Director, Medical Excellence & Strategic Operations

About the role:

We are seeking a Director, Medical Excellence & Strategic Operations to play a critical role in building and strengthening the infrastructure, processes, and capabilities that enable Zevra's Medical Affairs organization to operate effectively and deliver against its strategic priorities.

Working closely with Medical Affairs leadership and the field medical team, this individual will help translate Medical Affairs strategy into execution  -- bringing structure to complex initiatives, establishing scalable processes and tools, and ensuring the team has the resources, insights, and operational support needed to maximize its impact.

This is a highly visible, hands-on role for someone who combines strategic thinking with strong execution and enjoys working across functions in a growing organization. The Director will have responsibility across Medical Affairs operations, field medical excellence, planning, insights and analytics, training, vendor management, and cross-functional execution.  You will report to the Vice President, Medical Affairs.

Key Responsibilities:

Medical Affairs Strategy & Operations

• Partner with Medical Affairs leadership to operationalize the US Medical Plan and translate strategic priorities into executable plans, timelines, and deliverables.
• Lead functional goal-setting and establish mechanisms to track progress, performance, and outcomes across Medical Affairs.
• Develop dashboards, metrics, and other tools that provide visibility into Medical Affairs activities, priorities, and performance.
• Identify opportunities to improve processes, policies, tools, and ways of working to strengthen the overall Medical Affairs operating model.
• Manage the Medical Affairs budget, including annual planning, forecasting, ongoing tracking, and reconciliation, partnering with Medical Affairs leadership and Finance to ensure resources are aligned with strategic priorities.
• Organize Medical Affairs team meetings, agendas, content, and follow-up to support effective decision-making, communication, and accountability.

Field Medical Excellence & Insights

• Develop and continuously enhance onboarding, training, tools, and resources for the field medical organization.
• Partner with Medical Affairs leadership and the field medical team to establish HCP/KOL mapping, engagement planning, field activity planning, and appropriate measures of field effectiveness.
• Develop and maintain processes for the collection, synthesis, analysis, and communication of meaningful field medical insights.
• Partner across Medical Affairs to ensure field insights are shared broadly and used to inform medical strategy, evidence generation, education, and future initiatives.
• Support the development of field medical resources, scientific materials, training programs, and communication tools.

Medical Programs & Execution

• Provide operational leadership for Medical Affairs initiatives including advisory boards, congress activities, medical education programs, IIS, grants, IME activities, and other key programs.
• Coordinate the development and deployment of field medical and externally facing scientific materials in partnership with Medical Directors and Medical/Scientific Communications.
• Support planning and execution of regional and national congress activities in partnership with Medical Affairs and Scientific Communications.
• Oversee the selection, contracting, onboarding, and performance management of vendors supporting Medical Affairs activities.
• Ensure Medical Affairs programs and initiatives are appropriately prioritized, coordinated, and executed against established timelines and objectives.

Cross-Functional Partnership

• Serve as a key operational partner across Medical Affairs and with cross-functional stakeholders including Commercial, Clinical Development, Patient Advocacy, Market Access, and other functions.
• Act as a central point of coordination across key Medical Affairs initiatives, ensuring alignment around priorities, timelines, dependencies, and deliverables.
• Organize efforts across the team to provide timely and reliable information that supports organizational planning and decision-making.
• Partner with Medical Affairs leadership to continually evaluate opportunities to improve team effectiveness and strengthen collaboration across the organization.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree such as an MS, MPH, MBA, PharmD, PhD, or other relevant degree preferred.
• 8+ years of relevant pharmaceutical or biotechnology industry experience, including meaningful experience within Medical Affairs, Medical Affairs Operations, Field Medical Excellence, or a closely related function.
• Demonstrated experience translating Medical Affairs strategy into operational plans and driving complex initiatives through execution.
• Experience supporting field medical organizations, including areas such as field planning, training, insights, analytics, HCP/KOL engagement, and effectiveness.
• Strong project and program management capabilities with the ability to manage multiple priorities and stakeholders simultaneously.
• Experience developing and utilizing KPIs, dashboards, insights, or other analytics to support decision-making.
• Experience managing external vendors, budgets, and resources across Medical Affairs programs.
• Strong understanding of the pharmaceutical drug development and commercialization lifecycle and the role of Medical Affairs within it.
• Excellent communication and relationship-building skills with the ability to work effectively across Medical Affairs and cross-functional teams.
• Ability to operate effectively in a growing, fast-paced organization and move comfortably between strategic planning and hands-on execution.
• Understanding of applicable regulatory and compliance requirements governing Medical Affairs activities.
• Experience in rare disease or a relevant specialty therapeutic area is preferred.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

Zevra is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state, or local laws.

Notice to External Recruiters
Zevra does not accept unsolicited resumes from agencies or search firms. Recruiters are requested not to contact employees or hiring managers. All candidate submissions must be coordinated through our Human Resources team and require a prior written agreement. Any resumes sent without such an agreement will not create any implied obligation.

About Zevra Therapeutics, Inc.

We are a rare disease therapeutics company leading with science to make life-changing therapeutics available to patients with significant unmet needs. We involve key thought leaders, physicians, patients, care partners, and advocacy groups in all of our clinical and regulatory development strategies.

With a keen understanding that drug development often requires creative solutions, we have the insight and expertise to forge new pathways to success that others have missed. By following the data without bias, our transparent narratives and common-sense perspective have successfully overcome complex development challenges to make much-needed therapies available to patients.

Nimble and dauntless, we push boundaries beyond what is thought to be possible and advance new therapies that have the potential to bring meaningful improvement to patients’ lives.