Senior Business Unit Director, Oncology & Cell Therapy - UK & Ireland

Senior Business Unit Director, Oncology & Cell Therapy - UK & Ireland

Across Gilead & Kite Pharma (a Gilead company), Oncology and Cell Therapies are key areas of focus, and we are advancing a pipeline of novel investigational agents for solid tumours as well as haematological cancers. This is an exciting opportunity for a Senior Business Unit Director to lead the Oncology and Cell Therapy franchise for the UK & Ireland.

This role will be based in Holborn (Central London), reporting directly to the Gilead General Manager with an indirect reporting relationship to the KITE European Regional Head and will become a member of the UK & Ireland Leadership Team. The Sr. Business Unit Director will be accountable for the strategy, planning and implementation of all commercial activities across the portfolio while managing a team of marketing and sales professionals (~35 team members) and leading the cross functional team (~70-80 team members) to drive operational excellence across the franchise. The Sr. Business Unit Director will be accountable to deliver the P&L, OPEX management, and relevant business and financial planning cycles.

Specific responsibilities:

• Maximize the commercial potential of Gilead and Kite Pharma’s assets through the development and implementation of strategic/operational plans in collaboration with local and regional cross functional teams.

• Lead the cross-functional team providing vision, motivation, support and coaching as well as infrastructure to drive the business and achieve portfolio objectives.

• Partner with market access to identify, develop, propose and execute local reimbursement plans, including alignment with appropriate adaptation of European and US pricing, reimbursement and access strategies.

• Recruit, hire and ensure training for country-specific staff who will execute the cross functional company plan in the UK & Ireland.

• Take responsibility and accountability to deliver against the agreed commercial and strategic objectives, as well as quality, compliance and risk management.

• Contribute to the execution of a flawless supply chain process – customer service par excellence – supporting the administration of Kite Pharma’s technology to patients.

• Establish strong, effective, and optimal working relationships with external bodies (incl. Payers, Patient Associations, and Thought Leaders).

• Foster an environment of strong collaboration across the local, regional, and global organization, balancing the needs of Kite Pharma in the UK & Ireland with those of the broader corporate objectives.

• Lead the future indication/asset planning team to evaluate commercialization potential and make recommendations on go-to-market models for the UK & Ireland.

• Build and execute highly successful launch plans in the UK & Ireland.

• Ensure that all business activities are in line with company policies, procedures, and local guidelines.

• Facilitate market learning and knowledge sharing to accelerate commercialization throughout the ACE organization.

Knowledge, Experience and Skills:

• Undergraduate degree is required, MBA and/or post graduate preferred or advanced life science degree (MD, Pharm D, PhD).

• The successful candidate will be a recognized leader with excellent communication skills. The role requires being comfortable at working in a high-growth environment where influencing and negotiating across an organization are a prerequisite.

• Must have recent experience in oncology with specific experience in Haematology and/or orphan/rare diseases as a significant advantage.

• Demonstrable commercial leadership experience in the biopharmaceutical industry such as a highly successful Business Unit Lead or a strong sales & marketing leader within the specialty therapeutics arena.

• Strong leadership qualities such as having the ability to attract, motive and retain talent and drive a culture of collaboration, engagement and motivation.

• Must have a track record of successful budget management with an understanding of revenue forecasting and expense budget planning and tracking.

• Must demonstrated excellence in project management and effectively managing multiple projects/priorities.

• Preferably, previous experience in negotiating with key pricing and reimbursement agencies, and involvement in successful access and reimbursement strategies and their execution.

• You will need to demonstrate the ability to manage complexity, ambiguity, and paradoxes through thinking outside of the box with a collaborative, constructive and solution-oriented approach.

• Strong understanding of the complexity of transplant arena is highly advantageous.

• Must be good at building new relationships rapidly with KOLs and other stakeholders such as industry associations. A strong already established network is preferable.

• Knowledgeable in technical development of commercially successful biopharmaceutical, cell therapy or gene therapy products is preferred.

• Must have the ability to build and drive a business, whilst possessing innate ‘market-making’ capabilities with natural self-starter, hands-on, entrepreneurial, and innovative attitude.

• Strong learning agility and willingness to take on increasing responsibility.

• Excellent command of written and spoken English.

• Ability to provide strategic input at an ACE level and occasionally on global level.

• International experience, either working in a Global or Regional role or in the context of above country project teams is desirable.

• Openness to travel is required – approximately 60% domestically and some internationally.

Core Values

• Integrity

• Inclusion

• Teamwork

• Excellence

• Accountability