National Director, Rare Disease

The National Director, Rare Disease is a senior leadership position accountable for setting the US strategy, operational oversight, and performance management of the Rare Disease Field Medical Affairs (FMA) team. This role manages the unique challenge of strategically deploying a small MSL team across a disparate rare disease presence (including PKU and ALS), ensuring effective scientific exchange, supporting identification for evidence generation needs, and collaboration with patient advocacy and policy teams to ensure strategy reflects patient perspectives. The Director is responsible for medical customer engagement, including the hiring, development, coaching, and strategic deployment of the Rare Disease MSLs (including the PKU and ALS MSLs). This position reports directly to the Rare Disease Medical Business Unit Lead.

Job Description

Key Responsibilities:

Leadership and People Management

• Oversee the recruitment, on-boarding, training, and performance management processes, including development of performance metrics, for the Rare Disease FMA team, ensuring all personnel meet high professional and scientific standards

• Lead, mentor, coach, and support performance management of the national team of Rare Disease MSLs, fostering a culture of scientific excellence, accountability, and patient focus

• Manage the US FMA budget, resource allocation, and key operational metrics to optimize field effectiveness and efficiency

• Represent stakeholder needs, insights, and knowledge to other parts of Otsuka including senior leadership and other internal partners

Strategic Deployment and Stakeholder Engagement

• Develop and implement the overarching US FMA strategy and annual operating plan, focusing on strategically deploying MSLs to cover a disparate rare disease presence and small patient populations

• Direct the team's efforts to identify centers and/or patients suitable for evidence generation (e.g., registries), recognizing the significant recruitment challenges inherent in rare diseases

• Ensure MSLs effectively interact with multidisciplinary care teams of specialists (e.g., metabolic specialists for PKU, neuromuscular specialists for ALS) to foster comprehensive scientific exchange

• Lead the strategy for connecting with key external stakeholders, including patient advocacy groups at national and international congresses, ensuring coordinated scientific coverage and efficient resource use

• Maintain relationships with key opinion leaders, healthcare professionals, and key accounts to facilitate scientific exchange, and will act as the primary point of contact for these external stakeholders.

Operational Excellence

• Maintain accountability for ensuring all field activities, scientific exchanges, and documentation adhere to relevant company SOPs, regulatory requirements, and industry guidelines

• Monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) and operational metrics for the national team, using data to drive continuous improvement in scientific and medical customer engagement, efficiency, and insight collection

• Oversee the consistent capture, aggregation, and synthesis of high-quality medical insights from the field to inform internal strategic decision-making within Medical Affairs and across the broader R&D organization

• Consider technology and AI to support workflow improvement

Cross-functional Integration

• Serve as the primary field medical affairs representative to the Rare Disease Medical Business Unit Lead and core cross-functional leadership team (e.g., Commercial, Market Access, etc.)

• Coordinate with the Clinical Development team to support site identification, feasibility assessments, and operational excellence for clinical trials within the Rare Disease space

Compliance and Training

• Ensure all activities adhere to applicable regulations, compliance, guidelines, and industry standards.

• Stay abreast of relevant regulatory and legal developments, providing guidance and training to the team as needed.

• Able to fulfill required internal company training requirements in a timely manner

Qualifications

Education and Experience:

• Advanced scientific or clinical degree is required (PharmD, MD, PhD, or equivalent)

• Minimum of 10 years of field experience in the pharmaceutical or biotechnology industry

• Minimum of 3-5 years of direct people management experience leading a field-based MSL team (Regional or National responsibility required)

• Extensive experience in Rare Disease or a highly specialized therapeutic area with complex patient journeys and limited physician specialists

• Proven success in developing and executing national medical strategies, budget management, and clinical trial support

Skills and Competencies:

• Exceptional ability to lead, motivate, and manage a remote, high-performing scientific team

• Strong ability to lead, influence, and collaborate in a matrixed environment regardless of reporting structure and operating under ambiguity without a set playbook.

• Superior strategic planning and organizational management skills, capable of translating broad strategy into tactical execution plans under constraints of a small team size

• Deep understanding of the Rare Disease patient and provider ecosystem, including multidisciplinary care models, patient advocacy, and diagnostic pathways

• Excellent communication, presentation, and cross-functional leadership skills, with proven ability to influence

• Ability to travel at least 60% - attend regional and international conferences / workshops to obtain new competitive information, keep abreast of clinical trends and support, and maintain relationships with key investigators and scientific research

Competencies

Accountability for Results - Stay focused on key strategic objectives, be accountable for high standards of performance, and take an active role in leading change.

Strategic Thinking & Problem Solving - Make decisions considering the long-term impact to customers, patients, employees, and the business.

Patient & Customer Centricity - Maintain an ongoing focus on the needs of our customers and/or key stakeholders.

Impactful Communication - Communicate with logic, clarity, and respect. Influence at all levels to achieve the best results for Otsuka.

Respectful Collaboration - Seek and value others' perspectives and strive for diverse partnerships to enhance work toward common goals.

Empowered Development - Play an active role in professional development as a business imperative.

Minimum $205,368.00 - Maximum $307,050.00, plus incentive opportunity: The range shown represents a typical pay range or starting pay for individuals who are hired in the role to perform in the United States. Other elements may be used to determine actual pay such as the candidate's job experience, specific skills, and comparison to internal incumbents currently in role. Typically, actual pay will be positioned within the established range, rather than at its minimum or maximum. This information is provided to applicants in accordance with states and local laws.

Application Deadline : This will be posted for a minimum of 5 business days.

Company benefits: Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, prescription drug coverage, company provided basic life, accidental death & dismemberment, short-term and long-term disability insurance, tuition reimbursement, student loan assistance, a generous 401(k) match, flexible time off, paid holidays, and paid leave programs as well as other company provided benefits.

Come discover more about Otsuka and our benefit offerings; .

Disclaimer:

This job description is intended to describe the general nature and level of the work being performed by the people assigned to this position. It is not intended to include every job duty and responsibility specific to the position. Otsuka reserves the right to amend and change responsibilities to meet business and organizational needs as necessary.

Otsuka is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply and will be given consideration for employment without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity or gender expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, national origin, veteran status, marital status, or any other legally protected characteristic.

If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran, you may request a reasonable accommodation, if you are unable or limited in your ability to apply to this job opening as a result of your disability. You can request reasonable accommodations by contacting Accommodation Request ([email protected]) .

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