Market Development Associate Director, Regional Conference Lead - US Kidney

Associate Director, Regional Conference Lead is responsible for leading the strategy and execution of Vertex’s U.S. Kidney Business Unit commercial representation at regional conferences as part of the Market Development team. 

The Associate Director has responsibility for planning and delivery across approximately 40+ regional-level conferences annually and reports into the Senior Director, Market Development with direction from the Director, Congress, Ad Board, and Strategic Council Lead, US Kidney and Director, Customer Engagement Liaison Lead.  

Key Duties and Responsibilities: 

• Leads regional conference program within the U.S. Commercial Kidney Business Unit as part of the Market Development Team  

• Leads selection process, sponsorships, field interface, and training plan 

• Drives cross-functional alignment with medical and sales on selection, staffing, and annual plan  

• Builds seamless process for field requests and HQ assessment of sponsorship opportunities  

• Oversees adaptation, readiness and onsite delivery of exhibit booth and all promotional materials per event including but not limited to: creative development/adaptation, CRC reviews, production/ordering, and shipping – ensures the creative agency and logistics vendors have clear scope and perform against specs and deadlines with high quality product  

• Leads pre-conference commercial briefings / trainings and post-conference commercial insights reports 

• Develops strategic coverage plan for all regional meetings to optimize KTAM ride alongs and other customer visits for HQ colleagues  

• Synthesizes insights from regional insights meetings to inform marketing strategy and tactics  

• Works with Vertex analytics colleagues to assess value of and return on the program each year   

• Makes strategic recommendations for brand promotional sponsorship and activations (e.g., exhibit, sponsorships, product theaters, advertising) for each meeting within the current plan year and subsequent years 

• Develops and roll out materials for CEL team for both information sharing and feedback collection  

• Leads all HQ requests for projects requiring HCP selection and participation (e.g., unbranded videos, internal meetings, training sessions, and branded content post-approval) 

• Serves as lead for U.S. Commercial Kidney’s HCP profiling tool (Veeva Link) ensuring successful and compliant cross functional rollout, training, expansion, and continuation  

• Supports Director, CEL lead with monthly insights meetings including process development, platform selection and rollout, and content creation 

• Other related duties as needed  

Knowledge and Skills: 

• Direct experience with communications review committee for review of tactics 

• Experience in pharmaceutical marketing or closely related field(s) (e.g., pharmaceutical sales, ad agency, etc.) 

• Strong budget management and congress leadership experience   

• Ability to travel 35% of time to be onsite at 1/3 of all sponsored regional conferences 

• Experienced with assessing impact of promotional investments   

• Strong communication and presentation skills   

• Agile in thought and action, accustomed to fast-paced, brand-launch environment  

• Ability to oversee generation of insights and apply those insights to business problems/opportunities 

• Strong analytical mindset to lead others to solve complex problems 

• Demonstrated ability to develop strategy, make strategic recommendations, and monitor performance 

• Strong working knowledge of market forecasts and relationship of business drivers to revenue 

• Strong working knowledge of MS Office applications, including PPT, Excel and Word 

Education and Experience: 

• Bachelor's degree in marketing, business, or scientific degree 

• Typically requires 8 years of experience or the equivalent combination of education and experience 

• Experience in one or more of the following: product marketing, pharmaceutical sales, thought leader engagement, congress planning, and/or consulting 

• Exceptional leadership, cross-functional collaboration, and communication skills 

• Demonstrated experience building strategic KTL networks with strong customer orientation and translating insights into actionable commercial strategies 

• Rare disease / specialty product launch experience  

• Experience working in highly competitive markets  

• Kidney experience strongly preferred but not required