Global Head of Early Commercial Strategy

At Alexion, AstraZeneca Rare Disease, we are innovators, leaders, and collaborators. At the heart of everything we do is an intense desire to pursue the toughest challenges and truly change the world for people living with rare and devastating diseases.

Alexion’s Global Marketing and Market Access  team is seeking a qualified candidate to join a dynamic team which aligns global commercial strategy, commercial excellence, and new product planning and supports regions to drive all commercial strategies and recommendations in partnership with R&D throughout the development process.

The Head of Early Commercialization leads the commercial development of Alexion’s early product candidates from FTIM to Phase 2 and conducts commercial assessments for business development opportunities.  The successful candidate will help set and lead the company’s commercial strategy for future growth of Alexion’s pipeline in rare diseases in collaboration with R&D and Business Development colleagues.  These responsibilities will include providing strategic guidance and commercial assessments for new products from the preclinical to proof-of-concept stages of development and evaluating business development opportunities.  Success will require the individual to develop strong cross functional relationships in a multicultural environment to lead the organization through accomplishing stretch objectives in a high paced environment that is focused on the patient.

You will be responsible for:

• Leading a team which provides commercial input and strategic guidance to Alexion’s early R&D portfolio including, Discovery, Preclinical and Phase 1/2 clinical development programs and Business Development opportunities
• Leading all aspects of commercial decisions and input for new products including development of global market assessments, commercial input to disease/indication selection, commercial strategies, commercial implications of scientific/clinical data, disease and diagnostic market development, target product profiles, product positioning, pricing and reimbursement, forecasting, early-stage market planning, customer and patient segmentation, and other activities related to strategic market development.
• Assess rare disease and new target/platform landscape
• Understanding gaps and building a roadmap of a go-to-market framework in gene therapy commercialization
• Delivering recommendations to executive leadership for prospective Business Development transactions based on independently developed commercial assessments and due dilligence, including revenue assumptions prepared through proactively connecting with commercial leadership.
• Connecting with commercial leadership team to solicit deal specific insights to inform commercial assessments
• Develop and lead the business cases for new areas of innovation across the organizaiton (in partnership with R&D and BD)
• Developing knowledge of the competitive intelligence landscape for rare disease biotech companies in those area of interest to Alexion
• Develop and maintain strong and collaborative relationships with cross functional colleagues (i.e., Research, Medical, Market Research, Clinical, Discovery, Global Value Access and Policy, Business Development, Regulatory, Legal, Finance, Sales, etc.).

This person is an integral member of the Global Marketing and Market Access Leadership Team and will be passionate about developing and delivering life-transforming therapies for patients with severe and life-threatening rare diseases. 

You will need to have:

• Minimum of 10 years of experience in the biopharma /pharmaceutical industry.
• Highly skilled in leading teams in cross-functional matrix environments including interfacing with key internal and external groups in different regions and with scientific and commercial groups in different countries.
• Strong understanding of scientific data and issues as they impact product development and commercialization with a thorough understanding of the drug development process from preclinical through launch.
• Specific experience in developing high level and in-depth commercial assessments leading to important business development and clinical development decisions
• Experience in new product planning, in-line marketing, or new product marketing
• Proven leadership capabilities
• High level of interpersonal skills and highly adept in both verbal & written communication 
• Demonstrated commercial analytical capabilities
• The duties of this role are generally conducted in an office environment.  As is typical of an office-based role, employees must be able, with or without an accommodation to: use a computer; engage in communications via phone, video, and electronic messaging; engage in problem solving and non-linear thought, analysis, and dialogue; collaborate with others; maintain general availability during standard business hours.

We would prefer for you to have:

• Master’s degree in life sciences and/or business / marketing
• Country and Global marketing experience
• Prior experience in Orphan and/or Rare Disease Drug markets
• Device product experience
• Gene therapy and emerging technology experience

AstraZeneca embraces diversity and equality of opportunity. We are committed to building an inclusive and diverse team representing all backgrounds, with as wide a range of perspectives as possible, and harnessing industry-leading skills. We believe that the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be. We welcome and consider applications to join our team from all qualified candidates, regardless of their characteristics. We comply with all applicable laws and regulations on non-discrimination in employment (and recruitment), as well as work authorization and employment eligibility verification requirements.