Senior Director, Sickle Cell Field Sales

About the Department

The Rare Disease organization leads all US Commercial efforts for Novo Nordisk’s Rare Disease portfolio. The Rare Disease portfolio includes medical treatments, customer solutions, and devices across multiple Therapy Areas including Rare Bleeding Disorders, Rare Endocrine Disorders, Rare Renal Disorders, and Hemoglobinopathies (Sickle Cell Disease & Beta Thalassemia), as well as new products in the pipeline.

The Rare Disease organization is responsible for leading the enterprise approach to achieving our patient care goals and financial objectives, devising and delivering transformative patient and customer experiences, addressing unmet needs across the communities we serve, and setting the industry standard for extraordinary execution. The team members collaborate and partner cross functionally with multiple functions and groups throughout the US organization, Clinical Development, Research & Early Development, other affiliates, and the Global HQ teams. 

We are looking for highly motivated individuals who are strategic and bold thinkers, passionate and dedicated to driving change in Rare Disease, patient focused, strong collaborators, and inclusive leaders, as we embark on shaping our exciting future and improving the lives of more patients than ever before.

The Position

The Head of Sickle Cell Field Sales is responsible for developing and driving business performance of the Rare Disease business unit and leading a high performing national field sales force across the Sickle Cell market. This role develops, leads and executes sales strategies and initiatives across the Therapy Area with a focus on market awareness and increase market share and sales maximizing revenues and profitability. Serves as a member of the Rare Disease Leadership Team.

The Head of Sickle Cell Field Sales can be loated anywhere across the US, preferably near a major airport. 

Relationships

The Head of Sickle Cell Field Sales reports directly to the GVP Rare Disease and is a key member of the Rare Disease Leadership Team. This Commercial leader will have responsibility for building/hiring and has direct supervisory responsibility for the Sickle Cell Region Directors and Sales organization along with the oversight of Commercial Execution team for Sickle Cell Disease. Internally works closely with all members of the Rare Disease Extended Leadership Team and with key senior leaders and stakeholders across NNI and Global, such as Commercial Strategy & Marketing, Community Engagement, Medical Affairs, Market Access, Commercial Excellence, Operations, Legal, IT and Human Resources.  External relationships include key customers, local stakeholders and advocacy organizations.  This position requires frequent senior management interaction, leadership and global collaboration.

Essential Functions

• Lead the Rare Disease Sickle Cell sales organization ensuring a high performing field organization with extraordinary execution.  This also encompasses a multitude of customer types including, but not limited to Hematologists, Primary Care, Pedestrians, Hospitals & Institutions and Field-based Specialty Pharmacy stakeholders
• Ensure Sickle Cell key performance indicators are achieved and/or exceeded
• Provides oversight of Commercial Execution aligned to the Sickle Cell field sales team
• Create a highly engaged, inclusive organization where diverse perspectives are recognized, and everyone feels a sense of belonging while fostering a customer-centric culture
• Establish, oversee implementation and monitor adherence to resource and system utilization as well as administrative policies and procedures
• Create a CEO mentality with a high degree of accountability by the leaders and members of the field organization
• Partners effectively cross functionally to support a commercial effectiveness/operations effort that facilitates extraordinary execution
• Align sales force efforts with marketing strategies; develop key messages, partner on implementation, training and execution of pull through activities
• Assess the needs of the sales organization including training opportunities and implement solutions swiftly in order to meet sales goals and work with Employee Experience to define and deploy solutions
• Build an effective sales leadership team ensuring that the Rare Disease Field Directors embrace the Novo Nordisk Way of Management and instills a winning culture within the team
• Build strong relationships with external customers and demonstrate the commitment Novo Nordisk has for the patient, community and health care providers
• Continually provide meaningful contributions as part of the Rare Disease leadership team, working well with colleagues, cross functional partners and acting as a role model in the organization
• Develop a clear, concise and compelling sales force vision that is aligned with the strategy of the Rare Disease BU
• Develop strategies and foster key relationships to identify market growth opportunities for current and new products
• Develop strong relationships with all key functions within Novo Nordisk that impact the field force, including all cross functional partners throughout Novo Nordisk. Drive sales growth and increase share through focus on key priorities
• Ensure sales team develops comprehensive business plans and implements associated tactics, updating as needed to maximize business opportunities and effectively mitigate threats
• Ensure that all sales staff have sufficient training, management coaching and resources to successfully reach their targets
• Ensures compliance regulations are understood and adhered to
• Implement target lists, call planning and other key metrics for the field organization and ensure consistent execution of agreed upon metrics
• Oversee the development of high-quality business plans to ensure appropriate sales planning and drive profitability targets
• Understand customer needs and ensure that there is a clear plan to incorporate the needs into successful brand strategies
• Work collaboratively and share best practices with sales colleagues
• Develop and monitor performance against budgets
• Establish, oversee implementation and monitor adherence to administrative policies and procedures
• Evaluate appropriate use of resources to ensure attainment of profitability goals
• Review and audit expense reports
• Operate within budget and obtain financial/ROI targets
• Build strong relationships with external customers and establish significant thought leader support
• Provide clear direction, inspiration and motivation of the Sickle Cell Sales team

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

60-70% overnight travel required.

Development Of People

Supervisory. Ensure that reporting personnel have individual development plans (IDP), with annual goals and measurements that are consistent with the priorities of the business and that interim reviews are held so that their work is focused on those priorities, and they understand their level of accountability for results and the measurement process. Ensure that the IDP forms include completed learning and aspiration plans and are in place for all reporting personnel to enable the achievement of goals and capability to assume increased levels of responsibility. Manage the application and communication of all Novo Nordisk policies, procedures and Novo Nordisk Way.

Qualifications

• A Bachelor’s Degree required. MBA or advanced degree is preferred
• Minimum of 15 years of progressive pharmaceutical/healthcare sales experience required
• Minimum of 6 years previous people management experience required. 3 years previous experience of Director level management required
• Orphan/Rare Disease or Specialty sales experience strongly preferred. Product launch experience required
• Cross-functional experience in multiple areas is strongly preferred (e.g., Operations, Market Access, Marketing, Training, Global etc)
• Experience in building new teams and organizational capabilities is strongly preferred

The base compensation range for this position is $229,200 to $400,000. Base compensation is determined based on a number of factors. This position is also eligible for a company bonus based on individual and company performance. Novo Nordisk offers long-term incentive compensation and or company vehicles depending on the position's level or other company factors.

Employees are also eligible to participate in Company employee benefit programs including medical, dental and vision coverage; life insurance; disability insurance; 401(k) savings plan; flexible spending accounts; employee assistance program; tuition reimbursement program; and voluntary benefits such as group legal, critical illness, identity theft protection, pet insurance and auto/home insurance. The Company also offers time off pursuant to its sick time policy, flex-able vacation policy and parental leave policy.

We commit to an inclusive recruitment process and equality of opportunity for all our job applicants.

At Novo Nordisk, we're not chasing quick fixes – we're creating lasting change for long-term health. For over 100 years, we've been driven by a single purpose: to defeat serious chronic diseases and help millions of people live healthier lives. This dedication fuels our constant curiosity and inspires us to push the boundaries of what's possible in healthcare. We embrace diverse perspectives, seek out bold ideas, and build partnerships rooted in shared purpose. Together, we're making healthcare more accessible, treating and defeating diseases, and pioneering solutions that create change spanning generations. When you join us, you become part of something bigger – a legacy of impact that reaches far beyond today.

Novo Nordisk is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by local, state or federal laws, rules or regulations.

If you are interested in applying to Novo Nordisk and need special assistance or an accommodation to apply, please call us at 1-855-411-5290. This contact is for accommodation requests only and cannot be used to inquire about the status of applications.