At Alcon, we're passionate about enhancing sight and helping people see brilliantly. With more than 25,000 associates, we innovate fearlessly, champion progress, and act swiftly to impact global eye health. We foster an inclusive culture, recognizing your contributions and offering opportunities to grow your career like never before. Together, we make a difference in the lives of our patients and customers. Are you ready to join us?
This role is part of Alcon's Commercial & General Management function, a team that oversees the company's commercial strategies to ensure operational efficiency and support strategic decision making as we transform the eye care industry.
The Europe Director, Sales & Marketing - Valeda is accountable for defining and executing the European commercial strategy for Valeda. The role leads the regional sales and activation organization, drives disciplined country execution and works across the matrix to accelerate adoption, recurring treatment utilization and sustainable business growth. The leader will connect sales, field activation, inside sales, marketing ( including DTP) and market access into one integrated commercial engine.
In this role, a typical day will include:
- Lead, coach and align the European Valeda commercial organization against clear priorities, targets and execution standards.
- Review business performance, pipeline, forecast, installed-base productivity, treatment utilization and country action plans.
- Partner with IMG Marketing to translate regional strategy into practical country plans, campaigns, congress activities and customer activation.
- Collaborate with Market Access in selected priority countries to support access pathways and build plans for future reimbursement or funding opportunities.
- Engage country leaders, strategic accounts, key customers and cross-functional partners to remove barriers and accelerate growth.
- Allocate resources and investment to the highest-value opportunities while maintaining strong operational and financial discipline.
European commercial strategy & performance
- Develop and execute the European sales and marketing strategy for Valeda, aligned with regional business priorities.
- Own delivery of revenue, growth, market development and adoption objectives across European markets.
- Lead annual operating plans, budgeting, forecasting, territory design, resource allocation and business reviews.
- Establish clear KPIs and operating mechanisms covering pipeline, device placements, treatment utilization, activation and conversion.
- Identify growth opportunities, performance gaps and corrective actions by country, cluster and customer segment.
- Bring strong commercial and financial discipline; previous P&L management experience is a significant advantage.
People leadership & organization development
- Lead a geographically dispersed organization of 15+ colleagues, including Valeda Sales, Hunter roles, Clinic Activation Managers and Inside Sales.
- Recruit, onboard, coach and develop talent while building succession plans and future leadership capability.
- Create a high-performance culture grounded in customer impact, accountability, collaboration, inclusion and speed of execution.
- Set clear role expectations and ensure effective handoffs between lead generation, account acquisition, installation and post-install activation.
- Manage performance fairly and consistently, recognizing strong contribution and addressing execution gaps promptly.
Sales leadership & customer engagement
- Lead market prioritization, strategic-account development and acquisition of new Valeda customers.
- Guide the hunter team in prospecting, qualification, value selling, negotiation and closing.
- Ensure strong commercial handover to Clinic Activation Managers so each installed device has an actionable utilization plan.
- Build senior relationships with key opinion leaders, clinic owners, administrators, strategic groups and relevant external stakeholders.
- Represent Valeda at major European congresses, customer engagements and leadership forums.
Marketing collaboration & country execution
- Act as the principal commercial partner to the IMG Marketing team for Valeda in Europe.
- Contribute commercial insight to the creation of European positioning, campaigns, congress plans, demand-generation programs and sales-enablement materials.
- Lead execution of approved marketing plans in the countries, adapting activation to local priorities and requirements.
- Ensure strong alignment among IMG Marketing, country marketing, field teams, Medical Affairs and other internal stakeholders.
- Monitor execution quality and campaign impact, using insights to improve future plans.
Market access & future readiness
- Collaborate with Market Access teams in selected priority countries to support access strategies and implementation plans.
- Provide customer, market and commercial insights that strengthen local value propositions and access planning.
- Help prioritize markets and initiatives based on business potential, access feasibility and organizational readiness.
- Support the development of longer-term plans aimed at broader patient access, reimbursement or alternative funding pathways.
- Ensure coordination with Medical Affairs, Legal and Compliance as required.
Business excellence, governance & compliance
- Drive forecast accuracy, CRM discipline, pipeline transparency and timely performance reporting.
- Monitor market dynamics, competitive activity, customer needs and execution risks, translating insights into decisions.
- Optimize investment and resource deployment to improve commercial productivity and sustainable profitability.
- Ensure all activities comply with Alcon policies, quality standards, industry codes and applicable legal and regulatory requirements.
WHAT YOU’LL BRING TO ALCON:
- Bachelor’s degree in business, marketing, life sciences, healthcare or a related discipline; an advanced degree is preferred.
- A minimum of 10 years of progressive experience in the medical device industry.
- Demonstrated experience leading and developing people, preferably across multiple countries or within a regional matrix organization.
- Proven record of building commercial strategy and converting it into strong in-market execution and measurable growth.
- Fluency in English and at least two additional European languages.
- Outstanding commercial acumen, strategic thinking, communication, influencing and stakeholder-management skills.
- Ability to lead through complexity, prioritize decisively and maintain execution discipline in a fast-evolving environment.
- Willingness and ability to travel up to 70%+, especially during peak congress and budget-planning periods.
Preferred experience
- P&L management, including budgeting, investment prioritization and profitability management.
- Launching or scaling innovative medical technologies across European markets.
- Ophthalmology, retina, therapeutic device or specialty medical technology experience.
- Working with regional or global marketing teams on country-level campaign execution.
- Exposure to European market access, reimbursement, health economics or alternative funding pathways.
- Leading a mixed commercial organization that includes field sales, activation or practice-development roles and inside sales.
Leadership competencies
- Enterprise and strategic mindset
- Commercial and financial acumen
- Inspirational people leadership
- Customer and patient focus
- Execution excellence and accountability
- Cross-functional collaboration and influence
- Change leadership and organizational agility
- Executive presence and clear communication
The location is flexible within Europe.
HOW YOU CAN THRIVE AT ALCON:
● Manage your own workload and schedule while hitting your set targets
● Collaborate with teammates to share best practices and learnings as work evolves
● See your career like never before with focused growth and development opportunities
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