring physician to lab scientist to alliance management, revealing how curiosity, adaptability, and strategic thinking help get life-saving therapies from the bench to patients.
Jacin Hayes never planned to work in biotech. Originally on a pre-med track, she double-majored in microbiology and immunology before pivoting after a challenging MCAT experience. What started as a role in a local manufacturing facility quickly evolved into a 15-year career across lab work, project management, and now alliance management.
As MacroGenics’ Associate Director of Manufacturing Outsourcing, Jacin ensures that the company’s investigational therapies—both internally developed and outsourced—reach patients in our clinical studies efficiently and safely. Her path illustrates how non-linear careers, driven by curiosity and adaptability, can lead to high-impact roles in life sciences.
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Q: How did you end up at MacroGenics and in your current role?
I’ve been in biotech for 15 years and joined MacroGenics three and a half years ago. I started on the manufacturing floor as an operator and development associate while completing my M.S. in biotechnology—lab work gave me a strong technical foundation, but I quickly realized I wanted to see the bigger picture.
Transitioning into project management exposed me to regulatory affairs, quality, and cross-functional collaboration, which naturally led to alliance management—overseeing external partnerships and outsourced manufacturing. What keeps me here is the variety and the impact: every day is different, and I can see how my work helps get therapies closer to patients.
Q: What does alliance management entail day-to-day?
No two days are alike. I manage outsourcing for MacroGenics’ owned programs, serving as the primary contact for external manufacturing partners. My responsibilities range from initiating conversations and issuing RFPs to selecting partners, kicking off projects, and coordinating tech transfer, lot production, and handoffs to clinical teams. It’s a mix of operational oversight, strategic planning, and problem-solving—making sure our investigational therapies are manufactured efficiently and ready for clinical trials. One of the most rewarding parts is navigating challenges in real time, like adjusting production schedules to meet clinical demand or troubleshooting a complex tech transfer.
Q: Why is your role critical to MacroGenics’ mission?
The drug substances we produce aren’t immediately usable—they’re bulk materials, not dose-specific formulations. My role ensures these therapies are purified, packaged, and delivered in a form that can be administered safely in clinical trials. I also help scale production to meet patient demand, balancing supply and demand, enrollment projections, and partner capabilities. Without effective alliance management, our therapies wouldn’t reach patients as efficiently—or at all.
Q: How did you transition from the lab bench to project and alliance management, and what advice would you give someone considering this path?
Lab work is very siloed—you focus on your experiment and your results. Project management gave me a 30,000-foot view of the entire process, from manufacturing and quality to regulatory and clinical oversight. Alliance management added another layer: coordinating with external partners to ensure everything comes together seamlessly.
The transition wasn’t planned; it happened organically because I stayed curious, asked questions, and looked for opportunities to keep learning. My advice? Stay curious, ask lots of questions, and don’t be afraid to admit when you don’t know something. Identify the skills you enjoy and excel at, then seek roles that leverage them. For me, being highly organized, detail-oriented, and able to juggle multiple priorities fits perfectly with this work. These roles are fast-paced, varied, and engaging, and they allow you to see the real-world impact of getting therapies from lab to clinic.
What I love most is that no two days are the same, and I can see how my work directly advances research to help patients. For anyone looking to move from the lab into project or alliance management, embrace curiosity, recognize your unique strengths, and be open to where the journey might take you—it’s more rewarding than you can imagine.
