Senior Director, US Business Lead

Adaptimmune is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel immunotherapy products for people with cancer. The Company's unique SPEAR (Specific Peptide Enhanced Affinity Receptor) T-cell platform enables the engineering of T-cells to target and destroy cancer across multiple solid tumors.

Our company culture is rooted in trust, inclusion, our capacity to collaborate, and our commitment to being honest and brave in our desire to successfully transform the lives of people with cancer.

The Senior Director, US Business Lead holds the responsibility for driving the performance of Adaptimmune products for the US commercial landscape, with a focus on afami-cel, in synovial sarcoma, the first commercial launch. 

In this capacity, the incumbent will construct an adept, fit for purpose field commercialization model tailored to the demands of the US market, while remaining firmly dedicated to customer/patient experience and overarching business objectives. The primary focus will be on the team directly engaging with customers. Cultivating enduring relationships with key decision-makers and customers will be central component, enabling the identification and pursuit of promising business opportunities.

Additionally, the Senior Director will take the helm of a group of Regional Cell Therapy Leads, working in close partnership with various departments, including Marketing, Market Access, Patient Services, Commercial Operations, Supply Chain, Medical Affairs, and other pertinent functions. These collaborative efforts will be aimed at crafting and executing initiatives that place the customer & patient experience at the forefront.

This individual will also be responsible for building an inclusive, vibrant, positive culture. Encompassing the ability to cultivate an environment where every member feels valued and empowered. They understand that diversity in thought and background can be a powerful driver of innovation and a catalyst for growth. 

This role operates under the direct supervision of the Vice President of Marketing and Commercial Operations. Furthermore, it involves interactions with the Executive Team and Board of Directors to provide updates.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and execute the business strategy to ensure a successful launch and commercialization of afami-cel and the achievement of our customer and business objectives, in partnership with market access, marketing, commercial ops, supply chain, patient services, med affairs, and other functions as needed
• Establish and implement the organization and resources needed to implement the strategy including field organization, customer engagement plan, sizing, targeting, alignment, incentive plan, training plan
• Build and lead a “fit for purpose,” high performing and engaged team of direct reports and cross-functional team members to deliver excellence in customer support and ensure the achievement of our people, compliance, and business objectives
• Drive continuous excellence in functional competencies across the team, effectively recruit, hire, coach, and develop team on competencies including deep understanding of cell therapy process, product and disease, customer/market/business acumen, account management skills, hospital selling, strategic planning, influencing, access, reimbursement, customer support, etc.
• Identify business opportunities and lead the team to develop and execute business, customer, and account plans to achieve goals and advance the business
• Establish the development and operationalization of Authorized Treatment Centers. Responsible for patient identification, testing, networks, affiliations, and referral pathways to drive the appropriate patients to treatment sites in a simple and customer-oriented way
• Secure product access, implement competitive response/pull-through strategies, enable appropriate formularies and protocols, maintain, and grow key relationships, and resolve reimbursement issues with third-parties appropriate, in collaboration with market access, customer solutions and marketing
• Contribute to the development of the market access strategy, with understanding of all levels of reimbursement across institutions, commercial, Medicare, Medicaid, HIS, etc. and their impact on decision making and business performance
• Lead engagement with Centers of Excellence to identify, prioritize and on-board treatment sites
• Proactively engage with HCPs (healthcare professionals), treatment team, decision makers, and key stakeholders to establish trusted relationships, understand needs and opportunities, articulate the value proposition of our products, develop, and implement initiatives to advance our reputation, customer experience and appropriate patients treated
• Proactively engage and establish trusted relationships with key opinion leaders to support educational efforts and advocacy for afami-cel, cell therapy, synovial sarcoma and Adaptimmune
• Establish and effectively utilize metrics, KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), market data, competitive information, and reports to define, evaluate and communicate progress and success and establish corrective and performance management actions as needed
• Establish an efficient organization and processes, manage operating budget, and allocate resources within bounds set by financial planning

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree, life sciences and MBA preferred.
• 15+ years of biotech/pharma sales/commercialization experience with minimum 5 years of experience in oncology, advanced therapies, or rare disease products
• In-line experience with cell therapies, gene therapies or rare disease products
• Strong record of accomplishment of performance
• In-depth understanding of the US oncology or advanced therapies marketplace and trends
• Demonstrated experience and ability to engage, establish and cultivate trusted relationships internally and externally.
• Demonstrated expertise developing and implementing commercialization and customer engagement strategies, specifically in a science-driven biopharmaceutical company focused on developing innovative therapeutics.
• Demonstrated experience attracting, developing, and leading high performing teams with prominent levels of engagement.
• Successful experience managing and delivering on operational budget.
• Demonstrated ability to work with accounts, institutions, multiple stakeholders, and academic customers.

Desirable

Oncology cell therapy commercialization experience