Senior Director, Medical Affairs (Medical and Scientific Ops)

Boston, MA, USA Req #235
Friday, March 8, 2024
Who We Are:  
 
Xenon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:XENE) is a neuroscience-focused biopharmaceutical company committed to discovering, developing, and commercializing innovative therapeutics to improve the lives of people living with neurological and psychiatric disorders. We are looking for great people who thrive in a respectful, collaborative, inclusive, and productive culture to join the Xenon team. 
 
What We Do: 
 
We are advancing an exciting product pipeline to address indications with high unmet medical need, including epilepsy and depression. Our flagship XEN1101 program represents the most advanced potassium channel modulator in clinical development for multiple indications. Building upon the positive results and compelling data from our XEN1101 Phase 2b “X-TOLE” study in adult patients with focal epilepsy, our XEN1101 epilepsy program includes multiple Phase 3 clinical trials in patients with focal onset seizures and primary generalized tonic clonic seizures. In 2024, we are planning to initiate a Phase 3 XEN1101 program in major depressive disorder, based on topline data from our XEN1101 Phase 2 “X-NOVA” clinical trial. In addition, we are proud of the leading-edge science coming out of our discovery labs, including early-stage research programs that leverage our extensive ion channel expertise and drug discovery capabilities to identify validated drug targets and develop new product candidates. Backed by a strong balance sheet to support our growth plans, we continue to build a fully integrated, premier neuroscience company with strong discovery, clinical development, corporate, and commercial operations.  

About the Role:

We are seeking a Senior Director, Medical Affairs to join our team. The Senior Director, Medical Affairs is responsible for leadership and oversight for the Medical Education, Congress Strategy, Advisory Boards, Patient Advocacy and Operations functions. The Senior Director, Medical Affairs will play a central role and shaping and growing this critical Medical Affairs function, and will have the skills to be able to contribute to development of strategic Medical Affairs objectives. The Senior Director, Medical Affairs develops innovative scientific initiatives in collaboration with other members of the Medical Affairs team, as well as cross functional partners such as Commercial and Corporate Affairs.

The Senior Director, Medical Affairs will be a key member of a very collaborative team. This is a highly strategic and hands-on, management role that includes growing a team in accordance with business needs. The Senior Director, Medical Affairs will have proven leadership ability in a fast paced, multi-location environment and interact with all levels of internal staff, as well as external stakeholders.

This position reports to the Vice President, Medical Affairs and will be ideally located in the Boston area, MA, USA; we will consider other jurisdictions for exceptional candidates.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

  • Responsible for development of long term and comprehensive strategic medical education plans, ensuring alignment with Medical Affairs objectives; includes multichannel scientific educational content for healthcare professionals
  • Plays a leadership role on cross-functional teams, partnering with internal stakeholders to develop strategic objectives for disease state and product education, patient advocacy relations, advisory boards and congress strategy
  • Development and execution of a Patient Advocacy strategy designed to address the needs of multiple development programs
  • Establish and maintain collaborative relationships with key Patient Advocacy Groups, and represent Medical Affairs at key events sch as Patient Advocacy conferences, patient advisory boards etc.
  • Engage in dialogue, seeking feedback from patients, caregivers, healthcare professionals, policy makers and other withing the patient community to inform internal decision making and identify educational needs in the community.
  • Partner with Clinical Development /Operations to bring patient insights into the development process and to support clinical trial programs
  • Establish the Grants and Sponsorship program, including development of policies and procedures
  • Fosters clear understanding of all congress opportunities and deadlines for multiple disease areas
  • Responsible for oversight of congress activity execution including development of digital materials, Medical Affairs exhibit booth planning, HCP engagement strategy, insight generation, educational programs such as scientific symposia while ensuring alignment with educational objectives
  • Develops process for insight collection and generation from external interactions, facilitating knowledge-sharing with cross-functional partners
  • Responsible for oversight of the development of and updates to the Medical Affairs web page in collaboration with Corporate Affairs
  • Builds and maintains subject matter expertise on medical education for healthcare providers, patient advocacy, advisory boards and congress plans, staying informed of industry trends, best practices and emerging innovations
  • Develop and implement metrics to monitor project milestones and maintain a department dashboard to track progress to goals
  • Ensure compliance with policies and guidelines
  • Responsible for the annual planning and budgeting process for Medical Affairs, ensuring alignment with strategic objectives.
  • Oversees operational activities such as system implementation by direct reports
  • Uphold exceptional communication skills, ensuring credible, compliant interactions both verbally and in writing

QUALIFICATIONS:

  • PhD, Pharm, MD, or other recognized doctorate level education with supporting applicable health science background
  • A minimum of 15 years of relevant work experience in the pharmaceutical or biotech industry, with a strong medical or scientific background; previous management experience required
  • Excellent leadership and interpersonal skills, ability to build credibility and trust inside and outside the Company
  • Previous launch experience strongly preferred
  • Proven ability to build and develop high performing teams; excellent delegation and conflict resolution skills
  • Be science and data driven while at the same time, creative and flexible in strategic thinking and problem solving
  • Ability to travel up to 25%, both domestically and internationally
  • Other duties as assigned

The base salary range for this role is $270,000 to $297,900 USD; we will consider above this range for exceptional candidates. Base salary is determined by a combination of factors including, but not limited to, education and other qualifications, years of relevant experience, and internal equity.

Our Total Rewards program includes base salary, target bonus, and stock options, as well as a full range of benefits including medical, dental, vision, short-& long-term disability, accidental death & dismemberment, and life insurance programs, Employee Assistance Program, travel insurance, and retirement savings programs with company matching contributions.

Xenon encourages time to rest and re-charge through vacation, personal days, sick days, and an end-of-year company shutdown. Xenon highly values employee development and has an expanding Training, Learning & Development program, including a Tuition Assistance program for advanced degrees.
 
US positions only: Xenon Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. participates in the E-Verify program in all states in which we hire. Learn more about the E-Verify program here 

To apply for this position, click Apply Now to complete the application. We thank all applicants for their interest; however, due to the volume of applicants, only those chosen for interview will be contacted.