Associate Director, Thought Leader Liaison, EMPAVELI

Opportunity awaits those up to the challenge of developing transformative therapies across a broad range of debilitating diseases. 

Summary:

Biogen is seeking an experienced Associate Director, Thought Leader Liaison, EMPAVELI, to lead national U.S. commercial KOL engagement strategy and strengthen relationships with leading U.S.-based Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs). This field-based role is accountable for developing insight-driven engagement plans, translating customer and community dynamics into actionable commercial priorities, advancing educational offerings, and mobilizing cross-functional alignment around KOL engagement. The role is expected to operate with enterprise influence, independent judgment, and strong partnership across Commercial, Medical Affairs, field leadership, and senior stakeholders. This role will report to the Head of Thought Leader & Patient Engagement Liaisons, EMPAVELI.

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Create and manage Commercial engagement plans for leading U.S. KOLs, including engagement objectives, success metrics, prioritization, and cross-functional execution against goals.

• Establish, deepen, and strategically leverage national relationships with U.S. KOLs; lead high-impact KOL engagements with the U.S. EMPAVELI Commercial Team, senior leadership, and executive stakeholders throughout the year and at key congresses.
• Partner closely with KOLs and treating physicians to identify, refine, and scale peer-to-peer program offerings that are strategically aligned to customer needs and commercial priorities.
• Maintain the promotional speaker bureau, including identifying and recruiting potential speakers, guiding speaker readiness on approved promotional slide decks, partnering with HCP Marketing on annual speaker training, and ensuring speakers complete required annual compliance training.
• Partner with the HCP Marketing team on commercial HCP advisory boards, including advisor identification, objective setting, agenda input, and synthesis of insights to inform commercial priorities.
• Shape content strategy for peer-to-peer engagements by providing senior-level input on speaker programs, congress symposia, and related HCP engagement opportunities.
• Drive strong, productive relationships with key cross-functional partners, including Medical Affairs and field teams, to align priorities, clarify accountabilities, and advance national KOL engagement objectives.

Education, Registration & Certification:

• BS/BA degree required; advanced degree preferred.

Experience:

• 8+ years of progressive biotech/pharma experience, with demonstrated experience leading complex commercial initiatives or external stakeholder engagement.
• Experience in Hematology/Oncology is preferred; experience in rare diseases is a plus
• Significant experience in sales, marketing, field engagement, or other customer-facing commercial roles is preferred.

Skills, Knowledge & Abilities:

• Demonstrated ability to build productive, credible relationships with physicians, KOLs, and other Healthcare Professionals.
• Enterprise growth mindset with the ability to challenge legacy approaches, adapt quickly, and lead new ways of achieving team goals in a compliant manner.
• Anticipates business issues, develops clear action plans, builds coalitions, and drives solutions rapidly across teams and functions.
• Develops alternative strategies to achieve desired results when faced with ambiguity, competing priorities, or roadblocks.
• Demonstrates a strong commitment to understanding customer needs, maintaining relevant field connectivity, and translating insights into commercial action.
• Identifies patterns and connections across markets, customers, and stakeholders; articulates implications and possibilities for the business.
• Consistently demonstrate integrity on the job, including an understanding of relevant rules and regulations.
• Builds collegial, accountable cross-functional relationships and brings functional and field leaders together around a shared vision for national engagement work.
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional teams, gain alignment across functions with different objectives and priorities, and manage execution of engagement plans.
• Strong executive communication skills, with the ability to influence senior stakeholders and cross-functional partners across varying levels of the organization.
• Ability to responsibly manage budgets for KOL engagement initiatives, speaker programs, advisory boards, and related commercial projects.
• Navigate and be successful in a fast-paced, data- and results-driven environment.
• Ability to travel 50-75%, including national and cross-country travel for KOL engagement, congresses, speaker programs, and field-based business needs.

Travel Requirements:

Travel Requirements: Ability to travel up to 50-75%, including some weekends to attend congresses or other meetings.
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Education:

Bachelor's Degree 

Pay Information:

Base salary for this role will consider multiple factors, including but not limited to, candidate qualifications, relevant expertise, specialized skills, and industry experience in complement-targeted therapies. The targeted base salary range for this position is $180,000-$248,000. This range represents the base salary only and reflects Apellis' commitment to competitive compensation within the biopharmaceutical industry. The final salary offered may vary based on individual qualifications, business needs, and current market conditions.

Work Arrangement:

Field

Benefits and Perks:

Apellis offers a comprehensive benefits package, including a 401(k) plan with company match, inclusive family building benefits, flexible time off, summer and winter shutdowns, paid family leave, disability and life insurance, and more! Visit https://apellis.com/careers/benefits/ to learn more.

SPECIAL NOTE ON BIOGEN ACQUISITION

Please note that as of May 14th, Biogen Inc. has acquired Apellis Pharmaceuticals. Click here to learn more about Benefits & Perks of working at Biogen:  Benefits | Biogen 

Company Background:

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a global biopharmaceutical company leading the way in complement science to develop life-changing therapies for some of the most challenging diseases patients face. We ushered in the first new class of complement medicine in 15 years and now have two C3-targeting medicines approved to treat four serious diseases. Breakthroughs for patients include the first-ever therapy for geographic atrophy, a leading cause of blindness, and the first treatment for patients 12 and older with C3G or primary IC-MPGN, two severe, rare kidney diseases. We believe we have only begun to unlock the potential of targeting C3 across many serious diseases.

 

For more information, please visit http://apellis.com or follow us on LinkedIn and X.

EEO Statement:

Apellis is an equal opportunity employer and complies with all applicable federal, state and local fair employment practices laws. Apellis strictly prohibits and does not tolerate discrimination against employees, applicants or any other covered persons because of race, color, religion, creed, national origin or ancestry, ethnicity, sex (including pregnancy), gender (including gender nonconformity and status as a transgender or transsexual individual), age, physical or mental disability, citizenship, past, current or prospective service in the uniformed services, genetic information, marital status, AIDS/HIV status, smoker/nonsmoker, and occupational pneumoconiosis or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state or local law.

For San Francisco postings: Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. 

Other Duties:

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.