Senior Director – Market Access

Optum is a global organisation that delivers care, aided by technology to help millions of people live healthier lives. The work you do with our team will directly improve health outcomes by connecting people with the care, pharmacy benefits, data and resources they need to feel their best. Here, you will find a culture guided by diversity and inclusion, talented peers, comprehensive benefits and career development opportunities. Come make an impact on the communities we serve as you help us advance health equity on a global scale. Join us to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together.

About the Role:

In healthcare, evolution doesn’t just happen. It takes innovation, imagination, and a passion for solving problems in new and better ways. And innovation is taking place at a lightning-fast pace every day at Optum. 
As the fastest growing part of the UnitedHealth Group family of businesses, we’re expanding our team in Ireland and creating excellent opportunities for those who want greater purpose and more impact in their work. We’ll provide the investment, support, and resources to advance your career. You’ll provide the talent, ambition, and drive. 

We’re expanding in multiple directions, across borders and, most of all, in the way we think. Here, innovation isn’t about another gadget, it’s about transforming the healthcare industry. Ready to make a difference? Make yourself at home with us and start doing your life’s best work.  

Nuvaila is seeking a dynamic and motivated individual to fill the role of Senior Director – Market Access. This leadership role supports a new service line within the UHG network, focused on providing biosimilar portfolio of products at competitive prices to our customers and patients. As a Senior Director – Market Access, you will be responsible for developing and managing customer relationships and revenue opportunities across a variety of customer types including Pharmacy Benefits Managers (PBMs), Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs), pharmacies (including specialty pharmacies), large provider groups and other trade channels such as wholesalers and distributors. You will help develop business development strategies, account targeting strategies and sales & marketing strategies for our new venture.

In addition, this role will be responsible for supporting the development of marketing campaigns to create awareness around our new business and to generate sales opportunities across market access customers. You will also play a key role in developing pricing and rebate strategies for our customers and expanding relationships with target customers to meet our commercial objectives.  Over time, you will hire, develop and lead a team of market access professionals as Nuvaila scales this business across multiple channel segments.

Careers with Optum offer flexible work arrangements and individuals who live and work in the Republic of Ireland will have the opportunity to split their monthly work hours between our Dublin office  and telecommuting from a home-based office in a hybrid work model. 

Primary Responsibilities:

•    Develop a comprehensive business development strategy focused on key U.S. market access segments including; PBMs, GPOs, specialty pharmacies, health systems and other trade partners
•    Support the development of pricing and rebate strategies across customer segments by applying prior experience with gross-to-net processes including; Commercial, Medicare, Medicaid and 340B channels
•    Plan and execute key programs that will drive long-term profitable relationships with key accounts and the managed markets channel overall
•    Develop target lists of customers and generate awareness and interest for Nuvaila’s portfolio of products by developing targeted value propositions
•    Demonstrate a keen understanding of commercial and government customer buying patterns and processes, including knowledge of VA, DoD, and FSS timelines and sales cycles
•    Develop and lead a team of National Account Managers (NAMs) with experience in business development, market access strategies, pricing & contracting processes and exceptional customer experience
•    Lead the organization to manage the forecasting and optimization of Gross-to-Net, closely coordinating with our Sourcing, Strategy, Finance, Supply Chain and Accounting teams
•    Lead the analysis, management, and optimization of payer mix (e.g., Commercial, Medicare, Medicaid) and sales/purchasing channel strategy (e.g. pharmacy, hospital, office/clinic, etc.)
•    Be familiar with buy-and-bill contracting processing and develop opportunities with Provider and GPO customers 
•    Work alongside a pricing analytics team to develop bespoke Provider customer value propositions (e.g. Provider net cost recovery analyses) for applicable products such as infused HCP-administered pharmaceuticals
•    Research / validate key trends & market dynamics to develop unique account opportunities
•    Develop and oversee a framework for evaluating potential customer agreements, identifying key contracting clauses and incentives and forecasting gross-to-net value
•    Oversee executed agreements to ensure continuous compliance with the contract terms
•    Develop the business case and related presentations for initiatives to scale the market access processes and systems and support prioritization of such initiatives, scaling for efficiencies in compliance with timelines, laws and regulations as Nuvaila grows into new therapeutic areas
•    Develop talent, understanding the skills, experience, aspirations and potential of employees, standing-up a strong market access function

You will be rewarded and recognised for your performance in an environment that will challenge you and give you clear direction on what it takes to succeed in your role, as well as providing development for other roles you may be interested in.

Required Qualifications:

•    Bachelor’s degree, MBA / PharmD / Masters degree in relevant Business / Pharmacy / Life sciences discipline and / or extensive experience in the US healthcare / pharmaceutical industry / Life Sciences / Consultancy
•    Existing relationships with PBMs, GPOs, drug wholesalers, specialty distributors, pharmacies,  and / or provider practices 
•    Pharmaceutical market access and managed markets business development experience specifically in biosimilar markets
•    Leading teams and developing customer-focused teams and solutions
•    Ability to engage with executive team for input on strategic direction, application of corporate objectives into planning processes, development of team objectives, and updating on progress against plan
•    Experience developing comprehensive business development and sales & marketing strategies at the product, therapeutic area or business unit level
•    Application of customer analytics and insights, competitor positioning, and market dynamics to develop customized customer solutions
•    Deep understanding of U.S. commercial / government channel contracting & rebating processes
•    ASP calculations & impact on buy-and-bill practices for providers
•    Experience developing flexible pharmaceutical channel strategies for product distribution and product pricing based on customer preferences
•    Experience and understanding working in a compliant manner when interacting with U.S. and global healthcare professionals
•    Experience delivering verbal and written client-facing presentations and developing written content for executive summaries 
•    Possesses a technical aptitude to comprehend and communicate clinical benefits for a product’s approved marketing label indications
•    Experience applying knowledge of pharmaceutical and regulatory environment, including FDA regulations regarding the promotion of pharmaceutical and medical products
•    Experience as a People Leader, effectively leading teams and setting/achieving performance goals 
•    Experience working with cross-functional teams including marketing, medical affairs, finance, compliance, supply chain and global operations

Preferred Qualifications:

•    PhD / Lean Six Sigma / Negotiation strategies qualifications

All telecommuters will be required to adhere to the UnitedHealth Group’s Telecommuter Policy.

At UnitedHealth Group, our mission is to help people live healthier lives and make the health system work better for everyone. We believe everyone–of every race, gender, sexuality, age, location and income–deserves the opportunity to live their healthiest life. Today, however, there are still far too many barriers to good health which are disproportionately experienced by people of color, historically marginalised groups and those with lower incomes. We are committed to mitigating our impact on the environment and enabling and delivering equitable care that addresses health disparities and improves health outcomes — an enterprise priority reflected in our mission.

Diversity creates a healthier atmosphere: Optum is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to gender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, disability, religion, age, race, and membership of the Traveller community, or any other characteristic protected by law. Optum is a drug-free workplace. © 2024 Optum Services (Ireland) Limited. All rights reserved.