Head of Market Insight and Commercial Operations

Company Overview 

Fulcrum Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on improving the lives of patients with genetically defined rare diseases in areas of high unmet medical need. Fulcrum’s proprietary product engine identifies drug targets which can modulate gene expression to treat the known root cause of gene mis-expression. The company has advanced losmapimod to Phase 2 clinical development for the treatment of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD). Fulcrum has also advanced FTX-6058, a small molecule designed to increase expression of fetal hemoglobin for the treatment of sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia into Phase 1 clinical development.

Description

The Head of Market Insights and Commercial Operations will build and lead Fulcrum Therapeutics’ commercial operations and analytics organization. This senior leadership role is critical for the successful evolution from a clinical-stage to a fully integrated, commercial-stage biopharma company. This function is responsible for market insight-gathering and analysis to inform strategic decisions for the lead product candidate and other pipeline products. This role will build from the ground up and lead the function within an emerging commercial organization. Additionally, this role will also set the strategy and lead the development of the commercial operating model to optimally support commercial launch readiness.

A key part of this role is working in close collaboration with Commercial teams to define and drive the execution of brand strategies within the Market Insights and Commercial Operations function. The Head of Market Insights and Commercial Operations will work in close collaboration with cross-functional colleagues to ensure these teams are provided with the necessary insights to support efficient and effective program strategy development and execution.

Responsibilities

• As a member of the commercial leadership team, the Head of Market Insights and Commercial Operations will play a critical role in setting the vision, building the structure, talent base, capabilities, and operating model of the cross-functional commercial organization
• Lead the development of the Market Insights and Commercial Operations plans, including structure, roles, budget, key activities, and deliverables to optimally support Fulcrum Therapeutics’ commercial build and launch readiness
• Recruit, lead, and develop a team of highly skilled professionals responsible for market research, market planning, forecasting, field planning and operations, data management, analytics, and reporting
• Recruit, lead and build a high performing market planning and forecasting function that will serve as a primary source of business insight and planning for the commercial organization, including market research, competitive intelligence, and forecasting
• Build and lead a high performing field operations function to support sales, market access, and medical affairs field teams, including field sizing, territory optimization, incentive compensation, CRM, and sales reporting and analysis
• Set the strategy and oversee the design, development, implementation, and maintenance of the commercial data environment (CDE), including data management, data infrastructure, analytics and reporting, and key vendor partner selection and integration. The CDE will become the “nerve center” for the commercial organization and support key needs of the company more broadly
• Oversee the definition of KPIs and ensure methods are in place to measure and report on a regular basis to assess performance and identify opportunities for improvement
• Lead the PRC process, commercial budget process
• Leads milestone reviews for launch readiness and go to market KPIs
• Leads preparation of commercial presentations for BoD and supports preparation of Q&A materials for IR.
• Key Internal Partnerships
  • Partner with Marketing, Market Access, and Sales teams to develop and maintain deep commercial insights through market research, competitive intelligence, business analytics, develop and maintain solutions to support operational needs
  • Ensure regular, effective communication with sales and other commercial leadership to identify challenges and opportunities and deliver solutions as needed
  • Partner with Market Access and distribution to ensure CDE enables oversight for channel inventory management and channel partner performance metrics, and captures access and reimbursement data from patient services hub
  • Partner with Finance to ensure data and systems are in place for sales tracking, revenue recognition, price reporting, and contract adjudication and payment. Build and implement a quarterly “latest estimate” financial planning process to inform key downstream needs such as Wall Street guidance on net sales performance, production planning, incentive compensation
  • Partner with Medical Affairs leadership to ensure teams are working effectively together both internally and in the field
  • Partner and align with IT on strategy and development of the commercial infrastructure and technology solutions to support commercial launch readiness
• Key External Stakeholders
  • Ensure successful vendor partnerships through appropriate selection and management
  • Demonstrate market analytics and commercial operations thought leadership and represent Fulcrum at key meetings, functions, and conferences, etc., when appropriate

Qualifications

• BS/BA degree in business or related discipline. MBA preferred
• 10 or more years of experience within the pharmaceutical or biotechnology industries including at least 5-7 years in commercial operations and analytics senior leadership roles
• Rare disease launch experience is required
• Strong knowledge of analytics and operations tools and technologies
• Experience building teams and commercial capabilities is required
• Demonstrated ability to motivate and lead teams and have the managerial courage to make and stand by difficult decisions
• Highly skilled in influencing cross-functional teams, including interfacing with key internal and external stakeholders and with scientific and commercial teams
• Excellent interpersonal, oral and written communication skills, including ability to synthesize data and deliver a clear overview of commercial strategy, opportunity and risks for the Executive Team
• Demonstrated ability to adapt to changes in the work environment. Manages competing demands. Changes approach or method to best fit the situation. Able to deal with frequent change, delays, or unexpected events with maturity and professionalism
• Ability and willingness to travel (approximately 10% of time) to medical meetings, sales meetings, market research, and conferences