National Sales Director

Job Description

The National Sales Director (NSD) - Liver Diseases, is a high impact and critical leadership position as the head of the newly created sales organization for CymaBay Therapeutics’ first product approval, seladelpar for Primary Biliary Cholangitis (PBC) and will report to the Vice President, Liver Disease Franchise Lead.

The CymaBay NSD requires a talented leader with strategic acumen, commercial capabilities, track record of executional excellence, and leadership skills to build, hire, and motivate a high-performing sales team through a successful launch(es) and sustained growth. To succeed in this role, this individual will need experience in building, scaling, and launching products within the pharmaceutical/biotech space. The NSD will assume sales launch leadership, launch readiness preparations, strategic and tactical execution and performance of the Regional Sales Directors and Territory Specialists. The role will require high levels of collaboration and partnership with cross-functional leaders across Marketing, Medical Affairs, Market Access, Commercial Operations, Finance, & HR and the delivery of an integrated launch plan and unified therapeutic area strategy.

Key Responsibilities:

The National Sales Director will be responsible for:

• Building, preparing and leading a newly formed sales organization through pre-commercialization, launch readiness, and post-approval strategies aligned to the brand plan of action, goals, and success metrics
• Develop an end-to-end sales commercial launch strategy and plan of action (POA), including key opinion leader (KOL), healthcare provider (HCP) and account targeting, territory geography mapping and call plan, and sales force directives and metrics, to enable rapid adoption post-approval
• Collaborate with Brand Team, Commercial and Medical Affairs business partner to create sales operations and field deployment system, processes, and resourcing that supports a high-performing, collaborative field organization
• Closely collaborate with Commercial Operation to develop sales incentive plans, fairly allocate rewards and bonus incentives, and create employee development and coaching plans
• Work with the Regional Business Directors and cross functional business partners to develop regional business plans, data and measurement reporting, and key performance indicators (KPIs)
• Partner with commercial stakeholders and senior leadership on developing, communicating, and implementing sales forecasts, call plans, key account plans, and sales force metrics
• Steward and manage the financial and budgeting needs for the sales organization, including marketing promotion budget, T&E, deployment of sales resources, and ROI metrics.
• Create a high-performance culture required to exceed expectations and hold sales team accountable for achieving and exceeding business, culture, and compliance results as one team
• Work with Sales Training to ensure disease state, clinical, marketing, and sales competencies training in preparation for the field to execute and deliver a best-in-class launch and consistent outperformance during full tenure at CymaBay; also emphasizing the need for continuous field training through a comprehensive sustainment plan
• Ensure alignment and collaboration with internal and field-based teams, including Key Account Directors, Medical Science Liaisons, Sales Operations, Patient HUB Services, and Administrative teams
• Champion talent development for the sales organization to ensure professional growth and high retention rates of sales employees
• Deliver launch readiness and business updates to senior leadership, board of directors, and company-wide stakeholders, alongside fellow CymaBay leaders
• Actively review and adjust performance metrics to ensure sales organization is executing against brand strategies, optimizing sales performance, and maximizing sales results at regional and territory levels
• Ensure all required CymaBay compliance and company training is completed prior to onboarding and deployment as well as support ongoing compliance training and updates.

Qualifications for Role:

• An inspiring leader who garners trust and motivates individuals and teams toward a vision for the brand and high levels of engagement and performance
• A proven Brand, launch, and commercial sales leader, who exemplifies flawless tactical execution, and consistent outstanding performance, including a successful track record in highly competitive therapeutic areas and markets
• Expertise within Liver Diseases and/or rare disease or conditions requiring deep understanding of the disease, market landscape dynamics, and the underlying science supporting the unique approaches toward commercialization and stakeholder engagement
• Highly analytical, strategic, and creative thinker who uses knowledge of market, industry, and product commercialization trends to effectively shape sales strategies and drive business results
• Data-driven decision-making, considering all points of view and trade-offs based on logical assumptions, available data and information, and resource constraints

• Ability to develop strong internal company relationships and partnerships with senior leadership, peers and cross functional teams and seen as a thought partner across departments
• Demonstrated ability to establish, expand, and maintain external national and regional KOL and Centers of Excellence (CoE) relationships to increase advocacy for seladelpar and the CymaBay organization

• Supports team development and individual’s knowledge, skills, and abilities so they can fulfill job responsibilities more effectively and efficiently
• Knowledge of regulatory and compliance requirements in the pharmaceutical industry
• Ethics and principles aligning to CymaBay’s mission, vision, and values

Professional Experience:

• 10+ years in key Commercial & Sales Leadership roles with increasing responsibilities, complexity, and accountabilities
• Success and expertise within Liver Diseases and/or rare disease is required; selling within the hepatology and gastroenterology space is highly preferred
• Strong experience in leading and managing first-line sales managers and large sales teams is required, as well as experience building out a new field sales force and field operations from the ground up
• Ability to hire, lead, develop, coach, and engage a high performing, diverse sales team
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to effectively present to senior leaders and board of director audiences
• Ability to create and maintain a strong culture, rooted in team culture, growth mindset, and continuous learning environment