Commercial Operations Manager - South Africa at Gilead Sciences

Job Description

The Commercial Operations manager is responsible for driving execution of commercial operations, collaborating with marketing, analytics and regional teams to drive commercial operations, sales force effectiveness, onboarding & training strategies and plans, as well developing and maintaining incentive compensation plans and manage sales operations for South Africa.

This role requires a candidate who has strong analytical skills with the ability to process data into relevant business recommendations and then operationalize them to achieve tangible results tailored to South Africa. This position reports to the Executive Director Africa and will be based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The ideal candidate possesses at minimum these three competencies:

• Strong analytical skills being able to manage incentive compensation, Sales & Market modeling and reporting analysis Capable of leading Sales Force Effectiveness and KPI tracking Coordination of onboarding and Training at local level in specialty care pharma.

Expected deliverables - The responsibilities for this role include, but are not limited to:

• Implement and drive South Africa Sales Force Effectiveness strategy ensure alignment with GPD and ICR. Ensure South Africa is effective in their field force operations by conducting audits, drive CRM utilization and develop selling and coaching capabilities. The candidate will identify potential shortfalls and rapidly deploy tactics to course-correct local performance back towards target(s)
• Oversee the creation and implementation of a clear, concise, and cohesive incentive plan for South Africa, aligned with global
• Oversee the development of training plans, including onboarding and upskilling activities. Ensure South Africa has the tools and support to drive effective selling skills trainings and can measure the success of those initiatives. Deliver curriculum for relevant commercial in market employees to maximize commercial performance
• Coordinate an aligned Digital Strategy with International and ensure implementation with clear KPIs to monitor execution
• Guarantee the delivery of relevant and impactful insights from different sources of information, internal and external (Veeva CRM, IQVIA, Close-Up, Big Data, etc.)
• Ensure that navigation tools (Tableau, Power BI, etc.) are available, address the varying needs of the business and are user-friendly to the Commercial members of the affiliate
• Facilitate Business Intelligence through the democratization of analytics & insights for the different commercial stakeholders
• Bring new ideas, anticipate trends, and support the solutions for the challenges in the markets of actuation
• Drive the launch readiness process for the new products since earlier stages until the hand-over to the business
• Create and deliver timely, impactful analytics & insights and SFE performance metrics
• Align with International Commercial Operations lead the yearly brand plan of action for the affiliate by setting the calendar, incentivizing the discussions among the stakeholders, engaging the cross-functional teams and providing relevant data for the brands´ story flow
• Drive the local budget process from A&I perspective by handling the forecast models, the prescription/sell-out reports and performing predictive analytics
• Propose an annual plan and assure the execution of market research projects (ATU´s, message recall, patient and customer journeys, etc.) providing relevant insights for the business
• Propose new processes & tools to improve data exploitation and interpretation. Research, evaluate and offer new data sources to find meaningful insights and to fill information gaps, including advance analytics
• Chair regular business analytics & insights meetings with the brand teams and translate business needs into technical solutions
• Manage teams by example and always looking for continuous development when having direct reports and/or in specific projects
• Partner with Regional and Global teams to replicate and share best practices related to Analytics & Insights and Sales Force Effectiveness
• Support and ensure flawless implementation of Global initiatives in local country
• Coordinate business reviews, forecasts and LEs, by developing clear expectations, infrastructure for tracking, monitoring and ensuring global-to-local alignment, cross-functionally. Ensure alignment between finance, business analytics and commercial.
• Assesses local structures and resources to optimize efficiency and effectiveness & makes recommendations for additional synergies

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree plus 5 years in Pharma Commercial Operations and/or analytics roles
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate with global and regional teams to collect markets inputs into strategy development and support local implementation of global strategy
• Ability to lead by example, attract and develop talent and foster a culture of collaboration and open communication
• Excellent verbal / written communication and presentation skills
• Demonstrated experience in leading a high performing cross-functional or commercial operations function within the biotechnology / pharma industry and preferably within the hematology / oncology
• Demonstrates strong analytical and problem-solving skills. Must be able to think critically and be comfortable making assumptions when data or information is incomplete or conflicting.
• Excellent project management skills, highly focused on implementation and achievement of tangible results
• Curious and eager to learn proactively about various therapeutic areas, epidemiology, and stay up to date on country’s economic and healthcare trends
• Strong team player with experience working in international settings. Demonstrates cultural agility and adaptability in a changing environment
• Creative and open-minded individual who fosters an environment in which sharing of ideas is encouraged
• Outstanding knowledge of pharmaceutical industry data sources and providers (IQVIA, Close-Up, Veeva, Datasus, etc.) and using several business intelligence tools (i.e. Tableau, Power BI Cognos, etc.)
• Experience in the definition/creation of KPIs to measure digital initiatives, including social media projects
• Proven experience in the launch of new products and indications, preferably in hospital segments

Preferred Qualifications

• Degree in Business Administration, Engineering, IT, Human Sciences or other related
• MBA or Post-graduation, preferably in Business Administration or Marketing
• Understanding of the high specialty landscape and the business
• 5+ years of experience leading A&I and SFE areas in pharmaceutical/healthcare segment, especially in specialties therapeutic areas. Desirable experience in leading launch readiness processes
• Management of Microsoft Office packages, Advanced Excel, Statistical tools, CRM tools, Information Cubes, Tableau / Power BI