Director, Field Access - Deciphera Pharmaceuticals

Deciphera, a member of ONO, is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing important new medicines to improve the lives of people with cancer. We are leveraging our proprietary switch-control kinase inhibitor platform and deep expertise in kinase biology to develop a broad portfolio of innovative medicines.

Enabled by our proprietary drug discovery platform, Deciphera has developed a diverse pipeline of wholly-owned drug candidates. QINLOCK® (ripretinib) is Deciphera’s switch control inhibitor developed for the treatment of fourth-line GIST. QINLOCK is approved in Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United States, and the United Kingdom.  We wholly own QINLOCK and all of our drug candidates with the exception of a development and commercialization out-license agreement for QINLOCK in Greater China. In addition to QINLOCK, we have identified and advanced multiple product candidates from our platform into clinical studies, including vimseltinib and DCC-3116.  

See here for more details on our portfolio.

We offer an outstanding culture and opportunity for personal and professional growth guided by our “PATHS” Core Values and how we work together. We are proud to be Great Place to Work Certified 2023 and rank #25 on Fortune’s Best Places to Work Small and Midsized Biotech Companies in 2023. Find more details about our award-winning culture here. 

Deciphera is seeking a Director, Field Access (DFA) to join our US Market Access Team. The DFA is a strategic customer facing leader with the core responsibility to ensure coverage and create access for Deciphera’s oncology therapies with national and regional payer accounts, specialty pharmacies, specialty distributors, and oncology GPOs.

The DFA will develop and maintain key customer relationships, execute account plans for targeted national payers, an oncology GPO, and will coordinate case management with the sales team and internal partners. The DFA may serve as the primary point of contact for channel partners.

The DFA will collaborate with the patient support services center, Territory Managers, and Regional Business Directors to ensure minimal barriers to product access for patients and providers.

What You'll Do: 

• Access: Ensure patient access by building relationships and formulating strategies at aligned payer accounts and oncology practices.
• Customer Relationships: Leader with management of key customers. Develop and cultivate relationships with clinical, medical, pharmacy, policy, and Industry Relations contacts within targeted MCOs, PBMs, oncology GPOs, specialty pharmacies, specialty distributors, and provider offices.
• Account Projects: Independently lead account projects/initiatives addressing changing customer and market requirements, present business cases for opportunity evaluation, and coordinate/manage project implementation.
• Communication: Communicate with Marketing, Territory Managers, and Patient Services team regarding account-specific programs, activities, and pull-through messages.
• Problem Solving: Leader and partner with the sales team, patient hub, and Specialty Pharmacies to support accounts with reimbursement issues and patients facing insurance delays. Use problem-solving skills to address concerns at both the system and individual case level.
• Issue Identification: Identify issues and challenges with payer and provider accounts. Engage appropriate resources for developing customer solutions and contracts.
• Presentations: Deliver presentations on disease state, clinical, economic, access, and business topics effectively.
• Account Plans: Develop goals and account plans aligned with US Market Access strategies. Execute comprehensive initiatives including financial analyses, strategy recommendations, and business plan development.
• Market Access Objectives: Meet or exceed Market Access objectives and manage the optimization of product formulary and reimbursement positioning.
• Travel: Role involves significant travel (up to approximately 50% of time). The DFA will meet with payer customers channel partners, attend conferences, and coordinate with sales and regional colleagues to engage key providers and influencers.

What You'll Bring: 

• Education: BS/BA degree in business, life sciences, or related discipline. Advanced degree preferred (e.g., MBA, MPH, NP, PharmD, PhD).
• Pharmaceutical Experience: Ten or more years of experience in the pharmaceutical or biotechnology industries, with demonstrated cross functional leadership.
• Learning Mindset: Ability and willingness to adapt and excel in new environments where the work or tasks may be unfamiliar. 
• Payers: Seven or more years direct experience managing national and regional payers review newly approved drugs. Deep, broad, and measurable payer relationships and understanding of the legislative environment and the respective impact to patient access.
• Specialty Pharmacies & Specialty Distributors: Understanding of the operations and role of SPs/SDs in managing the journey of patients with rare disease.
• Launch Experience: Experience with product launches; establishing coverage and formulary acceptance of oral oncolytic or rare/orphan diseases.
• Communication Skills: Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Results-Oriented: Demonstrated ability to deliver results in competitive markets.
• Commercial Functions: Demonstrated success or understanding of multiple commercial functions (e.g., marketing, market access, sales, insights/analytics).
• Team Player: Authentic, humble, professional, able to build positive team spirit, and lead through the ups and downs of drug development. Supports team success and growth.
• Cross-Functional Influence: Skilled at influencing cross-functional teams and interfacing with internal and external stakeholders across commercial and medical/clinical teams.
• Adaptability: Ability to work effectively at multiple levels within the organization and adapt to changes in the work environment. Manages competing demands, changes approach as needed, and handles frequent changes, delays, unexpected events, or uncertainty with maturity and professionalism.

Deciphera offers a comprehensive benefits package that includes but is not limited to the following:

• Non-accrual paid time off
• Summer vacation bonus
• Global, company-wide summer and winter shutdowns
• An annual lifestyle allowance
• Monthly cell phone stipend
• Internal rewards and recognition program
• Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
• 401(k) retirement plan with company match
• Life and Supplemental life insurance for family
• Short and Long Term Disability insurance
• Health savings account with company contribution
• Flexible spending account for either health care and/or dependent care.
• Family planning benefit
• Generous parental leave
• [if applicable] Car allowance

Deciphera, a member of ONO, is a company headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. Our state-of-the-art research facility is located in Lawrence, Kansas and our European operations are run out of Switzerland.

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY INFORMATION

Deciphera is committed to equal employment opportunity and values diversity. To ensure that we comply with reporting requirements and to learn more about how we can increase diversity in our candidate pool, we invite you to voluntarily provide demographic information in a confidential survey at the end of this application. Providing this information is optional. It will not be accessible or used in the hiring process and has no effect on your opportunity for employment. This information will also be treated confidentially.  Our commitment to increasing diversity in our candidate pool does not affect our commitment to equal employment opportunity, including our ongoing commitment to make all hiring and other employment decisions solely on a nondiscriminatory basis.

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY INFORMATION

Deciphera is committed to equal employment opportunity and values diversity. To ensure that we comply with reporting requirements and to learn more about how we can increase diversity in our candidate pool, we invite you to voluntarily provide demographic information in a confidential survey at the end of this application. Providing this information is optional. It will not be accessible or used in the hiring process, and has no effect on your opportunity for employment. This information will also be treated confidentially.  Our commitment to increasing diversity in our candidate pool does not affect our commitment to equal employment opportunity, including our ongoing commitment to make all hiring and other employment decisions solely on a nondiscriminatory basis.