Rheumatology Area Business Leader – Southwest

Role Summary

This is a field-based and remote opportunity supporting a sales team in an assigned geography.

The Area Business Leader (ABL) is an enterprise thinker responsible for directing a team of Territory Account Specialists in the delivery of tailored customer experiences based on account and Health Care Provider (HCP) needs and clinical dialogue that compels the customer to act on behalf of their patients to generate demand in the relevant area. Through regular face-to-face in-field interactions, the Area Business Leader mentors their team to work cross-functionally with Healthcare Providers, Key Accounts and Systems of Care (SoC) to identify shared priorities, deliver clinical value and provide Novartis resource messaging in a patient-centered approach thereby establishing Novartis as a preferred customer partner. The Area Business Leader instills a culture of high-performance and accountability that encourages and motivates their team to complete the brand strategy and tactics.

Responsibilities

• Recruit, develop, retain, mentor, and lead a diverse team of individuals to successfully deliver on strategic sales objectives and establish a cadence of accountability for the team, communicating, and supervising KPIs and engaging all levels of performance on the team.
• Models the way for all associates by encouraging a shared vision, communicating clear expectations, promoting an environment of accountability, enabling others to act, and optimizing or advancing processes by challenging the status quo.
• Monitor and mentor to ensure Territory Account Specialists are effective orchestrators of the total account call by coordinating the deployment resources to efficiently plan, communicate, and follow through to ensure customer needs are met with vitality.
• Develop, implement, and cultivate a customer-centric business plan in collaboration with both customer engagement and cross-functional partners to optimize customer experience and product demand.
• Serve as a member of the regional leadership team that is proactively supplying to the development of overall regional goals, business execution, team development and culture.
• Embed a hard-working, customer-centric culture where teams are engaged business owners that take effective results-oriented action. The Area Business Leader champions an environment where team members are encouraged to speak up, solve problems, collaborate, experiment, and fail forward.
• Possess in-depth knowledge in the areas of clinical, access and reimbursement, eye for business, territory management, and appropriate use of omni-channel marketing tools to effectively develop and mentor members of the team during regular field contacts and one-on-one mentor sessions.
• Leverage analytics platforms to advise decisions and identify areas of risk and opportunity to ensure the Territory Account Specialists are deploying resources like strategic face-to-face meetings, omni-channel resources, total office calls and cross-functional partners.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required from 4-year college or university.
• Experience in pharmaceutical, biotech, healthcare, or similarly structured industries with large, geographically dispersed sales teams. Candidates from other complex sales environments are welcome, especially where strong field leadership and customer engagement are central to success.
• 2+ years’ experience as a first-line sales manager with strong, demonstrated strategic thinking and enterprise mindset.
• Demonstrated leadership experience in sophisticated selling environments with success (sales awards, top rankings, strong performance).
• Proven track-record of attracting, developing, and retaining diverse talent and building high-performing teams; experience leading cross-functional teams in matrixed, multi-regional environments.
• Experience managing field organizations through change, innovation, or growth is valued.
• Candidate must reside within the territory or within a reasonable daily commuting distance of 100 miles from the territory border. Ability to travel 60-80% over a broad geography is required, with the ability to drive and/or fly within the territory. Must have a valid driver’s license.

Desirable Qualifications

• Experience leading sales teams in promotion to large practices, hospitals, IDNs & SoC customers, with understanding of reimbursement for outpatient and inpatient settings.

Leveling Guidelines

The position will be filled at a level commensurate with experience.

Education

• Bachelor’s degree required.

Additional Requirements

• Driving is an essential function of this role; must have a fully valid and unrestricted driver’s license.
• COVID-19 Vaccine Policy: customer-facing roles may require vaccination per customer guidelines; accommodation requests can be considered where permissible by law.