Region Sales Director - North Central

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Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., is headquartered in Carlsbad, California, with offices in Boston, Massachusetts, and Dublin, Ireland.  For more than 30 years, Ionis has been the leader in RNA-targeted therapy, pioneering new markets and changing standards of care with our novel antisense technology.  Ionis currently has three marketed medicines and a premier late-stage pipeline highlighted by industry-leading cardiovascular and neurological franchises.  Our scientific innovation began and continues with the knowledge that sick people depend on us, which fuels our vision to become the undisputed leader in genetic medicine, utilizing a multi-platform approach to discover, develop and deliver life-transforming therapies.

As the first company to fully harness the power of RNA technology for human therapeutics, Ionis’ platform continues to revolutionize drug discovery and transform lives for patients with unmet needs.  We are building upon our innovative research and drug development excellence to provide greater value to patients, and we are well positioned financially to deliver on our strategic goals.

Ionis is a challenging, motivating and rewarding environment designed to foster innovation and scientific excellence.  Our success is a direct result of our outstanding employees.  We are interested in bringing together a diverse group of individuals with different skill sets and perspectives into this creative environment to be part of a productive and inclusive team.  While acknowledging people are actively engaged in hybrid/remote work, we continue to invest time, money, and energy into making our workplace locations a place where our culture and employees can thrive.  We believe engaging on a day-to-day basis, in person, builds solid and lasting relationships, and contributes positively to our culture and innovation.  From the heart of our stunning Carlsbad campus, we aim to provide a central connection point for all our employees.  These facilities give us the opportunity to connect cross-functionally, collaborate and to build on the success of our business as we continue to grow.  Join us and experience our unique culture while you develop and expand your career.

POSITION:

The Region Sales Director is a field-based role responsible for building and leading a high performing regional team of 7-9 Account Specialists to successfully launch Ionis’s second wholly owned commercial product, Donidalorsen - specifically for Hereditary Angioedema (HAE). The Account Specialists, under the leadership of this Region Sales Director position, will be a hybrid role of providing access support and education to the accounts while also delivering key promotional messages to advocate on behalf of HAE patients. The Region Sales Director will ensure the successful recruitment of this important and highly specialized field team, including hiring and on-boarding, delivering on all critical launch requirements for pre- and post-launch activities, and ensuring the customer and patient experience is held to the highest standards in a compliant manner. Working closely with the cross-functional team including Marketing, Commercial Operations, Market Access, Patient Services, Omnichannel and Compliance will be required for successful execution of this role. We are focused on finding sales leaders who have experience working with allergists, with rare disease experience, who thrive in competitive markets and highlight deep experience in both execution of selling and reimbursement requirements and developing their teams ensuring continued growth within the organization. 

Accountabilities:  To exceed the budgeted Sales revenue for Donidalorsen for Hereditary Angioedema (HAE) and establish Ionis as the leader in the HAE market

RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Region Sales Director will possess a deep understanding of the healthcare market in their respective region and the HAE community, including the key customers and accounts. This will include unique objectives and needs of each customer in their pursuit of improved patient outcomes by advocating for patients suffering from HAE.  The Region Sales Director will achieve this by building, maintaining and leveraging networks and relationships in the local healthcare system and leading teams to develop and execute effective plans to meet customer and Ionis goals. The Region Sales Director will serve as a leader:  build, lead, coach, motivate, and inspire a diverse team of people with deep functional and therapeutic area expertise engaging effectively and compliantly across the therapeutic field teams to bring a novel treatment to HAE patients.

Strategy and Innovation

• Contributes to and executes brand strategic plans by developing and executing customer focused regional strategic account plans to maximize local business opportunities and customer satisfaction.
• Builds insight-driven focused tactics by understanding regional market barriers/opportunities brand requirements & anticipating the current and future needs of our key customers including hospital and office-based Allergists and other sub-specialties that treat HAE patients.
• Provides oversight on short-term and long-term plans for key accounts and oversees relationships with customers, owning key relationships where necessary.
• Adjusts strategies to meet business goals in assigned region through targeted field strategy development.
• Fosters innovation, best practice sharing, collaboration and breakthrough thinking throughout the commercial organization to exceed business goals.
• Contributes to recommendations for strategic changes to field force structures, incentive plans, sales process, and customer approach and capabilities.

Team Leadership

• Sets team values, expectations and the appropriate cultural tone to maximize appropriate behaviors (especially regarding compliance) and best practice collaboration.
• Leads their respective regions consisting of a team of Donidalorsen Account Specialists to execute day-to-day field operations in line with commercialization/sales strategy.
• Inspires and motivates the region field teams (including developing impactful reward and recognition programs).
• Aligns Account Specialists with the company's mission and vision, policies and procedures, including the Ionis Code of Ethics and Business Conduct.

Performance Management

• Identify start-up and on-going training initiatives in conjunction with the Learning and Development department to define training plans.
• Oversees performance plans by leveraging Account Management Plans, KPIs, Customer insights, and implementing customer focused tactical execution of brand strategies to win in each of their accountable markets.
• Conducts formal and informal performance reviews and coaching for region Account Specialists and ensures individual development plans are executed.
• Oversee team’s successful achievement of MBOs (e.g., customer engagement and experience, account planning, teamwork, training, and market knowledge) ensuring fair and objective evaluations.
• Accountable for consistently meeting or exceeding quarterly regional sales goal while always operating with integrity and in compliance with Ionis Code of Ethics and Business Conduct and compliance policies.
• Ensure team’s adherence to corporate and compliance policies, procedures, and guidelines.

Cross-Functional Collaboration 

• Leads collaborative efforts with key internal stakeholders (e.g., marketing, compliance, market access, patient services, field medical etc.) to ensure Account Specialists are aligned with product messaging and meet business goals.
• Facilitates and encourages collaboration between teams to enhance organizational efficiency and maximize goal attainment.
• Shares customer and operational insights with the entire organization and leverages collective expertise to drive market success for products.
• Ensures all internal and external activities are in-line with all compliance regulations and corporate values
• Pioneers an external collaborative approach with customers to appropriately develop advocates for Donidalorsen and Ionis.

Resource Management

• Attracts (especially during the initial build phase) and retains appropriate high-level talent capable of exceeding brand goals.
• Plans and monitors approved region budgets to ensure appropriate allocation of resources to meet the plan and financial control.
• Advises on talent acquisition, onboarding and training, and career development initiatives for new hires.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s Degree; BS/BA in Life Science, Biology, (or similar scientific) or business-related field.
• MBA or other related graduate degree preferred.
• Total 7+ years of experience in Biotechnology Pharmaceuticals across the following areas:
  •  Leading sales and/or marketing teams
  • Leading Field Reimbursement Manager teams
  • People management
  • Market access
• Proven track record of coaching, training, and mentoring teams to meet or exceed goals and assigned responsibilities.
• Proven track record for consistently meeting or exceeding financial and/or other quantitative and qualitative targets.
• Solid understanding and adherence to external laws, codes, and company policies that apply to the healthcare industry.
• Experience in building, leading, managing and developing multi-functional teams.
• Extensive comprehension of the regional healthcare system including market access landscape and payer reimbursement policies.

Ionis offers an excellent benefits package! Follow this link for more details: Ionis Benefits

The pay scale for this position is $150,000 to $240,000. Final pay determinations will depend on various factors, including, but not limited to experience level, knowledge, skills, and abilities.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and all its subsidiaries are proud to be EEO employers.