Director, Contract Operations - US Trade & Distribution

General Summary:

Reporting to the Senior Director, Contract Operations & Deal Assessment, this role is responsible for leading the end-to-end contracting lifecycle, overseeing drafting, negotiation, execution, and compliance to drive revenue and mitigate risk across all franchises. This position will lead the Contract Operations team, develop standardized templates, manage playbooks, and optimize processes in support of the cross functional operations teams, Market Access Strategy, Account Leadership, and Legal. The ideal candidate will be familiar with and highly conversant in various segments of market access, discuss and incorporate contracting strategies and tactics, and understand the various types of managed care and trade contracting. This is a highly visible role that will be expected to build collaborative relationships with internal US Market Access and Field Account stakeholders.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

• Direct and oversee the contract management system (iCertis) to track status, deadlines, and compliance.
• Supervise, mentor, and lead a team of contracting professionals.
• Apply deep understanding of US Market Access environment, including product distribution channels, payer landscape, role of PBMs (and PBM-GPOs), Hospital GPOs and IDNs, medical coverage policies, and reimbursement to the contracting, review, and negotiation process to provide strategic contracting support across multiple business segments
• Knowledge of traditional and innovative contracting approaches.
• Translate pricing strategy into prospective distribution contracting concepts and archetypes; coach, train, and guide team to apply best-practices in their daily work.
• Foster relationships, building alignment, negotiate and collaborate with home office and field teams to develop key assumptions, build tools, deliver financial models and impactful business insights to enable optimal decision-making.
• Establish and maintain policies and applicable documentation (e.g., Contract Summary Report) in accordance with established departmental guidelines to support Sox compliance.
• Manage multiple projects concurrently and maintain organizational awareness to various projects and work streams.
• Ensure successful contract data integration for new products and/or acquisitions.
• Develop processes, metrics, and contracting tools to stay current with changing marketplace.
• Manage team participation in various cross functional projects and process improvement initiatives, ensuring effective communication and issue resolution internally.
• Oversee team relationships and collaboration with rebate operations team on payment terms, disputes, and audits
• Collaborate with Market Access field team and Market Access strategy team on priorities and timelines.
• Lead meetings with Account Directors related to current and upcoming account activities.

Knowledge and Skills:

• Ability to manage and prioritize multiple tasks and projects simultaneously, work independently as well as with a team, possess strong oral, written and interpersonal communication skills with a focus on customer service.
• Work in a demanding work environment, flexibility to adhere to unexpected deadlines, willingness to learn new skills, systems and processes.
• A successful candidate has a patient focused mindset, organized, driven, high attention to detail, accountable, and can achieve high quality results with compliance and integrity.
• Understanding of the US Payer Channel, Trade & Distribution, and the Buy and Bill Reimbursement Landscape.
• Experience securing contract access for Specialty and/or rare disease medicines.
• Experience launching new products and indications.
• High level of proficiency in MS Office software including: Word, Excel, Outlook, Visio, and PowerPoint.

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in a quantitative discipline required (e.g., Engineering, Statistics, Economics, Finance).
• 10 years of relevant experience; of which, at least 7 years of demonstrated experience with Market Access Contracting activities in the biopharmaceutical industry, including but not limited to specialty pharmacy, provider and managed care payors is required (health plans, pharmacy benefit managers, etc.).
• Experience with Full Line Retail and/or Rare Disease therapeutic areas.

Pay Range:

$196,000 - $294,000

Disclosure Statement:

The range provided is based on what we believe is a reasonable estimate for the base salary pay range for this job at the time of posting. This role is eligible for an annual bonus and annual equity awards. Some roles may also be eligible for overtime pay, in accordance with federal and state requirements. Actual base salary pay will be based on a number of factors, including skills, competencies, experience, and other job-related factors permitted by law.

At Vertex, our Total Rewards offerings also include inclusive market-leading benefits to meet our employees wherever they are in their career, financial, family and wellbeing journey while providing flexibility and resources to support their growth and aspirations. From medical, dental and vision benefits to generous paid time off (including a week-long company shutdown in the Summer and the Winter), educational assistance programs including student loan repayment, a generous commuting subsidy, matching charitable donations, 401(k) and so much more.

Flex Designation:

Hybrid-Eligible Or On-Site Eligible

Flex Eligibility Status:

In this Hybrid-Eligible role, you can choose to be designated as:

1. Hybrid : work remotely up to two days per week; or select
2. On-Site : work five days per week on-site with ad hoc flexibility.

Note: The Flex status for this position is subject to Vertex’s Policy on Flex @ Vertex Program and may be changed at any time.

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